Gibson GA15

Made in 2002. I play blues, punk, classic rock,& rockabilly. Just 1 channel, volume, tone, and bright switch. Wish it had the old gibson tube tremolo, but DAMN this amp sounds sweet.Seemed like a 1 trick pony when I first saw it but after 20 min. of playing I had to have it! I practice at home and with a 4 piece band and never have a problem getting drowned out.

I play a tele deluxe with SCN pickups & S1 switching & a frankenstien Tele with Duncan mini buckers in it. They both sound great in the clean tones but the Duncan mini's really sound great in overdrive. You will need pedals for break-up unless you are playing the amp wide open. Oh, did I mention this little briefcase is LOUD. I use an AnalogMan Modded Boss BD2, and Toadworks John Bull for the overdrives. Almost dead silent, even when cranked all the way up!

Bought used two 1/2 years ago. Retubed right away.JAN-Philips 12AX7WAs in the preamp and Genalex Gold Lion EL84s for the power section. Probably have close to 500 hrs on them now and sound great! Took it in to Savage Audio (Savage Amps) last year for a check up and $35.00 and 1 hour later they said all was good. I have never had an issue with this gem

Never dealt with Gibson and never had any issues with this amp!

Been playing for 25 years and have gone through 12-20 amps over the years. Never been much for the BIG$$$ amps. Mostly had old Fenders, Gibsons, & Oranges. I would get this amp relaced in a heartbeat if lost or stolen. It sounds that good and is so portable. Just wish it had that old Gibson tube trem on it

I have an older version of the amp. When they were brown...

Fits great for a bluesy player like myself.

Simple with only a vol., tone, and bright switch.

I have many pedals and have found the Cry Baby Wah, MXR Wylde overdrive, and Boss Chourus to help with the adversity of tones.

I usually play at home, with some friends, and small gigs and it cuts throug the other guitarists' fender delux

I play through this amp with a Gibson Eric Clapton 335 prototype (W/57 classic humbuckers) and a Gibson Custom 1960 les paul special with p90s.

It is a great amp for playing bluesy rock. With the 335 it has a much thicker rythm sound and with the les paul cuts through cleanly for leads.

A fuzzy overdrive can be found at higher volumes but and external od is needed at lower volumes (i like the mxr alot)

well my uncle gave me this amp for christmas about 2-3 years ago. by new years i see a big blue flash from the back of the amp and hear nothing....i take it to the local vintage guitar shop and the owner tells me i blew more than the tubes. turns out i fried the sockets as well which took a week or so to fix. NEw tubes and new sockets 2.5 years later are still kickin'

Gibson is a great company with many great execs. (family) and many great employees (friends) who are always helpful (Especially the custom shop)

Willcutt guitars in lexington ky did the work and bob the owner is a pleasure to work with

Totally worth it!!!!!!!!!

Pure class A valve tone! This single channel/two knob bomb will suit any style from blues, rockabilly, country to classic rock (Zeppelin, Aerosmith, early AC/DC...) It has no reverb but you won't need it... The tone is so warm and deep!

Don't get fooled by the minimalist 15 watt thing, this amp is extremely loud! It might be too loud for rehearshals, small club gigs and home studios and this thing will cut through any 4X12 Marshall half stacks.

On the other side, I would have love to have Treble/mid/bass knobs 'cause to my ears, the single tone control acts more like a treble roll off witch is great at low volumes but lacks a little bit loudness at higher volumes.

I've always been a die hard Gibson Les Paul user and I can say that this amp sounds great with any alnico humbuckers or P-90s. The clean tone is amazing an the amp begins to break-up when the volume knob is set around 10 O'clock. The distortion is perfect for vintage to classic rock type tones but won't get into the metal domain. This amp is perfect for a two guitarist band if the other guitarist is using a more conventional type amp (Marshall for example) 'cause the GA15 will cut through the other amp around mid frequencies and you'll be able to ear both amps clearly and the result won't sound muddy! If you're the only guitar player in the band, you might ask the bass player to increase his own bass and low mid frequencies to cover up your ass (the 10 inch Celestion lacks a bit bottom at high volumes).

I recommend that you guys put the switch at the standby positon about half an hour before playing so the tubes will get hot and the amp will sound a lot better!

I tried this amp with a Strat once or twice and I wasn't really happy with the result... Sounded ducky!

No problem yet :)

I've bought it used in L.A. so I don't have a warranty and I never had to ask the customer support yet...

I've been playing the guitar for 14 years now and I fell in love with that amp as soon as I saw it on Gibson's web site. It has an amazing look and it provides an incredible boutique tone (Most affordable tube amps lacks mid freqs). I would buy it again altough it's been discontinued... It would be my everyday amp but my drummer hates it (he's a high gain distortion freak) so I tend to use my Marshall instead but to my ears, the Gibson Goldtone Ga15 is an all-time favorite although I hate the control panel position (it's on the bottom of the back of the amp).

If you're looking for a custom shop point-to-point wired tube amp, that thing is more affordable than custom shop Fenders, Voxes and boutique gems and the tone will make you smile!

Not many pretty simple amp, Bright switch, tone, volume, input,
external speaker jack. That's it. This is without reverb model.

I just tried each guitar I own in this little thing, it sounded
best the the Gibson LP Standard and ES-335. No noise, unplug not
a pop. I have a perfect '72 Twin Reverb, warm, vintage thick tone, 2x12's. This is a light 15W amp. It is close, damn close in warmth, clarity, touch, texture, pure, warm. Clean is ON BROTHER!

This amp makes your pickups sound great. It gets sound reverberations you tend not to hear. Need I say sensitive?

Here's where this amp falls short...The Celestion Vintage 10"
in the back just doesn't have the bottom end enough to get distortion out of the low end. It tries its about there but
can't take you to a jethro/deep purple sound.

This amp is great for small coffee shops, practice maybe with a bass, but has it's limits and may not be suited for anyone wanting overdrive out of their sound.

Pretty durable, the pocket rocket little tubes
(haven't changed yet) have me squinting back there.
Asking, "you guys ready? gonna make it?"

But I'm sure they'll hold up or I'll get replacements ready.

Haven't had to deal with Gibson for any products I own
mostly Gibson stuff. Great on-line expertise from owners.
That solves 99% of people's problems.

I'm sure the 30 watt and 60 watt owners if they read this
are thinking what did you get a 15 watt for? I got it for the house, to practice to take to small gigs. It's perfect for that.
Very light amp. The sound is great! Thick tuby, clean, will
get noticed on it's own. For $440 for a used 15 Watt amp, I can afford it for that purpose. I paid $450 for a 100 Watt '72 Twin
from a desperate crackhead who blew the felt out. To clean up and
detox cost $200 more. But, just the thought of carrying that SOB
scares the crap out of me. This is a great amp, very versatile, louder than a 30WMarshall I owned once. Grab it!

I play blues, classic rock, and some light metal. This amp is excellent for the blues and classic rock, and sounds okay for metal with a BOSS OS-2. Very basic dual pentameter gain (as mids go up lows go down and vice versa), bright switch, and volume knob. The volume knob is hard to adjust due to easy sliding at low volumes. The features are more than enought. 15 class A watts is louder than I need and gets a good overdrive. The speaker is a Celestion Vintage 10.

Setup: 1980 Les Paul firebrand -> BOSS OS-2 -> Morley Classic Wac -> amp. It is almost completely noise free, even with the pedals engaged. On my old fender solid state the hiss was exceptionally loud. The sound distorts at 5 or 6 depending on guitar. Above that it is easy to get a nice creamy overdrive.

I have knocked this over and no problems, even with the tubes. The speaker is excellent and the tube connectors are good. It doesn't run too hot, but it heats up a small room.

Nice and Basic. Volume, Tone, Bright/Normal Switch.
Ext Speaker output. 15 watt all tube Class A.

Because it is Class A, it can get a bit loud, but that was expected. The sound is pure and clean. Its as good as your guitar. It takes a couple minutes to find the sweet spot, but once u do, its amazing. Sparkling cleans. A nice punchy low end. Highs can get a bit chimey at higher volumes, but that can be tweaked. Sounds relatively good with single coils, but this amp was made for humbuckers and P-90's. Pristine with a Shure SM57 when using a mic through the PA.

Take good care of the tubes.

Have not dealt with.

Sounds somewhat similar to a smaller more compact version of a Vox AC30. I bought it because it is so portable. This is a powerful little amp and has been my main gig amp for a few months now. All shortcomings can be fixed with a few pedals. But once your there it sounds wonderful. It sounds great without any as well.

Built in 2000. Volume and Tone. The way an amp should be.

Sounds fine with humbucker or single coils. Very good clean, not so much for overdrive. Try JJ/Tesla tubes, or an OD pedal.

The tubes burn pretty hot. If gigging, I would bring an extra set, as we should all do with any tube amp. I noticed when the power tubes get old it blows the fuse.

Fair company, great employees!

Nice sounding amp. Very basic. Even though it is a PC board, and some of the parts are cheap (Plastic tube sockets, PCmounted)
it is put together very well. Very sraight forward.

Very basic: all-tube, 1 channel, 1 volume, 1 tone, and a bright switch. Test-drove it in a Guitar Center loud room. The amp is not versatile enough to provide me with all the sounds I want, but fits well with the styles I play: blues, jazz, rock. It should easily handle a small gig or a jam session, but might be too loud for practicing in an apartment. Things I wish it had: gain control, eq, effect loop and/or an instrument/line level out (pretty much a GA-30RVS at half the power and price;).

Guitars played: Gibson LP Studio and Epiphone semi-hollow "Dot". Not surprisingly, the LP sounded more powerful, while the Dot had more breath. The perceived signal-to-noise ratio was very good at any setting. The tone control was quite effective in adjusting high and mid frequencies, leaving the bass untouched (by design), which was troublesome: the amp circuitry responded well to the low tones, but the 10? speaker just did not deliver them right resulting in a boomy (not bassy) sound. It responded to the dynamics of playing very well (even aggressively) but required some time for getting used to it. The amp can be driven fairy hard with the expense of (at times) excessive loudness, but it won?t approach the heavy metal domain.

The amp appears to be well built. I won't rate its reliability because I don't have a history of owning it.

I spent a good hour test-driving it in a store. As perhaps any amp, it takes time to get used to, but due to some of the amp?s limitations, one might need to considerably adjust his/her playing habits; once there, you can shine through it!
I like that it lives up to its specs (you are getting what you?ve been promised) and that with the limited set of controls, it offers a great deal of sound variety. I don?t like all the hype around the Goldtones: they are good quality tube amps that are often overrated and overpriced. I compared GA15 with Pignose G40V (all-tube, has more controls and power, costs 3 times less) and sound-wise they were close. A similarly (to GA15) priced Fender Hot Rod Deluxe offered a richer, a better-balanced sound (with an LP) and a lot more features.
All in all, GA-15 is a very basic, good sounding, all-tube guitar amplifier with certain limitations that can be overcome via some pedals (which will add to the already inflated cost of it). It won?t interest hard-rockers, but it is sure to deliver the vintage clean tones and some bluesy overdrive at a small gig.

Not many features here, a single celestion 10" speaker, 15 watts all Tube class A circuitry, volume, tone and a bright switch. If your an effects head, forget this amp. But, if you want the pure sound of your pickups and your guitar licks, this is the amp!

I own (2) Tele's and (1) Esquire. One of my Tele's has Joe Barden pickups installed and it screams thru this amp. The other tele and esquire have stock Fender Pickups and the sound is pure.

Not sure yet, the first G-15 that shipped to me was D.O.A. I'm thinking it may have got knocked around during shipment since the box was pretty beat up. The second amp shipped to me has been operating perfectly.

Haven't dealt with Gibson.

What I like most about this amp is it's size, power and sound quality. This isn't a cheap amp if you buy it new, but it is ALL tube Class A circuitry and it's worth the bucks if you want a pure tube sound. This unit can cover just about anything, use it at home for practice or recording, use it on any gig and move it with ease. I wanted no frills tube amp that captured the sound of my Tele's and this amp does it exactly.

The GA15 has only two knobs for tone and volume, a bright switch and the on/off switch. No effects loop, no EQ, nothing more. One channel, pure Class A tube power. Does not need more. All you need is there. If you are the guy who wants to tweak a thousand knobs all night long then this amp isn't for you. If you look for great sound, easy handling and pure guitar tone - go ahead and you get everything you need.

Just 15 watts, but believe me: This amp is loud. I owned a lot of amps with more watts but less power. Definitely enough for club gigging. The sound is fat and juicy, real tube sound. I own a Dr. Z carmen Ghia too. The Gibson sounds way better, much more bottom end, more power and tube feeling. It has a brit character, the Dr. Z sounds more American. I own(ed) some amps: Mesas, Line6, Brunetti, Dr. Z but this little Gibson thing beats them all. Truly an amp of its own class. If you plug in your guitar it is hard to believe that this small peace of gear makes such a big sound. If you connect the GA15 to external speakers (e.g. 2 x 12 " Orange Box as I did) than you get more volume and punch. No way: This must be a 10 in sounds.

It seems to be built like a tank. Did not break down yet.

I did not need the customer support yet. The people say good things about Gibson. I mailed to Gibson severeal times with guitar questions and alway got an answer within one or two days.

Great amp. Pure high quality sound. Easy handling. Built like a tank. Easily beats the boutique amps. Until now I just found one amp that is as good as the Gibson GA15: The Orange AD30R - but this is a different animal. I will never give it away. Small and sexy!

You'll have read all the stuff below, so you know there's not a world of controls round the back of this thing. However, if you include the sound as a feature it's a solid 10. It is also, as others have said, pretty damn loud for 15w. Have watts got louder over the years?

I use this with a '56 ES-225, which means a single P90, and with a '79 Les Paul Custom with a diMarzio, a PAF and a standard humbucker. As others have said, this amp responds to an almost organic degree to what's put into it, so there's a world of sound to explore without touching the controls on the back.
Which is lucky, since the tone control's pretty pants: it can do warm or bright, but that's about it. No matter, the guitar does the rest.
Cranked hard and it gets all the warmth and harmonic jiggery-pokery of a great valve amp, but doesn't really go into crazed metal territory. Billy Gibbons would love one of these.
I use it for a '50s jazz combo too, and the ES through this little box sounds warm and rich and lush, with just a hint of growly drive for solos. It makes me sound much better than I am, and for that alone I love it.

Built to last by Trace Elliot, thought through and quality work. If there's a drawback it's the covering on the box, which is a bit soft and will probably get mangled over time. Ah well.

Had to take it to Trace Elliot to get the voltage changed (an American purchase brought back to the UK) - fixed and tested in a day, with all the advice (and gossip) I could ask for. Quality.

Been playing for years, have a ton of junk (but I'm reducing it) and wanted to get away from amps with hundreds of knobs that do very nearly the same thing through cabinet after cabinet of funny-sized speakers: so I bought a little brown box with one real knob and one speaker, and it sounds wonderful.
Part of me now fancies trying to add to it, but what's the point? It sounds great, so perhaps I should get on and play instead of fussing about more knob-twiddling.

Made in 2000, bought new in 2002. Very basic, single channel class A 15 watter. Two knobs, Vol. & Tone, one input,a bright switchand, a 16ohm speaker out. 10" Celestian speaker. This amp lives by the less is more rule.

I primarily play a Hamer Artist Custom and a American Strat. This amp is pure classic rock tone, which is exactly what I have been searching for. I keep the bright switch off, put the tone at 12o'clock and the volume at 3 o'clock. I can go from crystal clean to rockin' with a flip of the pickup switch and a twist of the volume on my guitar. I was really suprised by the depth and warmth of the lows. This thing looks like a toy and sounds like a 1987 plexi half stack. The amp is quite, but has made me realize how noisy the neck pickup on my strat is. One negative is that like all single channel non maser vol amps it has to be loud to get tube distortion. I naively thought that 15 watts would be managable, but, it is really loud!

This really hurt. The floor model worked great, but, the one I took home was DOA in the box. Sam Ash made good with an exchange, but, if they hadn't had one it would have taken 6 weeks to get fixed. My point is make sure you open the box and try it out before you leave the store.

I haven't dealt with them yet because I was able to get a new amp from the retailer. However, I thought it sucked that the amp would have to be "sent out" to be repaired.

You can't believe this is a 15 watt amp. It is loud, and has incredible SRV/Jimi "balls" to its tone. For $400 bucks this is a great buy.

Tone, Volume plus a bright switch. Very simple 'set it and forget it' design. ext speaker out. Class A, all With one 10" Celestion G10 60W speaker. All the inputs and controls are accessed from the back of the amp (which looks a bit like a heater) The front of the amp features a gold colored metal grill with a celtic cross hole pattern (which looks like your old highschool PA/talkback system) there is a big fat gold gibson logo just under the speaker grill. IMHO, this is a butt ugly amp! But the ears definitely like it!

I use a 1964 strat. This amp is one of the best sounding little suitcases I've ever heard. It is only 15W RMS but it specifies a 30W peak on the back of the chassis. I dunno, for a little tiny amp, it's loud as hell! The greatest thing about this amp is its tone stays clean as a whistle all the way up until about the 4 o'clock position of the volume dial. It features a bright switch, and if the tone is turned all the way up, it gets disgustingly bright and ringy, in other words, there are plenty of tones to choose from in between. This amp sounds great turned up about 3/4 tone rolled back halfway w/ volume on my guitar choked back about three notches. I've finally found a unique voice for my lead playing with this amp. It's all I'll ever need. This is the kind of amp that forces you to play better, it's that responsive... no lie, i'm dumbfounded.

ok so the cheap leatherette type covering will probably not last very long, big deal, I plan on recovering it with blonde leather and putting an oxidized copper patina on all the hardware ... the guts seem rock solid ... the power/standby/off switch is plastic, so we shall see if these break down with time.

I haven't had to deal with customer support yet

I'm locked into a major studio product right now and someone was nice enough to let me use this amp for some tracks, although I have a few vintage Gibson amps. Probably made in 1999. Very basic and simple: 1 input - bright switch - volume - tone - external speaker out and 10" speaker. Definately Class A circuitry and this amp is built right! I'm inclined to believe this amp will put out 20 watts RMS, although its rated @ 15 watts rms. Very loud! It can be clean or you can dial in some dirt with the volume. This amp is well built and sounds terrific in the studio.

I use a vintage Gibson LP (it can get a little heavy as I've been playing since the sixties) and a custom SG Special Limited Edition.
My vintage Special was stolen and Wayne Green at Gibson put together a hot rod for me, and I must say it's the finest guitar I've ever played, as it is really proving itself. Now, I like to track on old Neve and mix on SSL in the studio. Not surprising, this GA-15 holds its ground, and anyone who hasn't tried one is really missing out, as it sounds fantastic, rather quiet and records very nicely. Used a pair of Neumann KM 184 small diaphram condenser mics in a tight stereo pattern, and it sounded lovely: Incredible dimension, tight warm bottom and sparkling mids. When I wrap this project up I'm thinking about buying one of these, as it has a great more detail than the Fender Blues Jr, Laney LC 15 or Pro Junior I've used in a studio setting. Frankly they are all out classed compared to the Gibson. It will deliver warm clean sounds to smooth distortion and again can be quite loud. I was rather disappointed with a Marshall valvestate I bought for this recording project, as I was using it in combination with a 1965 Gibson GA 5 Skylark and decided to go with just the Skylark, as the Marshall sounded awful.

Having played a wide variety of gear since the sixties, Gibson is about the only company that I know of who refuses to compromise on quality. Many of the the musicians I have talked with are rather dissapointed with many of the products being made today. The recording business is where you get to sort and weed out the junk. Do yourself a favor and go with the Gibson GA-15, you won't find any plastic inputs on this amp, unlike the Fender and Marshall's I've used.

Don't be surprised if the manager or person you're talking to on the other end of the line doesn't play guitar. These guys love and live music. Really nice folks that have their act together. Sorry, but Marshall, Fender and most of the others don't. Very sad for the young musicians out there.

I've been a professional musician and producer for many years and have had the priviledge of working with successful artists and songwriters. Buy yourself good equipment that is simple. Having thousands of digital effects is not going to make you a better player - simplicity and classic designs will always be in style, which is why I recommend
Gibson. Recording is a serious business and your first impression may be your last impression - go with the best!

This is Gibsons revamp of the Velocette all valve Class A.. Still yet to go on the market and I am the lucky one with serial No. 1 !!!. It has 3 switches. Volume, Tone and Bright. It also has an external speaker out. Although it has The Retro look, the handle is plastic. A leather handle would make the look ideal. Although it's 15 watts, don't let that fool you. The tones are very powerfull.

I use a Jimmy Page Les Paul and Fender Telecaster 52 vintage. I also use a Fender Twin, Digitech 2120. I can get most sounds I need from Country to Heavy Metal etc. With this Amp, I can go back in time. The clean sound is ideal, however there is no reverb. To get original distortion, I wake up the neighbours by increasing the volume control. The only noise is from the Telecaster. Settings depend on style and so far so good.

Only had it for 5 days but knowing ths distributors reputation, I won,t be concerned about repair. However, its so well built I can't see anything going wrong.

Rosetti, the English distributor are well known and helpull.

The overall thoughts of this baby amp is that it's not a baby and will stand up to gigs and travel without any problems. It's very much a Pro and the sounds, NICE. It would have been nice with some form of reverb and independent bass and treble controls. Oh yes, the leather strap. It's not cheap but it's all valve !!