Gibson GA42RVT

[hatandm]

avalonpb-

I believe I had the exact same thing! I took my back panel off to look at the tubes and it was clearly worked on before. Some of the Tolex was stripped off of the bottom. For paying full price, that is a f***in' screw. Mine hummed a lot in the Triode mode, as well.

[SongRider]

I have had mine for about a week now. It sounds fantastic. Thick and rich sounding. I am only using channel 2 because I use pedals for my distortions and overdrive. But it takes them well. No noise. Nice and punchy. I replaced the first 2 preamp tubes with tung sols which was an improvement over the stock ones. I will replace the rest in due time but as for now it just sounds great!

[Slamdozer]

China? These are made in the USA dude. Anywho, the hum that you are talking about comes from not properly breaking in the amp. It will go away. There are directions out there to tell you how to break it in. I've come across this with other tube amp's. Like a good motorcycle, the motor needs some break-in time on it. Put about 40 hours on it in pentode mode first before you overdrive the tubes. Single coils may make the hum more apparent, but it would be there anyway with buckers.

 

P.S. This is a "traditional" piece of equipment - meaning that in reality the electronic components were designed and specified before even a microwave was ever in your house. Old school homies. Basically you'll have to boil your hotdogs, but they taste so much better!

 

But if you want to hear this amp check out my band http://www.myspace.com/stereocommission .

Read some previous posts here and make your decision.

[ES345]

As I stated in my message above:

 

""these amps are fantastic sounding but they do have some quality control issues, Gibson told me they were made in china (this was about a year ago) and some assembly in the us. i also found that the back of both amps were not cut exactly square and required quite a bit of work to get the back on and off, this is required for changing tubes.""

 

 

 

The chassis ( the guts, electrical circuitry and components, wiring) is made/built in China, and then assembled into the amp/cabinet in the USA, and the baffle board, cabinet design are all very important to tune the sound and regardless of where they are made/assembled, they are great sounding amps that are a great value, but i had some quality control issues, reverb was inoperative, 2nd amp fuse blown during first turn on, a friend's experienced a fuse blown on the first one he had , and no tremolo on the 2nd one, and backs hard to take off and replace.

 

If the entire amp was made, especially the chassis in the USA, you would probably be looking at double the price.

 

But as i also stated if you've got a good one.... great. Maybe they have worked out there quality control issues, hopefully so.

 

 

The following message was received from Gibson customer service, 10/13/2008

 

 

Hello,

 

Gibson amps are designed and assembled in the USA.. The chassis section is built in R.O C. (Republic of China) and then shipped to US for final assembly. Thanks.

 

Best regards,

 

Bob Burns

 

 

Gibson Customer Service

1-800-4GIBSON

service@gibson.com

 

 

 

peace

[avalonpb]

China? These are made in the USA dude. Anywho' date=' the hum that you are talking about comes from not properly breaking in the amp. It will go away. There are directions out there to tell you how to break it in. I've come across this with other tube amp's. Like a good motorcycle, the motor needs some break-in time on it. Put about 40 hours on it in pentode mode first before you overdrive the tubes. Single coils may make the hum more apparent, but it would be there anyway with buckers.

 

P.S. This is a "traditional" piece of equipment - meaning that in reality the electronic components were designed and specified before even a microwave was ever in your house. Old school homies. Basically you'll have to boil your hotdogs, but they taste so much better!

 

But if you want to hear this amp check out my band http://www.myspace.com/stereocommission .

Read some previous posts here and make your decision.[/quote']

 

I've been playing tube amps exclusively for over 25 years. I have never ONCE had a tube amp become less noisy over time. Typically class A guitar amps are noisier (esp when they are only pseudo class A like this one). However, noise is typically due to transformer vibration or bad lead dress. In the case of the amp I had the transformer had hum/vibration issues. I ended up sending the amp back for exchange (which I am still waiting for). It was clearly used and clearly had been returned - and probably for the hum problem.

[Slamdozer]

To each his own. There is not a transformer in the world that doesn't hum. I work on small (0.5 A) to large (13.8 KW) transformers not as a hobby but as a job. There is plate hum on every one, fact. Changing taps to reduce to a lower voltage or even increase voltage to a higher level than incomming voltage, thats a transformer. Check that the reverb and tremolo tubes are tight, that could be a source of high hum between pentode and triode mode. Turn them off, if the hum goes away there you have it.

 

http://www.myspace.com/stereocommission

[hatandm]

What would be the best size power attenuator for the GA42RVT? An 8 ohm or a 16 ohm? I'm new to attenuators and don't want to screw up this awesome amp. I was looking for the Gibson Stealth Power Attenuator and it appears to be discontinued. Does anybody know of a place where I could pick one up?

[Slamdozer]

What would be the best size power attenuator for the GA42RVT? An 8 ohm or a 16 ohm? I'm new to attenuators and don't want to screw up this awesome amp. I was looking for the Gibson Stealth Power Attenuator and it appears to be discontinued. Does anybody know of a place where I could pick one up?

 

THD Hotplate is the brand. The 8 Ohm would be the best.

 

That is who made the Gibson before discontinuation as well. I emailed them before I bought mine to see what they would recommend. Here is the link. Cheers.

 

http://www.thdelectronics.com/product_page_hotplate.html

 

http://www.myspace.com/stereocommission

[fenderson]

hey there,

 

i am almost ready to order on of this (two speaker version). are their any other things to report about this? how are they holding up? do these come with covers as well? the photo looks like they have one tucked away in the back. are the speakers alnico or ceramic? has any one cracked opened and looked at the wiring and if so how does the work look? i have been wondering if there would be hand-wired chinese amps available anytime soon. glad that gibson took this chance. could be a great combo (lest the quality control issues persist). does anyone have pics to post of these amps with more details than i can find on line?

 

also. how is that issue with the wattage (triode/diode) switch? that was key to me wanting one of these. does anyone have more details about the specifics on how that works? does it cause problems when you switch it when the amp is on?

 

has anyone tried to play with this amp live?

 

how is the break up when it is turned up?

 

thanks' for reading this

[Bluesguy]

Hey Everyone!

 

I just ordered a GA42RVT that they claim is a limited edition. In any case

I have always been a Fender guy, but wanted to try something different. My question is,

is the Bias fixed in these amps so that I can change out power tubes without sending

it to an amp tech to have the bias set?

I am hoping this amp works out well as some of the comments are making me a bit nervous

about going out on a gig without bringing a back-up.

Thank for your help.

[Slamdozer]

Here's what I've got: playing out Saturday night, only taking this baby.

 

I use this amp as my primary during practice, which lastes about 3-4 hours, of constant high volume play time. I don't have issues with the triode/diode switch because I don't use it, have a power break. Bias I don't know, I'll just buy biased tubes if I need to replace them - cheaper overall anyway. I'll fill you all back in on after my gig. Mine came with a ltd. edition sign on it, but it wasn't mentioned it would be a ltd.

[Bluesguy]

Hi All,

 

I contacted Gibson about having to employ an amp tech to check the bias on the GA42RVT if

you change out the tubes and I wrote their response below for those that may have the same question.

I also learned from doing some research that the reference in my post to an amp having "fixed bias" as meaning the

bias never has to be checked when changing out power tubes is totally incorrect. While the term is confusing, put

simply, it means that a fixed bias amp will not have a pot to adjust the bias and would require a more involved operation to set it.

Sounds dangerous to me...I'll just continue to play'em and let an amp tech handle the maintenance.

 

Have a Great Day!

 

Thanks for contacting Gibson. The GA-42 RVT is a cathode bias amp, so there is no need to bias after changing tubes. Thanks.

 

Best regards,

 

Gibson Customer Service

1-800-4GIBSON

[335guy]

hey there' date='

 

i am almost ready to order on of this (two speaker version). are their any other things to report about this? how are they holding up? do these come with covers as well? the photo looks like they have one tucked away in the back. are the speakers alnico or ceramic? has any one cracked opened and looked at the wiring and if so how does the work look? i have been wondering if there would be hand-wired chinese amps available anytime soon. glad that gibson took this chance. could be a great combo (lest the quality control issues persist). does anyone have pics to post of these amps with more details than i can find on line?

 

also. how is that issue with the wattage (triode/diode) switch? that was key to me wanting one of these. does anyone have more details about the specifics on how that works? does it cause problems when you switch it when the amp is on?

 

has anyone tried to play with this amp live?

 

how is the break up when it is turned up?

 

thanks' for reading this[/quote']

 

I just got my GA-42RVT today! I couldn't wait to turn it on. It was well packed but obviously UPS had been banging it around as the bag that holds the reverb tank had come loose and was stuck to the speaker magnets. Very small screw holding the bag down and only one, as opposed to 2 on Fenders. A simple fix. The back came off easily enough after removing 6 screws. The speakers are Eminence Legend 12's and are ceramic magnets. Few amps come with alnico magnet speakers anymore; some but not many. I didn't remove the chassis as I wanted to hear it. That will come later so I cannot comment on the wiring or solder job. So, how's it sound? Pretty damn good! At moderate volume, it can be very Fendery clean and crisp. Channel 1 is voiced different than 2. It has less bass and a bit more mids than 2. It also breaks up sooner. Channel 2 gets a little louder before break up but not by much. If you use hot pickups, they appear to drive the pre amp sooner and the amp breaks up sooner. But all my guitars sounded great. Very "organic" sounding. My 335, my Tele and my Strat all sounded very good. At moderate volume, the single coil Fenders were clear and ringing. They could cut like a knife IF you edge the treble all the way to the right. But oddly enough, the louder you turn this amp up, the more it compresses the sound and the tone gets fuller and less trebley. When playing it loud on either channel ( at 3 oclock on the volume ), I needed to add more treble to clear it up. I had to roll the bass all the way off at high volumes, especially on the 335. It flat out sings at higher volume. The distortion is sweet and sustaining. In the triode mode, full volume can sound a little fizzy, so I keep it in the pentode/full power mode. It has a midrange punch that's probably due to the two 12's and the deep wood cabinet. This amp could have been built lighter. This sucker is heavy for a 30 watt amp. But it appears to be well made. There is no cover the comes with it. That's the reverb bag you can see on the bottom. No place to store the footswitch either. That seemed odd to me. The mix channel is kinda cool because not only can you go from 1 to 2 via turning the volume knobs, but also, it blends the different channel voicings and eq's. This is a big benefit when trying to dial in that just so tone and EQ. One could use a channel switcher to switch from 1 to 2 as well. I haven't tried that yet. I'm sure it will work. This amp isn't that loud really because it seems to compress the more you turn it up. I have a Fender Vibrolux Reverb that will out roar this but this amp sounds more "complex" and less brittle. It is a much darker sounding amp at higher volume than my VR. Only time will tell if it is reliable. I got mine at AMS and they double the manufacturer's warranty. I'm looking into some tube replacements but really, the Chinese tubes in there now aren't bad. Better than the standard Sovtek's. For 9 bills, there are some good amps out there. But to be able to get an all hand-wired, 2 x12 combo, all tube reverb ( which could be better. My VR's 'verb sounds way better ) and tremelo, dual channel "boutique" sounding amp for less than a grand. And have it look pretty great to boot? Un-heard of. Since these probably won't be around that long, I think I'll keep mine in the hopes it will retain it's value

[ES345]

335Guy,

 

Nice report, i hope it works out well for you. when i had mine i used a whirlwind ABY switch to combine, blend the two channels, and it did sound great.

 

Sounds like they may have there quality control under control, and you are right a lot of amp for the money.

 

 

best of luck with it.

[335guy]

ES345,

 

Thanks. For those wondering about biasing after a tube change out, I saw no biasing trimmer pot on the outside of the chassis. This makes sense as Gibson says this is a cathode biased amp, not fixed bias. A fixed bias amp can and should have the bias trimmer pot in it. Here is a great article on biasing and the difference between fixed and cathode. http://www.aikenamps.com/WhatIsBiasing.htm

[335guy]

ES 345,

 

I wanted to say, nice 345! What year is it? I used to have one myself. I was told it was a '60 but I never verified that. Mine was the cherry red, gold hardware, all stock and in fair condition. It had the stop tailpiece and vari-tone and the sweetest neck I ever played. Maybe a little too thin for many players but as I have small hands, it was great. Alas, I sold it. Wished I would have kept that one. I now have a '97 RI ES 335 dot neck finished in what I'd call "tobacco sunburst" or vintage sunburst with nickel hardware. Mine has quite a bit of flame as well. The PU's are classic 57's and I love them. IMO, this is a very fine guitar. The neck is ever so slightly thicker and narrower than that 345 but still very comfortable. The frets are wide and low, and not those "speed bumps" called jumbo frets. Yuck! The tone and craftsmanship seem to me to be as good as that earlier 345. In fact, I think the tone is richer in some ways without the vari-tone, which some have called a "tone sucker." My ONLY issue with this guitar, and my old 345 for that matter, is the bridge. Even after adjusting the saddle all the way back, an un-wound G string still is ever so slightly sharp at the 12th fret. Outside of that, it's great in every way. I'll bet your's is as well!

[ES345]

First that amp ought to sound great with that 335, that amp sounded great for both jazz and blues, rock as well.

 

My 345 is a '62, i bought it new. it is the gold standard for me in tone and playability. and i am in total agreement on the low frets, i totally dislike jumbo, med jumbo etc. i guess this is more old school. thanks for your comments, enjoy the amp. I still have a GA 6, i bought new (late 50's) as well, still sounds good, after new caps etc.. And i have the Gibson, GRVS 30 watt head, i am not sure of the letters but that coupled with the cabinet, 2 12's closed back and 2 10's open back, vintage 30's is a great sounding amp but not practical for moving around, way too heavy. These were made i think starting in 2000, that is when i got mine, mfg. by Trace Elliot, UK.

[Slamdozer]

This amp is still performing awesome!

Want to hear it? http://www.myspace.com/stereocommission

[SongRider]

I have been pushing mine hard for about 2 months and so far so good. I put some SED power tubes in and 2 tung sols in V-1 V-2 and then tads to finish out the preamp and it absolutely sings! I love this amp and I am planning on getting another in the future for stereo!

[weebleWobble]

A Question: I just got one of these and was wondering if, since these speakers are wired parallel, I can use the lower resistance inputs to push with more power at say 8 ohms. I'm not sure if the 4 ohms would work out???

[wichtermaster]

Does anyone have a problem with the amp crackling when you first start to play. Mine crackles for about 5 minutes. I wish I would have known these weren't fully American or I wouldn't have purchased it. I believe in supporting American instrument manufactures due to way too much out sourcing.

[Jack Dotson]

I bought a GA40RVT a couple of months ago and have found one guy on TGPRI that has one and he and I have shared our experiences, but that's it. Mine had a fizzle sound on certain notes when I first got it. I read that someone else had this issue and returned their amp. I contacted Sweetwater and their technician said it sounded like a faulty tube so they sent me a set of Tung Sol replacements and that fixed the issue. Mine has worked like a champ ever since. Bad tube says nothing about the amp.

 

Mine came with Sovtek pre-amp tubes and some generic Chinese power tubes. Other then the fizzle they actually sounded pretty darned good. The Sovtek's aren't bad either, but I always roll tubes until I find a combination I like. As others have noted, channel 1 breaks up a little sooner and has a more mid-range. I think it sounds allot like an old Marshall. Channel 2 is pretty much a scooped Fender Black-face type sound. Because of the cabinet size channel 2 has a huge bass and I set it almost at the minimum setting on anything higher then bedroom levels. The bass tone control on this channel has little effect past noon. Some have complained about the reverb, but I think it's great. It's not overdone and sounds like natural reverb which IMO is the objective. The tremolo is absolutely awesome. Every bit as good as the excellent trem on my old DRRI.

 

This amp, like most Gibson's, has a little darker sound then your typical Fender. When pushed it has a silky smooth break-up that sounds awesome. It takes pedals well. My Full drive II sounds great with this amp. The stock speaker in mine was an Eminence Legend. I wrote Eminence and found out it's the now discontinued Legend Modeling 12. This speaker is designed to be neutral sounding and I found it to be too thin. Someone mentioned theirs came with a ceramic magnet. I guess they must have changed speakers at some point because this one uses an alnico. I've been trying various speakers to help tame the bass and bring out the characteristics I like. My favorites have been the Legend G128, Weber Blue Dog Ceramic 30 and Celestion V30 in that order with the G128 and BD-30 being pretty much a coin toss. A simple speaker change makes a huge difference as the stock speaker pretty much sucks IMO. I've settled on a JJ in V1, Ruby in V2 and PI and Tung Sol's for the reverb and trem and TAD 6L6 power tubes. The TAD's were recommended for this amp and I think their an excellent choice. I've also tried my JJ's and the Tung Sol's, but to my ears these are best.

 

I still have a couple of speakers I'd like to try, but over all I'm very happy with this amp. I can't believe that it's not more popular and have no idea why. I mean, come on. Hand wired PTP, 30 watts class A with pentode/triode modes, dual channels with totally different voicing plus a third combined, tube driven reverb and trem (available on all channels), full tone stack on 2nd channel, solid pine cab, etc. What's not to like? DRRI sale for more and sale like hot cakes with that cheap PCB board Fender uses these days.

 

BTW, this amp has dual 4 Ohm and single 8 and 16 Ohm outputs. I was curious why two 4 Ohms, but I figure it's probably so you can drive two 8 Ohm loads simultaneously. I'm not sure about this, but I've sent and email to Gibson to find out. If this is the case then it's another feather in the cap for this fantastic amp. I'll be able to drive an internal 8 Ohm speaker and an outboard 8 ohm cab at the same time. Awesome!

 

Anyhow, just thought I share my experience for anyone who might be considering these amps. IMO with a couple of minor upgrades these can run with some of the best boutiques at a fraction of the price. BTW, I've also been told the output transformer was based off a Marshall plexi, but I can neither confirm nor deny.