mshehan Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I came across both of these amps recently and thought they were very cool! I'm pretty sure the Maestro is a 1961 GA-1RT. It's in decent condition, but definitely will need a service. Overall it seems like it should be a cool little bedroom amp. The other one (I believe) is a GA-88S. I'm not 100% sure of the year yet, as I haven't had a lot of time to research it. This one is going to take a bit more work. It does power up, and it works....but the previous owner had modified the speaker cabinets and added speakers (gasp) in order to play a reel to reel recorder through it. The original Jensens are still in the cabinet though. It was apparently modified sometime in the last 60s or early 70s. The original owner passed away in 1974 and these have been in a closet ever since. It seems that when the extra speakers were mounted...the front logos may have disappeared too. The "guts" of the amp are pretty dirty and nasty, but that's not that big of a deal I guess. The good news....other than the "mods" it seems to be in good shape. The price seemed pretty good despite the mods...so I decided they would make good projects. I thought Gibson fans might think they were cool - so I thought I'd post them.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mshehan Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Here is the "bad news"...the other speakers.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I would hold off a bit on restoring the 88S-that one might have come that way stock. Around that time, there were some "stereo" Gibson amps that had multiple speakers, i.e. different types. I'll see if I can find something on that amp, you should too. It might take awile though. I have seem some that I KNOW where stock that I have never seen reference to or in a catalog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mshehan Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Hmmm....well then...I will dig a little deeper. I was under the impression for the guy I bought them from that his dad had done the mods, but I won't make any alterations until I'm very sure. I may pull the baffle out and see what it looks like from both sides. The speakers look to have been linked with alligator clips, and that's what made me think it was a DIY modification. I'll do some deeper research to see what I can learn. Thanks for the input stein!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mshehan Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 This DOES have multiple speaker cabinets as well. One large one and a smaller one that fits inside of the larger one. There is a "Special Design" Jensen in each cabinet. The head can be removed from the larger cabinet, and then the two cabinets can be spread out for the stereo effect. I was under the impression that the only two speakers would be the 2 Jensens...one in each of the cabinets. Granted...I've never seen one of these before, so I'm kinda "winging it" to learn about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Just a bit of googling, I found references to the GA-88s being a 2-12 amp...as well as a schematic that shows two speakers, each with it's own tranny. I found also a reference that shows it being a 2-12 amp that is stereo amp with 2, 18 watt amps with bass and treble controls, no tren, no reverb, and 2 inputs each for mono or stereo. Showed shipping totals of something like 60 or so in '59, just over a hundy for '60, and 20 or so in '61. ONE reference I found (and nothing more on it) showd the amp being a "pull out" deal where the power amp can be pulled out from the cab, and TWO cabs that can be placed away from each other. Found that in the "google images". It makes me curious if the amp was available in a 2-12 configuration, or sold with 2 cabs, and if all of them are "pull out". With so little I found on them, I can't be sure. I think you are likely correct that the other speakers were added, but don't take that as though I am telling YOU what it is...I don't know enough. I WILL say this..that amp is GOT to be a GREAT sounding amp. you got TWO power sections, each of which are El-84's running into a Jensen P12Q. With dual-triode (12a** preamp tubes). Does it get better than that? Normally with old Gibson amps, you get what you get. But THIS one happens to be what one would want as far as the recipee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mshehan Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Here is a picture of how the two cabinets fit together. The cabinet that was the closest to me in the picture (the bottom of the picture) has the head unit in it. You just slide two levers and the head comes out...then the cabinets can easily be spread apart. You are exactly right. I believe that the 2 Jensens are the only original speakers. The others are probably home or car audio from the late 60's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mshehan Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 This shows how the cabinets fit together Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 That's too cool, and handy. My favorite amp is a Victoria "Victorilux" model, with is 4 EL-84 into two twelves, 35 watts. I pull out 2 of the power tubes and unplug one speaker to give me about 18 watts (it also keeps the output impedence correct by unplugging one speaker). I got some vintage P12Q's in it. PERFECT volume for clubs and such, and it is punchy and powerful sounding with the guitar volume down, and turns to a flamethrower when I want. Also, I either have spare power tubes, OR...IF I ever needed to have more power, I just pop in the tubes and plug in the other speaker. Unfortunately, I am down to one speaker cause the other blew. But the tone of those P12Q's is just so good it's worth it. That's why I have such a woody seeing that amp. IF you really think the other speakers don't belong there (and it looks that way to me too), I would unplug those things in an effort to best preserve the output tranny's and the speakers. If you play through the vintage Jensens enough, they WILL blow at some point because they are old. Also, EL-84's wear quickly, so even though they may have lots of life left in them (and even more compared to even a brand new EL-84), you might replace the filter caps and have it biased. (EL-84's don't require biasing like most tubes, but still should have it checked to make sure the resisters and caps and such that control the bias is still what it should be...it's an old amp). If there is an amp that should make a guy exited to hear in all it's glory, I would think that is the one. Having not heard it but judging by the parts alone, I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't sound better (and maybe a LOT better) than the 18 watt Marshall everyone goes nuts over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mshehan Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 That sounds cool - now I'm getting all fired up about it. I am going to take both amps to a tech to have them checked out before I do much playing around with them. For as little as it cost me to buy them ($400 total for the GA-88S and the Maestro), I'm willing to spend some bucks to get them set up correctly to preserve them. I'm pretty excited to see how they turn out! Thanks again for the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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