Gibson GA-40 Les Paul Point-to-point Hand Wired Tube Guitar Amplifier 1954. Fully functional with all Original Parts included. Beautiful American made vintage amp from the Golden Age of manufacturing, Kalamazoo, Michigan. This combo amp is perfect for Rhythm and Lead Guitar… And it has Tremolo! Tube driven tremolo has found a cult following in today’s roots, country, and rock music. This would be a great amp for Neil Young, John Fogerty, Ry Cooder, Joey Landreth, or Buddy Miller if you’re reading this, Buddy give me a call. From Aspen Pittman’s “The Tube Amp Book”- My favorite is the GA-40- it sounds so sweet, and really looks great! ” This amp has a “signal oscillating tremolo driven by 1/2 of a 6SN7 tube and one extra 6V6 tube. A very nice swirling and pulsing tremolo (not choppy or staccato), and a completely silent switching function. This is an ingenious circuit from Gibson, and less problematic in practice than the bias-based tremolo or harmonic tremolo from Fender with 3 additional tubes! I sometimes leave the tremolo on for both rhythm and leads. In my opinion, this amp is easily the equal of the classic Fender Tweed Deluxe (I have owned several), plus it has that swampy Tremolo! The amp accepts Strats, Teles, and Gibson guitars equally well. I’m going to call it the characteristic “Gibson Sound”. This is the ultimate “Player’s Special”. Marc Meyer of Firebottle Toneworks went over every inch of this amp, replacing dried up wax and electrolytic capacitors and failed resistors. 3-prong power cable was installed, and he crafted a hand-made mahogany Tremolo footswitch. All the replaced original parts are included in a baggie for you, as well as the original instruction manual from 1954. The carry handle was gone, so I replaced it with a black leather luggage handle. The Amp has all the original transformers, chokes, and… That’s right, the original USA 1954 vacuum tubes tested good, and sound great. If you’re out playing, and the amp picks up some noise, or a tube fails… Simply power down and quickly replace all the tubes. No need to rebias- it’s all self-bias, i. One minute later, you’re back to live playing. Preamp tubes are 6SJ7- which give the amp’s tone a special character- more of a throaty growl than the smaller more trebley common 12AX7. The original set are metal jacketed RCA, and the second set are NOS glass bottle 60′s US made 6SJ7. The original power tubes are RCA 6V6, and the second included set are Reissue Russian Tung-Sol. One original and one NOS US 6SN7, one original and one NOS 5V4 rectifier tube round out the complement. The amp has the original 1954 12 Jensen P12Q Alnico concert series speaker with original dust bell, which has just been freshly reconed by THE expert- Ted Weber inc. This Gibson amp is ready to play, and now you can push it into overdrive and louder territories without fear of blowing the speaker! The recone may start to sound even better after a 2-3 week “breaking in” period. This amp accepts pedals very well, and has a bit of “clean head room”- a little louder than a Fender Tweed Deluxe before it breaks up. And “Edge of breakup” is where this amp lives. I often just roll down the guitar volume to 8 for a clean rhythm sound, and when the guitar’s on “10″ and the amp halfway up- strident chords, lead tone for days which will stand out in a band or recorded mix! I made a video to provide a clean sound demo for this amp… Even with my funky vintage Strat under fluorescent lights in the basement, you can tell this amp sounds great! Well, I’m a little bit rusty. Amp is a 1 x12 speaker combo, putting out about 20 Watts (seems louder than a Tweed Deluxe Fender) from the pair of cathode-biased 6V6 power tubes. Should be loud enough for most combo situations, including playing with a normal drummer (Blues, Rock, Roots, Jazz, Country). Only if the new drummer shows up with a Mohawk hairdo, double kick drums, and is a real rock pounder would this amp be NOT loud enough. In that situation, I can heartily recommend taming him with any 50 Watt Marshall aimed in his direction. Or better, keep your classic tone by miking the Gibson amp through the PA. In the home recording studio this Gibson amp really shines. When tracking guitar parts, you’re always looking for a special sound, something different to stand out in the mix. A rare Gibson amp like this can offer tones very different from Fender, Marshall, or Vox amps in the studio. The Octal-based 6SJ7 preamp tubes which run at fairy low voltages produce a unique sound- a throaty growl which would be hard for other amps to emulate. Plus tremolo- did I mention it has tremolo? Measures 23 x 17 x 8 inches and weighs 24 lbs. Easy on your back. Will include a like new blue road case. This amp is ready to play! I have 100% feedback for a reason. This amp comes from our smoke free, Covid free (so far) home. You can make me an offer, but this is a fair BIN price.. The item “Vintage Gibson GA-40 Les Paul Tube Guitar Amplifier 1954 All Original- Tremolo” is in sale since Tuesday, March 2, 2021. This item is in the category “Musical Instruments & Gear\Guitars & Basses\Guitar Amplifiers”. The seller is “dekeknox” and is located in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. This item can be shipped to United States.
- Brand: Gibson
- Amplifier Type: Combo
- Suitable For: Electric Guitar
- Amplifier Technology: Vacuum Tube
