Gibson GA15RV Goldtone 112 Combo

REAL SIMPLE, BUT THE TONE CONTROL IS THE KEY

THIS THING IS GREAT WITH ANY GUITAR. MY NIGHTHAWK KICKS ASS, MY TELE WILL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF. RETUBED WITH JJs what a difference WOW!!I LOVE TO PIN THE VOLUME AND WORK TH GUITARS VOLUME. THE REVERB IS OK ANYTHING PAST 3 IS WEIRD.

A FEW PROBLEMS SOME CHEAP PARTS. THE CABINET IS ROCK SOLID.

MY FREIND IS A AMP TECH. NO NEED!

ONE OF THE BEST SOUNDING SMALL 15 WATT AMPS AROUND. I HAD THE FIRST VERSION OF THIS AMP, AND IT WAS BETTER THEN THE NEWER ONES

This is an update to a review I wrote about two years ago. In that review I complained that the Celestion Vintage 30 was too harsh and "honky" and that the amp sounded "boxey". Consequently I always played it through an external cabinet.

But recently I bought a Warehouse Guitar Speakers Veteran 30 speaker and I think it is a great match for the amp at gig volumes. The speaker has a similar punchy and tight bottom end like the Vintage 30, but it sounds less honky and the highs are much smoother. Even though the "honky" mids are tamed, it still cuts through the mix very well. I also use a Weber Beam Blocker to diffuse the highs. Now the amp doesn't sound quite so boxey.

Lately, at gigs, I've been using the 15-watt mode (which gives you more bass and highs), bright switch off, tone around 9:00, volume around 10:00. At this volume the amp starts to "open up". The bass is somewhat punchy (however, no Metallica-like thump, which is fine by me) and the highs are smooth. I mainly use an Xotic BB Preamp pedal for distortion.

You may find this speaker to be too bassy in 15-watt mode if you run the volume high enough to get overdrive. I think the 6-watt triode mode would be better when running the amp like that since there is less bass in that mode and the amp isn't as bright.

I had also tried the amp with some other speakers that I also liked better than the Celestion Vintage 30:

- Eminence Tonespotter: this is somewhat similar to the Veteran 30, except I think it had less bass, and, surprisingly, the highs weren't as smooth as the Veteran 30. However, the high end was smoother than a Vintage 30.

- Scumback H55 30-watt: this is a very "classic rock" sounding speaker that is a clone of a 60's "bass" version of the Celestion G12H-30. It has a big bottom end and creamy highs. It gets a crunch, but never sounds harsh. The veteran 30 sounds much more neutral and clean compared to this speaker which has a definite tonal coloring. But I found the speaker to be a little too inefficient. At gig volumes, you can't really get a clean sound in the 6-watt mode. It is also too dark in the 6-watt mode. It seems like their more efficient XH55 speaker would be a better match.

Lately I've been having trouble with the reverb tank. The wires running from the input jack of the tank to the spring assembly keep breaking. First one wire in the plastic connector broke, so I discarded the plastic connector and soldered the wire instead. Then the other wire broke. Then my first solder job broke. But now it's been holding up.

I noticed someone selling one of these amps on eBay said the reverb stopped working, I'm assuming that person had the same problem.

3 knobs, a bright switch, and full power / half power switch. They all work.

I've got 2 of these jobs, both Made in the USA. I personally like the made in USA versions better, as they are not quite as bright, and have a bit more low end. They are basically a clean amp, but break up much more than, say, any classic Fender amp, and much more smooth than a Marshall Plexi. Plenty loud to gig with.

They do not have quite as much low end as classic Fender amps, but have much more drive, and to me, a much better mid. Please see www.myspace.com/thejujubeans

No problems. Bought them through ebay, and they still work. Amazing!

They work perfect for what I do, which is boogie woogie blues.

Mine is a tan one. Still says Trace Elliott on the circuitboard. 2 inputs (hi/low), volume, tone, reverb, half power switch, 15 or 7 watts.

I use this amp for its portability. I just don't like lugging my half stack much anymore. This easily fits in the trunk of a small car or on the back seat. It's plenty loud enough to keep up with a band or for pretty much any club. It's actually almost too loud for practicing by yourself if you want any breakup.

The controls being on the bottom in the back is pretty inconvenient, but the amp is good enough to just set-it-and-forget-it. Which actually is good for me when I'm practicing because I focus more on my playing rather than tweaking knobs.

It has nice tone. A great clean, though not quite as rich as a Fender twin IMO. It breaks up pretty nicely, though it needs to be pretty loud to get there. The half power mode is useful for this, but it does reduce the bass a little.

It sounds great on its own, but sometimes I put a graphic EQ in front for a little more tonal control.

I don't really like the reverb. I'm a fan of reverb, but this is nowhere near as nice as the reverb on a twin -- not as 3-dimensional and washes out way to quickly. I never turn the reverb up even 1/4 of the way because after that it's useless to me.

It does have some cheaper components. The on/off switch is plastic, but hasn't broken on me yet.

The controls being in the back caused me to forget that I had left it in standby mode at one point and I ended up leaving it on all night. This melted the cheap plastic power valve sockets, so I had to have them replaced because they shorted out.

NA

Very useful for what I use it for -- practice and portability for clubs and rehearsal. Would be good for recording as well. An all around good basic amp.

Straight forward here: Volume, Tone, Reverb. Two inputs: Hi/Lo. There is a subtle bright/normal switch, the difference between the two is mild. And last but not least a pentode(15 watt)/Triode(6 watt) switch. That's what i was initially attracted to about the amp. I have experimented with Marshall, Fender, Orange and Vox amps which all had good qualities, but I was looking for a bedroom/studio rehearsal & recording amp. I needed something with low watts and this seemed to be the best bang for my buck.

I'd be far more happier with the amp if it had a 2nd channel or built in gain, but I knew what i was getting when i bought it.

Bought it used on ebay and was inredibly disappointed with the amp the first few days, but only because it clearly needed a good setup and a new pair of tubes. After that was all done I was really happy with the tone of the amp. I play an american telecaster with seymour duncan antiquity single coils, an epiphone sheraton with Gibson burstbuckers, and a gisbon SG with P-90s.

The amp i've found to be great at relatively clean settings. It's a one trick pony so you have to put pedals in front of it to dial in most kinds of tones. The reverb is good, but not overly strong compared to my fender hot rod. Sometimes i like to drown the tone in reverb when i'm practicing at home and it isn't possible with this amp.

I had my eyes on this amp for a long time and I still think it's good. But the amp alone isn't enough to get a great tone out of. I've found that it doesn't "break up" as it gets louder like some people say about tube amps, it just gets louder!! In order to really get more character out of this amp I'll need to invest in some higher quality overdrive and boost pedals and i'm just not interested in spending any more money on this. Some people prefer simple one channel amps and they use their pedals to color in various tones. If you're that kind of person, this is the amp for you. Personally I'm more interested in a simple guitar + amp combination that rocks all by itself. I'm going to sell this off and use the money to get a two channel amp with built in gain and a stronger reverb.

I can say that 6 watts is PLENTY loud! I pretty much never use the 15 watt setting but i have no doubt the 6 watt setting would be enough to keep up with a heavy hitting drummer on stage.

It was in need of a tune up when i got it. I've had it for about a month now with the fresh tubes and biasing and I've had no problems with it at all. Seeing as how they don't make these anymore though may be problematic down the road if something goes wrong with it.

I love the 6 watt setting. For the most part I play it with a Boss Blues Driver pedal with the volume around 3 and the gain between 4 and 8. It's a great amp to have in my bedroom, but I wouldn't gig with it unless I had a dual channel overdrive pedal, like a jekyll & hide, or SD twin tube classic pedal. Like i said before, too much of a one trick pony.

This is the most purist concept : Three knobs, one for Voloume, one for Tone and one for Reverb. Threre is a bright switch and and a normal and high Instrument input Jack. The Amp can be switched from Pentode to Triode, also lowering the Power from 15 to 5 Watts.
One 12 inch Speaker and a Grab to handle. The design is completly Retro, the 40??s of the past century.

The Amp covers everything from Jazz to Heavy 60??s Rock. With a distortion Pedal, Hendrix at Woodstock comes to Mind. This little Amp breathes Blues! Compared to my 66??Blackface Reverb Deluxe that Amp is not less sensationel! (It certainly blows my Hot Rod Deville 410) It Rocks very well in ZZTop and AC/DC Style as well. Lot??s of Highs, tight Bass. The Amp gives back what you put in it: when you hit a string stronger, it will always add something to the Sound. You really have to work to get into the Secrets of the Abilitys of this Amp, but when you play your stuff well, it??s a direct Ticket to Guitar Heaven. (Heavy Gauge strings highly recommanded) The Reverb is great. The Sound is sweeeeet. No Metal here. You can go from Jazz to Hard Rock just by using your Tone and Voloume Knobs at the Guitar. Didn??t try those very expensive Boutique Amps yet, only the Mesa Lonestar Special, against which the Goldtone holds up with ease, so I give it a 10.

I??m really addicted to the Sound putting the Amp to 5 Watts with the Voloume cranked all the way up. This will let the Tubes die fast! No other issues until now ( own this Amp two Years now)

Playing for more than 30 Years now. Several Years as a Professionel. I own a Studio and am very into Sound. Next to my Vintage Blackface Reverb Deluxe and my Hot Rod Deville I ??ve got a 60??s Plexi , an 76??2203 Marshall with Master Voloume, a Mesa Triaxis/2:90 Rack, an ADA MP 1 with Engl 2:35 Rack, etc....
I Play everything from Jazz , Blues to Punk and Metal. For heavy Music, this Amp is not made, but can be used with success. For Jazz it??s an 8 BECAUSE OF DISTORTION and for Blues certainly a Ten. Due to it??s Price ( I paid 800 EUR new) there is NO Way giving something different than a ten. You can spent 2000 EUR and won??t get a better Tone.

The amp is two years old. Purchased off ebay. 15watts/5 watts, (2) EL84 tubes, (2) 12AX7 tubes, 12" Celestion Vintage 30 speaker, reverb, Controls: Volume, Tone, reverb. This amp is simple feature-wise (which I like) and great sounding. I had been playing Fenders for the past 25 years (Super Reverb, Twin or Deluxe) I had never really ever played a Class A amp. I always assumed that my Fenders were the best amps around so I didn't bother. This is, however, the best sonding amp I've ever played through. I initially borrowed one of these from my brother and did 2 gigs with it..I was sold ! HAD to have one ! It's not what you would call a versatile amp but I don't need effects or channel switching...just a little reverb, a touch of analog delay and my Klon pedal.

I play in a classic rock cover band that does a lot of Allman Brothers tunes..(basically an Allman Bros. tribute band) The amp is great for any kind of music though. It's plenty loud: the other guitar player has a Twin and this amp hold it's own volume-wise. I also mic the amp with an SM57 and it cuts through the mix real well. I did buy this amp because I was tired of the volume on stage with my Super (I already wear a hearing aid in one ear because of years of BEING TOO LOUD) and I just wanted a smaller amp of high quality in this price range. I should have done this years ago. Believe me..this is a LOUD 15 watts...you could easily lose your hearing with this one also. The tone of this amp is so irresistable it makes me play my guitar at home more...it has a more immediate sound than a Fender..the notes seem to be more present and defined. My Clapton Strat definitely sounds better through this amp. I love it ! Here's something that works real well in regard to hearing yourself on stage: I have an amp stand (Ultimate AMP-150)...it angles the speaker up towards you...I can hear this much better...good idea for small amps.

I've only played 4 gigs with this...I've been told that the Class A amps are harder on power tubes so I have a spare set of those. I bring a '65 Deluxe Reissue as a back up. I would never to a job without a spare amp or guitar.

I've been playing professionally for 25 years...I recommend this amp simply because it sounds great and are available for between $4-$600 used. Quite a bargain. They are discontinued however. A very nice looking amp too ! I guess the controls in the back are kind of a pain but here's what's nice about this amp: You can put the volume at around 1 or 2 o'clock and it's gets a nice overdrive in this range but it REALLY cleans up well when I turn the volume knob down on my guitar...not much of a volume loss..just cleaner..I love this. Chords sound better on this amp than on my Fenders...real distinct. I always seemed to lose a little definition on the lower strings with Fender amps..not with this amp though. I like the lower power triode option..lowers the amp to 5 watts...fun to mess around at home and get good sound at reasonable volume. And I do not miss hauling that 70 Lb. Super Reverb around...it's retired ! Also an ideal amp for recording. I probably wouldn't use this amp at an outdoor gig...but I wish I could !

I don't know what year the amp was made in, only that it was made in Britian. For features the amp has a single channel, a pentode/triode switch, a bright switch, and a lo/link jack. The tone control is very effective and has a wide sweep. My favorite features are the pentode/triode switch and the lo/link jack. For gigs that really count I use two amps, this one and one I built. I use the Gibson in the pentode mode for clean and the other for a dirty amp. I link through the Gibson via the lo/link jack, and together the two amps have enough power for any gig that I've been called to play in the last several years. For causual jam sessions and the like I take this amp alone. It's a great pick up and go combo, the best I've ever owned.
I play blues based rock/roots stuff, and this amp has plenty of features for all that, since it's not loaded with other features it gets a 5.

This amp has a fine clean sound and a very articulate overdriven crunch. I really have to hand it to Gibson on this one. This is one sophisticated sounding amp for the money. I use the amp with single coils and humbuckers, and it works well with both. The amp is very quiet.

I always have two amps at paying gigs, but the amp has never broken down on me. I've heard stories about bad transformers and melting plastic sockets, and yeah, my sockets are looking a little shriveled and crumbly, but hey, I'll get 'em replaced some day. They looked shriveled when I got the amp and I've run it pretty hard since then, so maybe that's as shriveled as they'll get. In four years I've replaced the power tubes twice and it didn't seem to do the sockets any harm.

No contact. If it broke down I might call Gibson and see what they had to say, but I can't imagine that they would be any more helpful than directing me to an authorized repair center, and I already know where that is. I don't like working on PCBs, so I would take it to a local tech for repair. If the amp went down for the count, I would clone it.

I've been playing for 38 years. This is the only production amp I own now; I built the other 4 I use. If it were lost or stolen I would try and find another, but if I could not find one for the sort of price I paid for this one, I would build another.

This amp was made in the UK right after Gibson bought Trace Elliot.
It's a very basic amp and if you're reading this review, you know what it is.
I own another Gibson Goldtone with a 10" speaker. After listening to my son's Trace Elliot 12 I decided to buy a larger Goldtone.
You don't buy an amp like this for all the features, you buy and amp like this for sound.

For my ear this amp is perfect. It's clean, warm and great sounding. When you overdrive the amp it sounds absolutely awesome. It sounds great with a Strat and great with my PRS. I'm sure it will also sound great with my Gibson Howard Roberts.
I've played and owned many amps including vintage Fender black face amps back in the 60's, I own a Blin modified Blues Jr and have played through just about every boutique amp on the market.
For me this is the amp. This is the sound I want. Nothing sounds better.

It's built like a tank. It's a tube amp so I would always carry spare tubes but would not hesitate to gig out with it. I'd probably bring the smaller Goldtone as a spare.

Never broken down, doubt that it will.

Have never had to deal with customer support. I'd probably bring the amp to Savage Audio here locally if I ever had problems. By the way, Savage also builds great amps. They're just a little pricey for me and not as warm sounding as the Goldtone.

I've been playing for over 30 years but as a bass player, not a guitar player. I've just started playing guitar seriously a few years ago and have been searching for my perfect set up. Found the amp ;)

GA-15Rv, this is an update from a review I did approx. one year ago. The amp is a 15 watt class A style with minimal features, vol.,tone and reverb knob. Vintage 30 celestion speaker, mine is completely stock. I find that this 15 watt amp is more than loud enough for any gig I've played in the last year, it will give an surpising amount of clean headroom on the pentode mode and good early breakup on the triode mode. The amp is very quiet and is solidly built.

This amp has the sweetest tone in a small package that I have found. I am very picky about my tone, I like my clean to shimmer and my overdrive to be warm and fat. I have several gibson's, fender's and gretsch's and they are all take to this amp nicely. I bought this amp because the music store was blowing them out due to gibson discontinuing the line, I was going to use it as a practice amp only but as I began to explore the differents tones this thing has I find that it is quickly becoming my favorite amp. (I have a original 62 blone bassman and cab, 2 Sewell combo's, Deluxe reverb and a new Supersonic) Nothing beats the sound of the 62 Bassman when I'm in a large room, like the ballroom at the local Marriot, but I find that 75% of my playing is in much smaller places. In fact, sometimes the stage is so small that there isn't enough room for a large amp! The GA-15RV can go from jazz to blues to classic rock easily and loves every pedal I've tried through it. Lately I've become a minimalist and leave my pedal board at home and use a Fender custom shop Nocaster into a keeley moded Rat pedal into the Ga-15RV, this rig allows me to play a wide range of music (yes, I even do a few jazz numbers) with a 5 minute set-up time! My favorite tone is a Gary Moore like lead sound that I get with the Rat into the amp, the sustain is wonderful and amp is very touch sensitive to my playing. The reverb is more in the background than on a fender amp, but I find that it works better for overdrive that way. I have experimented with putting the amp up on a chair or stand but I really couldn't hear any significant difference. Tone-wise this is probably one of the best buys for a tube amp on ebay.

After one year there have been no problems, but on the internet forums it seems that the amps made in England have transformer problems and plastic tube sockets that melted. Mine is the black version that was made in America and has a bigger transformer and ceramic tube sockets, this version seems to hold up better because class A amps tend to run hot.

I've been playing for 30 years and have had one of every amp made at one time or another. For pure tone and ease of operation this amp is probably in my top three all time best along with the Deluxe Reverb and my 62 Blonde Bassman. Never thought I would get excited about a Gibson made amp but this is truly unique in it's ability to produce a great tone with adequate volume in a portable package. I can see why Eric Johnson is such a fan of these amps.