Gibson GA-40 Les Paul

C early sixties, maybe earlier. 2 channel, trem , bass, treble all intact externals grill, logos etc. old, tweed covering.. bought in England. versatility its inimitable pure warm sound and relies on player as do all pre - effects amps

use with a fender strat 59 reissue - absolutely clean but warm - suited beautifully to the fat,woodysound period pick up winds - for english people, the guitar midway setting corresponds exactly to the shadows sound. I play fusion of jazz/country/blues/sitar feel ...you name it ...all suported well by amp. amp has no hum . always mike up for stagework - superb base for added effects through desk - also use Gretsch 59 6120 reissue - superb repro of vintage gretsch sound and supports exactitude of filtertron pickups - enhances that typical gretsch, hollow - around - the - note, acoustic feel - with tremelo is frighteningly 1950`s everly brothers....solunds like an acoustic when guitar volumr turned down with superb bass to top string balance

never fails but i take along a little fender just in case - old jensens can bust....important to get a correct recone or find suitable alternative with not too tigh skin. new jensen available now...are they suitable ?

in England, some good specialists for all amps exist...it`s a basic amp but needs loving awareness...of what it is meant to sound like...i go to a specialist who understands technicalities and feel

47 years playing - this amp maybe 10 years - use only a small fender otherwise - reissue pro junior...if stolen would seek another or use circa 64 fender bassman piggy back with jensens...if forced, would use reissue fender valve combos like deville series. love the tone of this amp...also good for stage sound quality for interactive band. visually love the handle with its locked in tweed - reminds me of honey, and period lespaul logo...also lov the simplicity which is all i want as i do all the work at the guitar end...reproduces my playing technique and sound...effects better added via desk

I found this amp in 1983,in a junk shop in a barn with the amp lying in the bottom of the case and mud dauber wasps and mice finding it a comfortable habitat.Upon asking the old woman who ran the place,"how much"? She said,"ten". I said,"hmmm, how 'bout $5.00"? She said"$7.50"
"done", I said, wondering about my sanity. I don't wonder any more. After cleaning it up and replacing the speaker and 2-6V6 tubes this amp lit up and took off. The case, although dinged up retains it's faux tweed funk and the grill cloth and "les paul" emblem are in good shape. The serial # begins with "53..." which leads me to believe that it is a '53 (if they were manufactured in that year). As you read in the other reviews, it is two channel, single voicing (tone) with tremolo. As of now, only the second channel works but I am working on getting ch. 1 and the tremolo working. I hope it's only the tubes. Anyway, this thing has tone up the wahzoo and after replacing the altec speaker I put in it long ago with something more suitable, like maybe a Jensen, I plan to use it on gigs with a Boss digital reverb/ delay in lieu of the '79 Fender Deluxe Reverb I usually use.
A resident hum was dispatched with a new pair of filter caps

I play blues, rock and americana and use a variety of guitars, both single and double coil. This amp is virtually noise free and carries a deep, gutsy tone in the low-mids which transitions to a sweet, vocal-like quality in the upper registers. there is a point at which the clean sound begins to aquire a smooth, violin-like distortion as the volume increases.

I have not used this amp often enough to form an opinion of it's reliability but given it's former cicumstances I have reason to believe it is fairly durable. It has always worked when I turned it on.

I can't imagine Gibson ever fooling with this thing but , given a cicuit diagram, any qualified repair person shouldn't have any trouble. It seems accessible and well laid out inside.

I have been playing since 1964 and been through my fair share of equipment and must say that I have found many of the transistor amps to be very servicable. However, maybe it's my age, but I still like the smell of the ozone generated by all that high voltage running around in there and the awesome tone that just doesn't come from anything but a good, old, hard tube amp.

Mine is from year 1961 (original Gibson labeled tubes, you know!)Two channels, one "voicing" control, tremolo intensity and depth controls, foot switch for it, Jensen 12" speaker. All tube, also rectifier tube. Strange 5879 preamp tubes, 6V6GT power tubes.

Great for harp players, classic blues sound. Just great!

Hey! This baby is with original tubes from the year 1961, spent 10 years in moist cellar before I rescued it with carrying it away (no money spent) and it works! It is painted green with new? grill cloth flowers painted all over it. Hippie machine. All labels are missing, also plastic part of the handle missing. Original knobs are still there, but upper cover of the back is missing, foot switch is missing...

No parts anywhere, or at least available here in Finland, Europe.

Ugly as devil, but also sounds like it! Great...

This is a 1957 Les Paul amp. It has Two channels, the #1 channel being the hottest. It has two inputs per channel, seperate volume controls, one tone control, and Each channel has a Mic and Inst input. It has a Tremelo with footswitch hard0-wired and a depth and freqency knob. On/off switch, fuse holder and jewel indicator light all mounted on a chrome-plated chassis. The layout is typical for '50s high-end amps, nicely laid out, not fancy, but functional. This amp was optimistically rated at 40 watts, but with 6V6 output tubes, I find that hard to believe. It has the original Jensen P12P speaker, probably one of the best speakers made for my style of playing (Blues, R&B).

I've grown quite attached to this baby in the two weeks I've owned it. I picked it up at the local guitar show, so couldn't really hear it over the background noise, but had read about it in Aspen Pitman's Tube Amp book, and have several other '50s Gibson amps, so I felt confident it would be ok. I was not dissapointed, this baby has absolutely incredible tone as is, but I can't wait to hear it with the Fulldrive II pedal I ordered last week. I've been playing mostly with my '73 Fender Telecaster Deluxe (humbuckers), with the lead PU "dimed" and the amp on about "4", it just wails! To be honest, every guitar I play through this thing sounds great. I even get good sound out of my '60 Guild slimline archtop (think ES-125 TDC), which is usually a hard one to tame the feedback on without killing the natural tone. This amp sounds like a tweed Fender Deluxe on steroids! The cicuit seems to get those 6V6 tubes really cooking, and the Jensen Alnico speaker is legendary, for good reason. It has solid bottom-end, sparkling treble, and mid-range harmonics that are almost as good as sex. This is THE amp for playing Blues! I have over 30 vintage amps, and this is definitely a "keeper".

These were built like tanks, and mine is still in great shape, so I don't anticipate any major problems. The tremolo doesn't currently work, so I'll have to get that looked at, but these babies are all point-to-point, and are covered in Aspen Pittman and Gerald Weber's books, so it shouldn't be a problem. The Logos (Gibson name and Les Paul badge) are gone, but this seems to be common on these. This amp was sitting in someones closet for the last 10 years, and still works, so I think they should pretty reliable. I would still have a backup for a gig, just in case.

This is older than dirt, so warranty is out of the question. Gibson hasn't made amps for a long time (the current ones are relogoed Trace Elliot amps), so factory support is non-existent.

Considering how cheaply I picked this one up, and the way it sounds, I am more than satisfied. These are great amps, and can give you a real '50s tweed tone for less than a grand (getting hard to do). Although it would be nice to have the tremolo working, I didn't buy it for that anyway. I am almost hesitant to rave too much on this site, I'm afraid once the word gets out on these, I won't be able to afford another one.

This is a 1961, two channels, one Voicing control serves as a tone control for both channels. Each channel has a Mic and Inst input. It has a Tremelo with a depth and freqency control. On/off switch, ground switch, fuse holder and jewel light on indicater. This is your very basic ventage tube amp.

This is a very quite amp. I was suprised. Its got great tone, just a little short on highs. I'm amazed at how this amp breaks up. You can crank it all the way to 10 and it just sreams, especially with humbuckers and cleans up a little with single coils. Nice fat distorted power cords or nice fat singing leads are possible with this amp or you can back off on the guitar volume and it will clean up for some nice cording. Channel one is the screaming channel and channel 2 has more highs and a little more clean head room. When plugged directly into the amp, it pretty much starts to break up after 3 on the volume. When I use my Zoom 707 Pedal it gives the amp plenty of clean head room to play gigs as needed. The Zoom pedal makes it feel a little brittle as compared to going direct into the amp but with the pedal, I'm able to increase the highs, get reverb, delay and all the other goodies. With the pedal, it sounds more fender-ish. I would say this is the ultimate blues amp with the early break up. If your looking for an amp to break up real pretty without blowing the walls out, this is the amp.

This amp has bee around since 1961, that should count for something. Honestly, I haven't had it long enough to comment.

Gibson parts are pretty hard to find. Gibson has responded to my every inquary but always refers me to other antique parts dealers. Fender amp parts a plentiful but poor Gibsons just ain't as popular or plentiful. I've been searching for the speaker grill logo all over the internet with no luck. On my amp the "GIB" is missing and only the "SON" is left. You can by fender name plates all day long but just try to find a Gibson. I finally drew out the logo using Bently Miro station(software) pretty close to original. Using that as a pattern I cut out the logo and back plate using vinyl flooring samples. Hay it looks cool and only cost me a little time.

I've been playing 37 years, now 52 years old. I just got the fever for ventage amps here lately and have been looking hi and lo. A friend had this amp for a while and just decided to sell. He let me take it home for the weekend and that was it, I had to have it. The amp works great, it just has a few cosmetic problems: The original tweed has been stripped off to the bare wood and painted brown. I plan to recover it with vintage tweed. The back panel behind the amp chassie was gone. I made another from looking at internet pictures out of 1/4" plywood. The original speaker has been replaced with a Celestion green back. The original chicken head knobs have been repalaced with Fender type knobs. I plan to put the chicken heads back. The speaker grill logo is broke and replaced by a home made logo. The amp glides are gone and will replace with new. I will eventually change the tubes out to NOS if available. I am having a ball restoring this old amp and when I get done(the Lord willling) its going to be one cool looking amp. I want to restore it close as possible to original with the limited parts available. I play country style, rock style, rythem & Blues Gospel Music but I especially love the blues and this amp is a Blues machine.