Gibson GA-8 Discoverer

Volume & Tone knobs. Hi & Low inputs. One 12AX7 preamp/driver, two 6V6's (parallel single-ended) power tubes, one 5Y3 rectifier. One Jensen 12J11 super-duper low-powered 12" speaker. Pretty much perfect, except the speaker needed to be upgraded to something more robust. The low rating is because, there isn't much there. But don't let the number fool you...this is a great amp!

Great. Using a Strat with 3 single coils. With guitar volume & tone dimed and the amp's tone above the half-way mark, the Discoverer starts breaking up around 3.5 on the amp's volume knob. Overdrive gets greater as you turn up the volume, then around 7 gets very fat and compressed. Very little additional volume or overdrive past this point. The stock speaker couldn't put out much in the way of low end. Chords got mushy when driving the amp hard. However, this has been my favorite amp for rocking OD.

Previous owner had coupling caps replaced. Amp still had original Raytheon 6V6's. I never had a single problem with the amp. How many things in your house are from 1961 and work perfectly?

Simple circuit. Any tech could fix it. Heck, you could learn enough to fix it yourself. There aren't that many parts. Just obey basic safety precautions for working on electronics.

Regretfully, I sold the amp because it didn't have enough clean headroom or ability to handle lows. I didn't know enough (at the time) about speakers to realize that a simple speaker swap would have done wonders for both shortcomings. I searched for a long time for a replacement for the amp. I bought an Epiphone EA-35 Devon, which is the same circuit, but the Epi didn't sound the same. Maybe it was the cabinet (seemed more stoutly built than the Gibby), or the speaker (reissue Jensen P12R), but the Devon didn't have the same magic. I will continue looking for another GA-8 Discoverer...not the GA-8 Gibsonette with the 10-inch speaker (with or without tone control). Just an amazing amp.

Volume, Tone, On/Off, Two Inputs, 1 x 5Y3GT rectifier 2 x 6V6 power and 1 x 12AX7 pre-amp tubes. This is rectangular 16H x 20W x 9D model w/ white fabric, oxblood grill and funky resin-like handle. This one actually is the rare (late?) '61 model with the 12 spkr. In fact, I'm prety sure I bought it from the first reviewer here (Rik in SLC)

This amp belongs in the tone hall of fame. Yup, it's that good. And I've played pretty much every amp on the planet too. It puts out about 10 watts RMS, so it is not gig-worthy loud unless you are doing something real small. BUT - it is a dream recording amp. It is a rare breed in that it is a dual single-ended amp. That means that there is no even order harmonic cancellation at all. This is a GOOOOD thing. Basically, it is a double power Gibson GA-5 "Skylark" or tweed Champ. It'll give you a killer clean up to about 4 on the volume control. 5.0 - 6.5 is the sweet spot where you can change the tone by digging in on your guitar and/or rolling the guitar volume up or down. There is a lot of treble on tap. Deade center at 5.0 seems to be the spot there. Do NOT confuse this amp with the ubiquitous GA-8T (the trem version) which is a run of the mill push-pull creature. When I got this amp the stock silver P12T had a rub and no bottom anyway. None of my other speakers would fit due to tube clearance issues. I called Ted Weber and had him design a speaker for it (12A125A variant). Before that speaker arrived I found an old 30 watt "pancake" JBL D123 alnico in my closet and installed that as it fit. HOLY COW! I seriously doubt any speaker will sound better.

It has been re-electrolytic-capped when I got it. But the orig transformers and other good stuff was still in there. I would never change a thing. It's dead quiet and sounds UNREAL. There's really not much to go wrong in this one. The 0.25 baffle is brittle but still going strong. It looks like a mad dog went crazy on a couple of the corners. But it sounds soooo gooood.

I've been playing 40 years off and on. I've either owned or built just about every classic amp out there. This little amp is in my hall of fame and will NEVER get sold.

1962 Discoverer, Volume & Tone controls only. Class A PTP hand wired, Tubes: 1-12AX7, 2-6V6, and 1-5Y3. 12" Jensen Speaker. 9 watts but plenty loud.

I use an Epiphone Emporer II with this amp. The sound is pure heaven, lots of head room, very musical sounding, classic voicing. Sounds like an old Fender Deluxe. At volume above 5.5, its starts to break up nicely and higher volume provide thick boutique Marshallesque distortion.

It's 43 years old and all original (including the tubes), no major issues, just needs a good cleaning.

Gibson is a fantastic company with a useful web site. This item is long past its warranty obviously.

I've been playing for 30 years and have many guitars, amps and effects. I can't stop playing this damn thing, I think it is a very underrated amp. But as these amps become more scarce in the coming years, I bet you'll see the prices climb. I've seen these puppies sell on ebay from anywhere from $350 to $550 depending on the condition. I'll probably buy another one since its such a great value.

I bought this amp for a play-at-home and small gig amp. The amp was purchased in Kalamazoo from the son of an ex-Gibson employee who brought it home in 1964 and let it sit in his (dry...whew!) basement for 39 years, virtually untouched. Thus, I consider it a "new" purchase. This all-tube amp is a Discoverer GA-8T made in late '64/early '65 per speaker and pot codes and has volume, bass, treble, tremelo depth and tremelo speed along with a monitor out and echo speaker (sic!) jack for adding an extension speaker. There is one channel (2 inputs) and the covering is brown textured tolex. My tech buddy replaced the dried up capacitors and removed the "scooped" midrange preset giving this amp a great breakup at about 6-7. This amp tested out at just over 10 (usable) watts and can get fairly loud with its 12" CTS speaker. I am waiting on a Kendrick Black Face 12"er to replace the CTS with. There is some overkill with the treble so I rarely have it set over 6 or 7. The tremelo is rich and sweet. There is no reverb with this amp or this model for that matter.

I mostly play blues, roots rock and C&W with it and am usually using a Danelectro 59-DC, which leans toward the thin, trebly side. There is little noise at most settings though high-treble settings can get raspy. The available tones range from a really nice country/surf "twang" to a rich overdriven crunch. I don't know (yet) what humbuckers would sound like thru this amp. With the Dan-o I'm usually swithching to the middle setting, using both pickups with the tone knobs cutting out the trebly peaks.

So far, so good. I've had the amp for only a few weeks and my tech said that it withstood its 39 years in a basement in fine shape.

N/A

I have been playing for 30+ years and have always wanted a 60s Gibson GA model amp. I am happy with the one I have and really need no more power or features. Well, reverb might be nice.

This is a late 50's model GA8 otherwise known as a Gibsonette or a Discoverer. Gibson rated it at 9 watts. With 2 6V6's running in parallel single ended mode think of it as a double powered GA5. This is the tweed model that has a 10" Jensen speaker and a tone and volume control. It simple but what you are paying for is good old fashioned tube tone. If you want bells and whistles buy a Mesa.

I'm using it with a Strat and a Tele and it works very well as an amp for practice or recording. It goes from clean to just breaking up to full out distorion. This is not a high gain amp. It works well for blues and country as long as you can work within the amps volume and headroom limits.

It was a forty year old amp when I got it so it required some maintenance. I replaced the filter and cathode caps and some of the resitors that had drifted in value as well. I changed both of the coupling caps since they were leaking DC current badly. This really improved the sound and performance of the amp. It is a very simple amp with just a few components so any future service will be straight forward.

Never had any contact with Gibson about this amp.

Overall a great amp with a great tone.

This amp was made in the early 60's--I've seen a lot of talk about both GA-8 Gibsonettes and GA-8 Discoverer Tremelos--never a word about this specific model. Maybe Gibsonette is a nickname, I don't know--please let me know if you can clarify. Like the Gibsonette, it has two inputs, one volume and one tone. I use this amp in the studio for rhythm and lead tones, as well as live for stereo delays. You can crank it and not hear it outside of the house, so that's a plus for practice.

I generally use it with a '79 335 or a modified Tele for Derek and the Dominoes type stuff. I've read the Gibsonettes are noisy, but mine's very quiet. The treble can get obnoxious above 6, but I just set it on 5 and it's fine. With the volume on 5, it's chunky and starting to break up, at ten it's completely saturated. The saturated tones are great for leads, but the tubes sag like crazy (it could be how I've got the amp set up)and chords get real farty.
The 12" Jensen speaker breaks up at higher volumes, I prefer it run through a different speaker--an Eminence 10" sounded particularly nice.
The distortion is very fuzzy, it can really sing those high notes.
With a clean setting and the neck pickup on my 335 I was able to get Duane's tone on "I Looked Away" perfectly.

The only problems I've had have been tubes and the light shorting out--big surprise, the amp's older than I am. Seems to be built really well, and it's less than 20 pounds.

I've been playing 18 years--the last 5 with my 335 and a Mesa Tremoverb. I have a lot of effects but usually only run it through either a Chandler Digital Echo or an echoplex. I don't know if I would buy another for the $300 or so I've been seeing for Gibsonettes, but I love it and wouldn't ever sell it. A bass knob would be nice, but not necessary. If you have any info about whether this is a Gibsonette or something else entirely, please let me know.