Gibson GA-200 Rhythm King

I got a 1959 GA200 Rhythm King from a local repair shop that I do work for. It was in OK shape but need some work to make it gig worthy. Eventually I got around to going through it completely and since it had already been recovered with some cheesy vinyl covering, I restored the exterior to the original tweed and brown. There are two channels here with just treble and bass controls and a compression switch to limit volume. The unique thing about the design on this model is that the input 12AX7 tube has both triodes tied in parallel for a lot of gain. This is pretty much a blues and rock amp. With a good quality 6550's( not the Chinese ones) you can get plenty of power out of the amp.

Good fat distortion really sets this amp apart from most other Gibson amps that came after the 50's.

This is a special occasion amp for me. After restoring it, I am reluctant to take it out for regular gigs, but I have had no problems with it. The thing is a tank. The cabinet is built out of Mahogany. Probably scraps from Gibson's guitar building.

I have done all the repairs on this myself. I doubt if Gibson would provide more than a schematic on a 50 year old amplifier.

Fun amp to own. Great for recording and performing. I love that it has that classic tube sound from the early days of guitar amplification.
No frills just pure tube technology.

i lucked out and got the 1957 or 58 gibson ga200 rhythm king with the tweed exterior in new orleans for 400 dollars.the exterior is a little chewed up but it adds i geuss to the vintage character....the feature of this amp is the purity of the tube tone..it does have a compression knob for one of the channels..

i use this amp with a fender telecaster with stock pick-ups and a late 1970's washburn eagle(?) dual cutaway-neck thru body-dimarzio super distorto pickup in the neck position and a gibson PAF in the bridge..the amp only has three knobs per channel-vol.treb.bass. but the tonal variations depend greatly upon how you play..there is a lot of depth to the warm sound of this amp at any volume..especially with the two guitars listed above..really gets loud with a nice throaty distortion about half way up..good for jazz,blues,rockin out..

when i got the amp it needed a new power cord,other than that no pwoblems

too old fer this stuff..

been playing for years on fender twins and super-six twin...pro juniour tweed amp(great little amp ) and a gibson..this one and the little pro juniour have the best tone and watt fer watt output greater than my cheezy early 70s fender twin and supersix..

1963 model, Gibson GA-200, Rhythm King designation was dropped. 2 pieces. Separate head enclosed in a metal cabinet painted light brown, Bottom is a 2-12" cabinet covered in dark brown tolex. (Very similar design to a Sears Silvertone Twin Twelve where the amp stores in the back of the speaker cabinet) From my research this particular version was the last one Gibson made in 1963. Gibson shipping totals suggest only 203 of these were manufactured. Definitely a bass amp at this point, 2 channels, No reverb. There is a tremelo curcuit inside the amp but was never used,probably left over from the guitar version. Sound is very clean, which you would want from a bass amp.

Very clean sounding with a good deal of midrange. Speakers are not original Gibson but a pair of Fender blue labels so I'm not sure how much different the sound would be with correct original spkrs.

Recently purchase for $165 so I can't say how reliable it is

I am not completely sure of the year the amp was produced, my guess would be 1962-3. It seems to fit my blues style well, so far. The unit has two channels with two inputs per channel, making 4 total inputs. The 60 watts of power is plenty, the amp is able to saturate nicely. This amp produces a warm sound that only tube amp can!

I use a 1960 classic Les Paul (reissue) with a Snarling Dog Super Bah-wah (something like that) set shut for a treble boost through a Snarling Dog Black Dog for extra drive then into a Peavey (stop snickering) Classic 412. However when playing in a large facility, for lead distortion, I only need the Amp, it breaks up very nicely when driven.

Well it's 41 years old, I would have to say that pretty reliable! Believe it or not, it has the original tubes (I cant believe it my self)

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How long have I been playing? I hate that question, I know people who have been playing for decades who suck! What do I love about it? I got it for a song and Its Vintage Baby! Anything I wish it had? Yeah the speaker cabinet this thing slides into!

This amp was maid around 1963,it is all tube and dripping with tone.
It has 2 channels,one is more of a brighter sounding for a good sold
rhythm,The other channel is for lead it does have a compressior
on it thow this does not wook on my amp so I don't know if it wooks
on both channels or just one.It is about 60 watts rms but very very loud it has no reverb but it doesn't need it,hard wood cab. with tweed covering and 2 12's

This amp sound's great with anything pluged into it . If you play blues or jazz this is the amp you want. It is very clean no, distortion just clean blues tone, if this amp is distorting its because you blow a speaker. Very warm sound.

this amp is well constructed of all hard wood's and the chassie is on a hinge so it folds out of the cabnet so all tubes can be reached
easy this is my #1 amp

never had a problem with the amp

I have a 73 twin, an aims,peavy and much more but this amp is my best blues machine