Gibson GA15RV Goldtone 112 Combo

2001 Model, 15W, 1 12 inch speaker All Valve class A Combo. Looks like a piece of my grans furniture with more gold on it than Mr T. 1 Volume, 1 Tone & reverb control. Bright switch. All I need!

I use a 1994 USA strat with Stock pickups with this amp. Play mainly a blues style in a rock band and this amp sounds great. It has a great, detailed clean sound that breaks up nicely and is very sensitive to picking dynamics. I personally prefer the darker tone of the pentode mode (low power) and even this seems very loud for 6 watts, keeping up with my drummer and bassist. Full out, on full power mode I find that it can sound a little brittle and find myself putting the tone control on 0 or backing the volume control to 7-8 and here you are in real screaming blues teritory at a perfect volume for small clubs etc. All-in-all a great sounding little amp if you want something that you can contol totally from the guitar (the control are all round the back at the bottom anyway!!)with a warm, jazzy clean tone, or a classy blues lead tone.

According to some reviewers you can sweeten these babies up with some new fancy tubes so I think I'll try that soon (when it's been fixed - see below). You can always improve your tone, right?

Here's the bad part. First the valve bases melted because the manufacturer put plastic ones in it (naughty!!) and now after having it repaired it has stopped working on triode (low power) mode. Never stopped working totaly though and always sounds okay.

I have been dealing with Trace Elliot who made the amp under the Gibson name here in the UK. To be fair, they just say 'send it back'.

A good looking and sounding little combo amp well worth the money. If it were stolen, I'd probably get something dirrerent because although it sounds great, I'd get something different just for a change. However, I'd be dissapointed because good tone is often hard to come by and this amp has it. Compared to my old Laney valve amp (VC30) and my Fenfer Champ Valve amp it beats them both, but is limited if you like higher gain and effects loops and stuff. And compared to that old AC30 that hangs round our practise room, it beats it hands down and you know your not gonna get electrocuted!!

i think this is a 1999 goldtone. it's caramel with the gold spkr cover. if youv'e read the other reviews you know the specifics. i just couldn't imagine a situation where this amp wouldn't be loud enough. it is really helpful to at least read a little of the phamplet that comes with it. there are a few helpful hints to max this amp out. i was looking for an easy to use simple to set up amp. i never expected this amp to be the absolute tone monster that it is. if your'e looking for effects loops and channel switching this isn't for you. i don't play shred so i can't comment to that.

i play a 78 lp stndrd and a clapton strat. the lp doesn't get that 50w /4jbl marshall sound but it's close enough. the clapton strat is really fun to play through this amp. being 50 plus i play 60/70/80 rock/pop/blues. i wish i had this guy when iwas 25. turn the guitar down-it's clean-turn the guitar up plenty o sustain and great overtones. of course it does run a bit hot but hey it's class a. mine does have ceramic tube holders so i don't worry about that melt down. as i said earlier i don't play 3rd channel distortion but when the clapton strat is maxed-volume and 20db mid boost-it's pretty much e-bow type sustain.

you can get into the whole point to point vs circuit board deal and i suppose hand wired is gonna be more reliable in the long run but if your'e using a tube amp it's probably a good idea to take a backup. for me i don't take back ups unless it's a major gig. ain't had one of them lately

this kind of suprised me. i bought the amp on e-bay. when i first plugged it up it was awesome then it fried. of course no sense trying to get my money back from the e-bay guy. i took it to a good tech around here and we just had no luck. he insisted it was the printed circuit board and it would take forever to find the probable cold solder joint. so i called gibson. talked to robert. he said if i sent them the amp they would look at it and let me know how much it was gonna be to fix it. well that beat letting it sit around here taking up space. after a few weeks they called me and said the amp had an internal blown fuse and i had popped the tubes. it was fixed and covered under warranty. wow. i'm gonna buy more gibson stuff. the warranty is now two years.

iv'e been playing 40 freeking years now. own 6 or 7 strats a couple pauls a couple teles you know the same stuff yall have. amp wise i was using a music man 110 rd fifty loved the ss clean channel. went to a marshall dsl401. i was pretty happy with that until i heard a matchless. so i ended buying a dr z maz jr 18. what a great amp. a little noisy though. the gibson goldtone is quiet and doesn't compress as much a higher volumes. heckuva lot cheaper too. if it were stolen i'd buy another one. i truly love the sound of this amp. clean dirty i like it all. i do worry how road worthy it's gonna be. but with customer service like i experienced at gibson i'm not really that worried. if you play dino rock and blues or jazz you gotta hear this one.

This is the first version made. Brown with grillcloth over speaker. Later models have gold speaker cover. I guess it's 3 years old. I have mostly owned Fenders and was bored. My Crate 5 watt VC 508 had the tone I wanted but was a little underpowered. It has a pentode (15 watt) or triode (6 watt) switching option, reverb, volume, tone, bright switch,2 inputs (hi and a "low link") ext speaker jack, a 12" Celestion G12M speaker, 2 Sovtek preamp tubes and 3 Ruby EL-84 power tubes. It weighs about 46 lbs and is compact.

I play an old strat and a tele clone with B-bender >> Carl Martin compressor >> TS-10 >> EQ >> Rexer tape echo >> amp - into the Hi input with the bright switch, tone rolled back, in the triode mode. It took some experimenting to arrive at this. After a while you realize what sounds good in your living room is not predictive of what sounds good with a band. The bright mode sounds harsh inside your living room but it cuts well with a band and using the triode mode (6 watts) keeps it sweet ( ah the magic of low watts !! - 6 is just right) The TS-10 on moderate drive is just awesome with this setup. The pentode mode is "bigger sounding" and OK but I really like the triode mode. Anyway - this setup is perfect for me for small gigs and I run the "low link" output to a bigger amp for the house at larger gigs. I don't know what it is - the class A thing or the 6 watts but this amp nails it for me. Lots of chimey tone - harmonics are great. It's got that voxy compressed sound and breaks up just right. I'm not a big reverb user but the accutronics reverb on this thing sounds as good as it gets to me - either subtle or in the hi surf zone. I don't use humbuckers so can't comment on that. I've played 35 years - pop-rock, R+B, rockabilly mostly. This amp has taught me how to use a guitar volume knob. The strat sounds best rolled back about 1/5th of the way. There are lots of subtle nuances I never appreciated with other amps. I am pleased to have moved away from the Fender sound.

I would not go without extra tubes.

I've not needed customer suppoirt yet.

I love that low power tone. I own way too much stuff (and hope to aquire more). Have always used Fenders ( DR, Super reverb, Vibrolux) I chose it because of tone - also it is small enough to take to practice and it looks pretty cool. Also it has a great smell after it's been cooking for a while! There is nothing I hate about it. I would buy this amp again. The only possible thing I might add would be tremolo but I'll survive without it.

This amp is one of the last ones made in the U.K. Gibson (from what I understand) is moving the operations to the U.S.

The features on this amp are pretty good- simple but good. There are two input jacks, a high and a low. The low also doubles as a "link" jack to connect another amp for additional power. There is reverb, a tone knob which unlike most amps is actually a dual-gang pot, controlling both the treble and mids. Also a volume, a speaker out, and a footswitch for the reverb. Mine is the black tolex and gold grill/hardware. It also has bright switch, and pentode/triode operation for different amounts of power. For a class "A" single channel amp, it has a decent amount of features.

I play a G&L Legacy and a Les Paul through this. This is an INCREDIBLE sounding amp barre NONE. I had the $$$ to buy pretty much what I wanted. I was seriously considering a Vox AC-30, but when I played this amp that ended my Vox Lust. This amp can be VERY loud, but it is VERY quiet. It is very sensitive to picking dynamics. You can control the amount of overdrive very nicely from the guitar. Personally, I prefer the triode (lower power) operation, as it's a little less bright than the pentode.

The cleans are beautiful and chimey, rich and harmonically compex. If you get into dirt, this amp is KILLER!!!!!! I really love to push the tubes. I cannot say enough good about the sound of this amp. If you want Fender bright sparkling clean, it's there. If you want a little overdrive blues tone, it's there, and if you just want to flat out rock and roll, it's there. I've gigged with this amp and volume IS NOT a problem. What's really cool about this amp is that the volume control is really a 'threshold' setting to control the breakup/drive.

This amp is VERY well built. It is (I believe) a 14 ply Scandanavian Birch cabinet loaded with a Celestion Vintage 30. This amp is also pretty heavy for it's size. I have never had problem one with this amp, it really does sound great, and is built really well.

Gibson is a mixed bag. You can get help, but it's not real easy to access. However, I believe that they'd be pretty helpful.

If it were stolen I'd cry. Man, this is a really GREAT amp, and I have no doubts that it'll be a classic. It's the standard by which I judge other class A amps.

1999 Gibson Goldtone-price ???, can't remember for sure. I like the simplicity, linear taper of gain and reverb. I would like a separate low-eq control.Too many cost-cutting measures and cheap components. It sounds amazing and more than holds its' own against boutique amps like Bad Cat. It is NOT, however, built with any of the care and solid component design like a Bad Cat, Matchless, Bogner, Victoria that I had considered-they may not last. That is what another $800 will do.

Everything the rest of you guys have said and then some. I sold my AC30 and run these in stereo. I ab'd it against an AC15tbx in the store and this amp kicked its' ass up one side of the street and down the other in EVERY capacity.Furthermore, I have ab'd this against Matchless and Bad Cat 15 watters-I would have bought the Bad Cat if I thought it was better. The Sampson stuff has a high end complexity to die for, but the total imaging and the breakup is NOT musical in the same way that the goldtone is, quite surprisingly, because you usually DO get what you pay for. Check it out. It does not have the nasal midrange of the AC30 ( or the 30 watts to push it), so if you want to be Brian May, keep your AC30. Admittedly, mine have now been modified, but only enhancing what was already there. The basic character of the amp is a super clear, squelchy, rubber-bandy sound with all the hi-end compression that makes it a fantastic recording amp. The blackface tone stack in a class A English amp???The amp is plenty loud, too. In stereo, they keep up with an svt rig all day. They do break up, like motherfuckers, put some decent tubes in em' and turn up the gain past 1:00-nasty SOB with a G&L asat or a Les Paul ( someone claiming they don't break up). The reverb is adequate, but does not have the depth of a good Fender tank. The treble; I am a treble freak, but run the treble control on 0 with the bright switch on. The lo-link feature is clever and really useful. The low-end-wake up kids, a Celestion V30 in an entirely open back setup will not have much perceptible low-end. Remember this amp only does 14-15 watts before breaking up, so there is not a lot to push the low-end. Solution-run a 16 ohm satellite closed back 1x12 cab or a stereo amp with more clean power like a Fender??? and push the bottom. SHAME ON THE KNUCKLEHEADS AT GIBSON FOR SELLING ANY OF THESE WITH GREENBACKS! The Greenbacks instantly remove the chimey brit-tone character and turn the amp into a rather confused and inadequate bluesbreaker clone, blah!!! Not to mention the fact that with 15 watts, the 3Db lower sensitivity Greenback relegates the amp to a practice rig only. Use the Celestion V30, revel in your god-like tone! I play alternative rock with a lot of clean to overdriven transitions. This amp allows me to play so that my dynamics control the gain in a really linear, predictable and expressive fashion. I am a better player because of the subtlety of this amp. For real overdrive, I use a Soldano GTO Supercharger, which works very well with the amp and produces a cutting, great for recording distortion that I much prefer to the three gain-stage Boogie and Marshall toys that I use sometimes. Put your rockstar ego aside, buy one of these portable ( and ugly-what's with the rv upholstery vinyl that shrinks?)mojo factories and remember why playing is so much fun. I have parked all of my big rigs in favor of this. It does not do everything, but is an exceptional package, regardless of the price.

Well, the older models have some dumb-ass, penny pinching design problems. Mounting the tubes right on the circuit board-you cheap Trace elliot bastards! This is a class A amp kids, so the plastic tube sockets on both of my amps have melted and warped like shrinky-dinks-a potentially fatal problem. Solution- a must- go to radio shack, buy a $20 fan and have your tech install it right in front of the EL84s-it will save the ship and greatly prolong tube life. Internal components-you cheap fuckers! This is not a clock radio, so don't build it like one! You have to buy boutique these days to even approach the component quality of older amps, so keep a tech handy. Luckily, there is a minimum of chips in the amp. It is a great circuit design, but fragile. The rear power switch has now been replaced because they realized that plastic can break (???). So, put a fan in or you will burn em' up and cook the poor little transformer if you run it wide open. The chassis construction is so cost conscious. Having owned a bunch of Orange amps, it is depressing to see the Brits build so cheaply. So...keep a good tech handy because these have some potential pitfalls.

Well, if you call Gibson about guitars, they are really impressive. Amps get the aw shucks, though.

I would rate it a ten, but the component quality is maddening. These amps become more reliable and really kick ass with some cheap mods that Gibson should consider. Because mine are not stock, I have to give a 9. Value based or simply for the tone, buy it.

2001 model, single 12" 15 watts. Single channel, no effects loop, 1 tone control, bright switch (way too bright) volume and reverb.

Loud, but will not break up at any volume, even at half power. Limited bottom end.

Reverb not working, I ordered it special order through Guitar Center in Cincinnati. Took it back and got full refund. (Great service!!!!)

Thanks to Guitar Center Cincinnati, I don;t know because they were nice enough to deal with Gibson on there own.

Don't believe the hype. It has no Class A "growl", and the tone is not anything to get excited about. My old Peavey classic 30, or Carvin Bel-Air had more tone and bottom end.

Features described quite well below, so I won't bother repeating (how's that for laziness?). I'm not entirely sure of the year, but given the brown covering and the cloth grill over the speaker, this would appear to be one of the first production line models. It's the ultimate in simplicity for such a high quality amp. One volume control, one tone control, one reverb control. The triode/pentode switch is incredibly handy for playing at home, especially after the wife and kid have gone to bed, and also for getting a nice overdrive without the unbearable volume. If I had to rate features based solely on quantity of features, it would rank low. But I rank it reasonably high because it needs nothing more than it has.

This is an absolutely beautiful sounding amp. I play a range of guitars through it, including a Fender Tele, Gibson LP studio, and Gretsch Double Anniversary, among others. I primarily play classic rock and pop music, and this amp is great for my purposes. The clean tone is about as pure a tube tone as I've heard from any amp, and is very sensitive to every nuance and change in attack or style. Extremely expressive. In fact, it's almost too expressive for a person of my moderate skill level; just as it will perfectly accentuate all the good nuances, it will also perfectly broadcast every misfret or mistake. But I don't see that as a negative; this is an amp that very much encourages and rewards improvement in playing technique. The tone alone definitely makes me want to play better and improve, and this is an amp I tend to play clean with no added effects. It's a very quiet amp; I have noticed no particular hiss or noise (other than some normal single-coil hum with my Tele).

My Goldtone looks and feels very solid and durable, and I've had absolutely no problems so far. However, when dealing with tube amps, I always make a point of having a backup for gigs. The simplicity of the controls and features just means less things that can break or go wrong, as far as I'm concerned.

Haven't had to deal directly with Gibson yet. And hopefully I won't ever have to.

I've been playing off and on for the past 7 years, including two stints with gigging bands. I own a total of 8 different guitars (3 Fenders, 1 Gibson, 2 Rickenbackers, 1 Gretsch, 1 DeArmond) , 2 basses (G&L, Epiphone), and 4 amps (Fender, this Gibson, Tech 21, and SWR). Of the amps, my Fender DRRI is currently still my primary gigging amp, but that's due primarily to my familiarity with it (and it does have that sweet Fender clean tube tone). I'm still getting to know this Goldtone and learning how to get the most out of it with my playing style. I have a feeling that when I've truly learned all the ins and outs of this terrific sounding and expressive amp, it will bump my DRRI out of the top spot and become my primary amp. The overall combination of its gorgeous pure tone together with its stark simplicity makes it an extremely appealing amp. The only reason I knock it down one point, is that it's slightly on the expensive side for a 15 watt amp (and it is, after all, a revamped Trace Elliott, which used to cost less). But that's a minor nit-pick; based on tone and responsiveness alone, it's well worth the money.

This amp looks and sounds good.
Brown leather and gold GIBSON logo,loogs very vintage.
Not anything to blame.
very simple control panel and that is the one reason why i love it.
VOL. TONE and REV.knops.
bright switch and triode/pentode switch(6w./15w.).
I bought it in summer 2001,now days they are black (not so beatifull as mine:),but take a look in Gibson`s home page.

I use this amp everywhere...in home,gigs... There is enough power to do everything i needed ewen i use it half powered(6w.).
It have 15watts,but i like to use the triode/pentode switch because the sound is better when you take "only" 6watts and i can turn it all the way up to get the tone... Full powered(PENTODE) the sound is too bright for me,i dont like it,so i dont use it.
If you like the Fender sound,put the bright switch on when its full powered(15w.)and then you can blow your ears off...
(i hate bright tone)

I play any gind of music,but i have bluesy style.
When i play with my single coil strat.i get the tone when the volume is half way,tone controll is also in half way position and no reverb. Then little spice from ts-9 and the Texas tone is ready.
When i use my humb.Hamer i like to turn the volume all up,no pedals and lots of reverb. Little finger picking and the nasty Buddy Cuy sound is ready.
This amp is not tight,so you can get good bluesy rock sounds but not anything hard heavy sounds.
(my english is not good,so sory if there is something that you dont understand...)

In Finland the warranty was 6 months (?,usually one year for new amp).
Not anything big problems just something in preamp tubes,but they gave me a new ones.
Price was 5000 FIN marks = 850euro

I have playing 12 years,so this is not the first amp what i have been tested or owned.
The reason why i like it,is because its small(easy to carry),
not too many watts(so i get the tone earlier and desibels are not too high),its simple,its just looks and sounds so good!

Made in England by the now Gibson-owned Trace-Elliott company. I believe this amp was made in 2000. I got a good deal because it was a showroom model (little played and mint). It's the version with the brown leatherette covering, but with the old fashioned looking grillcloth, rather than the bright gold front-which is the one I prefer. I see now they've gone to the dark gray/black finish...I guess they figure they'll sell more of these if they look more like everyone else. It's got two Sovtek 12AX7 preamp tubes and two Ruby EL84 power tubes. I'm sure I'll experiment with some other tubes at some point-just for fun. Right now I'm perfectly satisfied with the sounds I'm getting. The speaker is a Celestion G12M. I think that's the Greenback Reissue? I've got a Vintage 30 laying around that I could throw in, but-again-I really don't feel the need. Plenty of power for my needs (studio use only). Got a Pentode (full power)/Triode (half power) switch, only that doesn't translate to half the decibels-not nearly. Still, it's a useful feature. Has a bright switch, which I find totally useless. The reverb is nice and glassy and useful if you don't overdo it. Volume, tone and reverb pots-that's it. Some folks won't like the controls on the rear (I think maybe the newer versions have changed that?), but I kind of like it. If nothing else it's authentic! I guess I could wish just a little for a effects loop...

But, really, it's got all the features it needs. What good are a hundred features without tone? It ain't worth a bone if it ain't got the tone.

Tone to die a thousand deaths for. I've got 8 small to mid tube amps, all for studio use, but this Gibson has quickly become my favorite. It's the best recording amp I've found to date. Slap an SM57 in front of it through a Joemeek preamp to disk with a bit of delay and you get heavenly tones. My main axe currently is a Guild Bluesbird and that sounds incredible. My cheapo Mexican Fat Strat sounds world-class through this amp. My Custom Shop Strat with the Vintage Noiseless pickups doesn't sound so great, but then that's true of every amp I've tried (got to change those lousy pickups). Also, my DeArmond X-155 Jazzbox sounds great through this amp.

No bad experiences to date (four months and counting). Seems to me that, with it's simplicity, there's definitely fewer things on this amp that can go wrong. Don't know if it's just my amp, but it has an unusual smell when it warms up...not unpleasant, but fairly strong and persistent. I have a few real vintage amps from 40s and 50s, and I LOVE that musty old smell as the amps warm up...this is different, but, again, it's not unpleasant.

I'll hope for the best should I need help.

Tone, volume, bright switch, as listed above I love the simplicity of these amps

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I walked into the amp room at my local guitar outfitter, looked at all the Bogner, Marshall, Vht, and Mesa stacks, and thought,"Nah, I've already got a great stack." I next walked over and saw the bogner, fender, line 6, and bad cat combos and said, "Lets do something more original." My eyes wandered around the room and found themselves fixed on what appeared to be a suitcase. I hastily walked toward it and began pulling it off of the shelf it was rested on above the rest of the amps, almost like a high school PA speaker. I plugged in, my tom anderson Cobra, dimed the volume, set the tone at 12 O'clock, and proceeded to amaze myself. after about 5 milliseconds of tweeking, I began to shoot off some of my favorite blues and jazz riffs. Within seconds those near the amp room began approaching and asking what I was playing through, expecting a twin, or bogner metropolis. After amazing them, I decided to crank the volum knob on my guitar and drop my low E do a D. This amp sounded Great!!! Soon after all those working in the store seemed to begin approaching the room. A few of the staff stuck their heads in and asked "Is that the Bogner Ecstacy?" "Is that the Recto?". "No", I answered, and pointed to the little suitcase at my feet. One man even told me that he had tweeked his dual rectifier for hours to get the same sound I was getting out of this little guy. I played for about another 15 minutes and plugged my original vintage proco rat into it and was even further amazed. Such great harmonics and sustain! I am now running a soldono series II into a mesa 50/50 and a bogner cabinet, and can tell you that this little amp crushed my towering sound factory. I have ordered the GA-30RVS as a result of this life changing experience. I rated 10 but give this amp a 15. those that said this amp does not do the whole New Rock thing are seriously mistaken. this amp rocks!!!

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buy one