Product: GBX Reverb Bug 112 Combo
Price Paid: traded (Traded an Ibanez silver cadet and a Peavey Studio pro 60 for it) used
Submitted
08/23/2004
at
10:43am
by
Rick
Email: jagstang69 at hotmail<dot>com
Features
:
4
This puppy is a solid state 1972 GBX Reverb Bug loaded with a 12" celestion greenback.
This is a BEAUTIFUL piece of ghetto treasure and I love it with my life. I play mostly grunge/metal/experimental (a la Sonic Youth) and this amp works pretty goddamn good for all of that and more. It has two channels (seperate inputs)
-Clean
-Effects
I play it primarily on the clean channel, The clean input sounds like a cross between a Twin and a Dual Rec., which makes for a pretty awesome sound. the effects input is about 20 db louder but it's really dirty and sounds like an old marshall thats just driven to shit...but if thats the sound yr lookin' for...
The amp has 5 controls, Volume, Lo, Hi, Contour and Reverb.
I use this as my main amp, gigging, jamming, rehearsing, it's loud enough to suit the stage and yet quiet enough to play at home (on like...1 1/2 or 2)
Despite being a 1X12 It's certainly loud enough for live playing and sounds just wonderful in the studio.
as far as features go....this amp is really no Ritzy deal, controls...a speaker...and the previous owner installed a 2 outlet power outlet (absolute GENIUS on his behalf..it makes finding power for pedals that much easier) and an extended power chord
I give it a well deserved 4
Sound Quality
:
9
I am using a japanese Fender jazzmaster, a 1980's Epiphone jr, a Samick Deluxe, and a 60's Vibra strat knock off.
running one of those thru:
-Danelectro Dano-Wah
-Arion Metal Master
-Boss DS-2
-MXR stereo chorus
-Danelectro pepperoni phaser
-DOD Analog Delay
I don't find the amp at all noisy, the only noise is the loud ass hiss from my MXR chorus (anyone know how to fix this?)
The sounds from this amp are just phenomenal (for being a Canadian made solid state amp)
On the 'Clean' channel it has clean tones reminiscent of a Fender twin or a boogie, and it distorts just like a boogie (you know, warm fuzzy and lots of "Ooomph") on the 'Effect' channel the clean has a little more bite and a slight overdrive when you really pound on a chord, and the distorted sound is much more "Marshally"
Soundwise, this little piece of Toronto made junk is amazing, it just fucking blew me away when I first got it, it still amazes me when I play thru it.
I give it a 9, just because I can't get enough 'crunch' out of it..but that's ok
Reliability
:
8
This thing weighs like...100 lbs...or more...it's built like a wooden fuckin' tank...only thing I'm concerned about is that celestion is pretty old and I fear someday might go on me..
other than that I don't see it failing anytime soon...I gig without a back up and thus far have ran into no trouble...then again...I can't say as I have EVER brought a "backup amp" to a show...
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
They went out of business in the 80's.......
got a big book of product photo's/specs etc, with the amp...pretty neat...
Overall Rating
:
9
I've been playing for about....7 years now and I've owned a slew of equipment, of all the amps I've owned this one is by far the best. If it were stolen...I'd probably buy a Yorkville Valve Twin (I been lookin' at one for a while now anyway...) but I would try and hunt one of these Rare beasts down...you only find a quirky piece of tone like this once in a lifetime.
I think this amp would KILL for some wheels though.,,,I'm just too lazy to put some on
