Gibson G55

Mine is a 1974 model. Solid state, of course. High and low inputs, pre-amp volume, reverb, harmonic multiplier (a sort of weak distortion), passive treble, mid-range and bass controls, phase shift speed with on/off and polarity reversing power switch. 100 watts in-50 watts out. Back panel has a breaker, 500 watt grounded outlet, foot switch jack and grounded power cord. The features are what they are, seventies style. It drives a single 12 inch speaker. Amp is very quiet and very loud although useable at bedroom level. The weight is reasonable, even for an old guy like me.

The sound is very clean as you would expect from a 70's solid state amp. I really don't use the on-board effects. Instead I run a 7 band graphic equalizer, a Ibanez tube screamer and a Boss ME-30 multi effects in front of it. With these pedals I can get just about any sound out of this amp that I want. I'm not a big fan of spring reverbs anyway (too boingy for me and I like delay better) and the foot switch on this one doesn't function the reverb, although the phase shift does work. No biggie. As soon as I got it, I replaced the Gibson speaker with an 8 ohm Jensen C12N. Set up the way it is, I really should give it a 10 now, but I'm grading it based on the original sound.

These amps are not built as heavy as the sixties models, but I think you would have to throw it off the back of the bus or plug it into a 230 volt line to hurt it. I really havn't had this a long time (less than a year), but it came to me in near new condition which I think says something about it's longevity. I would use it on a gig, but I might keep the Roland in the car, just in case.

Let's be fair, It's a 34 year old amp. Beyond getting a schematic and a list of repair shops you really can't expect much more from Gibson.

I've been playing about 40 years (Gee, you'd think I'd be a star by now) and the only gig I have at the present is in a big band. This amp is more than able to deal with the horn section and the over-achieving drummer. I play jazz, occasional assorted stuff at church and with friends. I have several other amps, tube and solid state, and use a gold top Les Paul, a Strat and a Gretsch Tennessee Rose. I think they could have made the case a little smaller and an effects loop would have been nice, but I'm happy with it overall and am definitely putting it to use. If the day comes that I have to thin out the herd, this one stays. I'd replace if stolen...if I could find another as nice as this.

This solid state amp was made in the early 1970s. I play loud rock with a vu & sonic youth influence. This amp has high and low inputs and does not allow channel switching. There are three built in effects: reverb, harmonic, and phase shift: all lack 'umph,' however I may be spoiled by decent effect pedals. Although rated at 50 watts, it is quiet enough for home use. I'm not complaining for a garage sale find. The cloth grill is flawless and removable.

I do like the harmonic distortion... you can get some interestingly thick chunk and punch at higher volumes. I play an '63 Epiphone Crestwood Custom, and they sound great together, especially with boss (digital delay) and DOD (classic fuzz & tremelo) effects. At about 6.5, you get decent ss distortion.

I wouldn't necessarily 'gig' with this amp unless full-sound was available. This amp needs a little bit of work including cosmetic repair and possibly a speaker upgrade (looks like we have a paper cone with decades o' dust). As I said before... a true garage sale treasure.

Gibson rocks! I emailed them requesting the schematic missing from their site. They got back to me within 24 hours with not only the schematic but a copy of an ad!

I have played for 16 years and have owned plenty of tube and solid state amplifiers. It is an excellent break from my Fender Hot Rod DeVille which is a bit much for home use. The Gibson G-55 compares to a Kustom Sidewinder with weaker reverb. Great for home use. All in all, this meets my expectations for a solid state amplifier. The design is very straightforward and clean. I wish the Phase Shift knob weren't missing... can't complain for a garage sale find!

No

Very vesatile.

I play a lot of Rolling Stones, Basic Chuck & Jeery Lee rock
some soloing a primative j page.

2 channels

No

Pracice

Pleanty of power but I use a Ampeg SS1 preamp (solid state)

As a great phaser shifter for 70's stones

Variety of guitars dan armstrong plexi & dan arstorng wood with sliding pickup, reissue dan armstorng ampeg wood, Dillon plexi
with mumbers & dillion plexi strat.

Great tone & great volume

No noise

Vox sounds, very clean catheral like sounds.

No distorion very controled withh Amep SS1

So far yes , I have had it for 2 weeks

Does not apply yet!

30 Years

Amepg V4, Amepg jet, premier solid state 10Watt

No thing to hate

Yes great soild state preamp to a great solid state amp

Amp made unknown 100 watt paid $250 at Bronens Music in the Bronx today. I had been looking for a solid state amp, ( a 1969 Standel)

But a year ago I got a ampeg preamp head called a SS1.
It did not work well with my ampeg V4 stack.

But This solid stae preamp & The Gibson g55 is a cleam & powerful.

Good for Stones & Heavy Metal.

I just wish that they had a slave output

I use a Dan Armstrong Plexi, Dan Armstrong wooden (Sliding Pick Up)
Dillon Plxi Strat & Gibson model, Gibson S1 all song great and controlable

I am a happy man.

JOB

This amp is not as versatile as my Ross 65 W am with chorus, reverb, & tube blaster, but it probably exceeds it in clean sound quality. I've never had an amp with two channels, and nobody with any brains would put more than one instrument through any amplifier. No, the
G-55 does not have a headphone jack. My other amp does and I never use it. I just use this amp as an extra one to keep at home for practicing. The other is with the band equipment. My son used to use it for a make-shif bass amp until he got a real bass amp. It survived the abuse of a 5 string Yamaha bass, but the bottom notes sounded pretty wimpy.

When I got the amp at a Garage Sale, it worked alright, but it was pretty crackly until I blew the cob webs out of it. It just hadn't been used for a while. It has a hint of a reverb, a phaser thing, and some sort of over-drive. I really need to get a pedal for either amp to get the sound I want. My Godin electric, model escapes me, with a double coil Humbakker and Godin's own brand single coil pick-ups work well with the amp.

I can't see why I couldn't use this as a back-up if I didn't have the other amp with the better effects. If I get some sort of effects pedal, it wouldn't matter which amp I used. I've never had any problems with this amp.

Obviously, not applicable.

I've been playing guitar for almost 30 years. I oaccasionally also use my Yamaha L, acoustic guitar with a saddle mounted pick-up with one of my amps, but this guitar is in need of some repair, and I tend to favor the Godin electric.

Made in 1971 or '72, works great with my fender 50's strat reissue, has 2 channels, high and low. Not many frills, phaser, reverb (dual spring) and harmonics. Very loud and clean

I have single coils on my Fender Strat and humbuckers on my Ibanez. When playing the Strat, you could cut glass with the clarity of the amp, the humbuckers on the Ibanez are a little more muddy. The amp doesn't distrort much so I use a Boss Metal pedal or a digitech effects pedel. I play a lot of Tom Petty with this amp and it sounds great with this type of music.

The phaser switch sometimes shorts and makes the amp howl like crazy, you'd think it would melt the board but, never has. I'm sure most amps today would require replacement if they were to have some of the EXTREME overdrive from various pedels I have put thru this amp.

Forget it, a 30 year old amp, you fix it yourself or find a competent I&C tech.

I've been playing Bss for over 10 years and bought this amp about 5 years ago because I was too cheap to pay for a decent sounding bass amp. I started playing guitar about 3 years ago. I bought it from a music store it was marked down from $200. It has the original phaser/polarity switching pedel that works great. I would likely never sell or trade this amp for any thing. I have a bassman 60 amp now that I play my Ibanez guitar thru that sounds very full and rich. I'm looking for a vintage tube amp now but am still cheap!! I paid $75.00 and would easily pay double or triple that, for this amp again.

Well, plenty of other people here have commented on the features. I will not add to it then other than to say there are plenty of them for an old amp, but compared to today's models it is a little dated.

Play with a strat and it has a good clean sound. Little more grunge needed is no prob, but I prefer to get my dirt through a pedal.

Tone controls give a good enough range.

Well, it never breaks down. Enough said.

Not really applicable for a vintage amp...

Been playing over 20 years. Not really dedicated, more of a hobby. Had a lot of amps over the years. Have 4 now. I like this amp enough to keep it in preference to a few of the better known 'classics'.

You can get them still pretty cheap, so take it from me, it is a nice little amp for not so much money.

same as what other guys said

using dual humbucker ibanez. Best suited for blues/rock. Effects are plenty usable, but don't expect a phase 90 and fender reverb. Like the other guys said, their range is limited. Ditto on the eq.

That being said, the tones I get are nice enough. You don't need a lot of options if the few you have sound good. Run the pre-amp volume up to 7 or so, and you get a nice, mildly fuzzy sound happening with the volume knob on your guitar turned all the way up, or you can get a decent clean sound by turning down the guitar volume knob. Throw in a fuzz pedal and you've got two more sounds. Change pickups and you've go more variety. Wow! I guess there are a lot of tones in an amp if you know how to find them.

This amp distorts as you turn it up. It's from the 70's--that's how old amps work.

Solid state stuff seems to be about bulletproof. I'd still have some kind of backup, though. Nothing is perfect, and it's not worth taking chances at a gig.

I've played guitar for about 13 years. And that means I've practiced daily for 13 years. I have played long enough to learn how to get the most out of the gear I am using. Maybe more people should try this occasionally instead of griping about how an amp or a guitar makes their tone suck. If your tone sucks, it's because of your fingers, not your amp. Try practicing--you'll be amazed at the difference it makes.

This is a decent amp. Not a super-collectible amp, but worth what anybody else that has reviewed it so far has paid for it. I don't listen to the guys who expect to find a blackface deluxe reverb for $100; that's not realistic. And I hate to hear them badmouth an okay amp because it doesn't sound like the boogie they played at the music store.

Sorry for the ranting. I'm just in a bad mood, I guess.

If you see one of these things for less than $200 and it's in good shape, it's worth buying.

Made in the mid-70s. 50 watts (other reviewer is wrong) with a 12" spkr. Two inputs. Tone controls (treble, mid, bass) are passive and pretty weak. Distortion is useless. Reverb is quaint but kind of weak. Phaser is weak - turn it on - tyr to sound like B-52's and then turn off. Repeat until irritated. No effects loop. Speaker is paper and looks somewhat whimpy.

Used it with a Yamaha strat copy and a MIM telecaster. Can't distort the amp to save your life. It's not so bad to get the twang out of the telecaster. The Yamaha was somewhat muddy - maybe the guitar's fault. Reverb is noisy. Phaser is very noisy. Tone is mediocre. Give me a fender american amp anyday.

Never had a problem here. The pots on knobs were scroungy - but easily cleanable. The thing was 15-20 years old when I got it and probably sounded the same as when it was made. No cracks on the inputs. A strong wind will make the reverb freak out though.

20 year old amp... bought at a pawn shop. The guys who built this thing and could fix it have long since retired and acquired Alzheimers. Me can't answer this category. I never called Gibson to ask about it.

Been playing on and off for 10 years. BASS guitar is my thing. The amp was consistent. Mess with tone controls - no sound change; reverb on/reverb off - minimal sound change. Phaser on/phaser off - no sound change. AS AN AMP MAKER - GIBSON MAKES GREAT GUITARS. Nuff said. I prefer my Rocktron - yes I do and I liked my old American Fender - I shouldn't have sold it. Anything I wish it had? A sister from Sweeden with large...

Not sure of the exact year it was made, guessing somewhere in the seventies. 100 watts, solid state. Has 12 inch speaker. Built in phase and reverb. Treble, mid, bass, master volume, reverb volume, phase speed and harmonic multiplier controls. Polarity switching on the power switch. High and low inputs. Footswitch for the phase effect and external power outlet on the back of the amp. Single channel, no effects loop, line out, external speaker out or headphone out jacks. Essentially just a straight clean very few frills amp. Light weight for its size. I wanted a extra amp with some size and volume I have plenty of effects so theres no problem there.

I use Gibson Les Pauls, Fender Telecasters, and Ric's primarily. I've only played the Tele on it thus far. It sounds ok clean. Nothing to exciting. The reverb had a lot of noise in it. Took it apart and cleaned it, not near as much noise now. Still lacks the depth I like to get sometimes though, but it is adequate. Run a distortion pedal(Ibanez)through to get some grind goin,it does respectable. Once again nothing to awe inspiring here. Volume seems to peak out at about 6.5 but stills has pretty decent range. Phase effect is ok don't know how often I'll use it but it is there. When it is turned on however the amp looses some of its overall volume.

Not really any problems so far, except for the verb but I think that was from just setting around so long and not being used. Haven't had it all that long. Would use it on a gig for a back up(probably never will though.)

Have used Gibson guitars for 13 years never had to contact them for anything. This is their amp though, so time will tell. Even if they aren't helpful I could just pitch it and feel I got my money out of it.

I have been playing for 17 years. Ive had many different amps Kustom, Marshall, Fender, Peavey, Boogie etc. Got rid of most them for one reason or another. The only ones I've ever hung on to have been my home studio setup(Digitech GSP with Fender slave, Boogie 4x12 cab), a little Dean Markley practice amp and my Vox. I bought this because it had some size, volume and nothing fancy. Oh yeah and it was cheap. I've got a big house so it will most likley sit in one of my rooms with a guitar that I don't fancy too much so I can play something when I'm in that imparticular room and the mood stikes me.