Gibson GA20RVT

Features as listed elsewhere. One worth talking about is the pentode/triode operation switch on the back - triode reduces power by about 1/2 and makes it a bit easier to achieve tube saturation at household levels (still plenty loud). My rating reflects my features preferences for what's required to get the sounds I enjoy. Only caution: the reverb is smooth but very subtle. If you like a Fender-type reverb, you might be dissappointed.

After playing/listening to HR DeVille, Mesa 5:25, Epi Blues Classic, and this amp, no contest to my ears. More and tighter bass than Blues Classic (2 X 12 in Classic), more transient than DeVille, and warmer and deeper than Mesa 5:25. Not quite Fender clean, but more able to get great tube sounds from without the volume of the DeVille. I play at home with my kids (drums & bass), so I didn't need 60 watts. If room/volume requirements needed more, I'd buy a DeVille. I play this with 3 guitars - LP, Strat, and inexpensive hollow-body - sounds good with all three.

No positive or negative personal experience to speak of, but the design has been around for many years. Point to point wiring and straightforward design should keep it fixable.

No experience.

I've been playing/learning for about seven years. Enjoy playing blues, worship music, and Allmann Brothers type stuff. I'm a mediocre player, but I know what my ears like to hear. I sold my beloved Blues Jr. to get this because the sound was more open and inspiring to me. The amp itself is a piece of art - beautifully made and well constructed. I would NOT have bought the amp at typical advertised prices, but I had a local authorized dealer who really wanted to move it. Don't like the lack of cover. If it was stolen, I'd buy another.

This is a review of the current production model - not the old ones.

From Gibson Website:
* 15W Class A
* 12AX7, 6V6
* Hand Built
* Point to Point
* 2 channels plus mix input
* Tube Reverb
* Tube Tremolo
* Pentode/Triode Switch
* 12??? Eminence Legend Speaker, Asymmetrically Placed
* Metal Film Resistors
* DC Powered Filaments
* Hand Wired Turret Board
* Two-Tone Vintage Brown and Tan Tolex
Nice feature set for $1000, especially being hand built and point to point wiring. Also, it has 1-8 Ohm, 1-16 Ohm and two 4-ohm (for two 8-ohm cabs) jacks in the back which makes it easy to use it with external cabinets with or w/o the internal speaker (which sucks - more on that below). They also use Chinese or Russian tubes. Mine came with Chinese, and while they sound good now, I am sure they will die an early death. JJ's will be installed in the near future.

The amp has a great sound to it and sounds better as you increase the volume. This is due, in part, to the Legend speaker in the amp. The stock speaker really holds the amp back, especially at low volumes but that speaker does better as it is driven harder. None-the-less, it requires a speaker replacement to make this amp shine. I don't know what Gibson was thinking - they must have received a great deal from Eminence on the Legend or had a large back stock and decided to just put it in there. I think they would sell a lot more if they used a different Eminence speaker, perhaps the Wizard (an improved G12H clone), which is what I am looking at putting in it.

I plugged it into a Dr Z Z-best 2x12 (V30, G12H) and it sounded amazing - opened it up tremendously. It gets a 10 because it was probably a bean counting nurfherder who made the call on the cheaper speaker. I can't imagine the engineers who designed the amp choosing that speaker - it was a profit margin issue.

We'll see - I don't have much experience with Gibson amps, but they supposedly used really good parts in here. I think the plastic switches will break on the front first - perhaps the chicken head knobs - hard to tell.

No Opinion

I think it is a great amp for the price and approaches boutique quality. I own a couple Dr Zs and this amp sounds good. I am not saying it sounds as good as a Z (or like it because the Dr has a signature sound) but I am very happy with this as portable combo. It is amazingly light, looks cool, and sounds really good.

The amp is a '64 or '65. It's got reverb and tremolo. And Volume. And Treble and Bass. And a footswitch. And tubes. Old ones. Like 7 of them.The amp sounds sweet. It plays sweet. It is sweet. Its the first amp I've owned that was el84.6bq5 or whatever. I've had a few vintage fenders, like 4 vintage silvertones, and 2 old Ampegs, all 6v6 or 6l6. But I like this sound too. Its not super versatile, per se, but it does what I need it to.

This amp does dirty to dirtier really well. Tremolo sound is kinda faint, and only works with the reverb on, and it would sound wickedawesome in full force ala Fender or Ampeg, but the reverb sounds great. Plain channel is louder than the 'verb, but I've heard about bridging the channels, so I'll try that... I'm gonna retube it soon...

Very realiable. But its old so it needs gentle care.

You better no someone who knoes some tings about some stuff, because It's way old.

Been playin 10 years, have had a silverface bandmaster, silverface vibrochamp, silverface princeton reverb, blackface vibrolux reverb, ampeg vt-60, ampeg m-12, 2 silvertone 1483 (twin 12) amplifiers, and a 1485 bass amp, and an old stromberg/carlson pa converted to a bassman-style guitar amp...so I've had a fair amount of gear. This is another great amp. I love it.

For whatever reason my original post did not make it up completely so I'll try again.

For the amps features, please see my original post. No need to post them again. I'll start with the review part:

There are a lot of feature to only get a 7. This is why.

The only way to engage the reverb and tremolo is with the footswitch. Break it or loose it and your out of luck. -1

Since there is no other place to address the design flaws in the 5 categories I have made the deductions here.

Using anything other than the stock Chinese power tubes can cause concern. The tubes extend from the back side of the chassis out towards the back of the cabinet. The stock Chinese 6V6 has a clearance of 3/4 of an inch between the tube top and the back cover. Install the Tung-Sol 6V6GT reissue and the clearance is down to 1/2 inch. Both of those tubes have fairly flat tops. If you throw in a duet of JJ 6V6S, the top of the bottle is round and has a small nipple. These tubes (which in my opinion really open up this amp, especially on the clean channel) will come within 3/8 to 1/4 of the back which is a bit close to the Tolex wrap and wood. There is foil tape which surrounds the heat venting grill on top of the cabinet above the tubes. For JJs it would be advisable to extend the foil the beyond the length of the tubes. I also installed foil on the inside of the back where the tube tops point as a precaution against heat. Since re-tubing improves the sound the owner will have to at a minimum shield the panel from with some foil. -1.

Two 1/2 x 1/2 x 6 inch wood strips are installed on each side of the cabinet just below the chassis. This will prevent the chassis from falling out if the screws holding it to the top of the cabinet back out. The problem is the transformer on the left (looking in from the back) will not fit on the chassis properly with the wood strip there. Gibson?s solution is to bend the transformer ears on the left side in order to angle the transformer away form the wood strip. Therefore the transformer is not sitting flush to the chassis as it should. It is secure and it solves the problem of getting the chassis in over the wood strips but it is a design flaw, looks as if it is broken, and is not in line with the type of quality this amp promises. -1.

The Standby switch makes a terrible popping noise as you switch the amp to the Standby mode. The only way to switch channels is by physically removing the cord jack from input to input. I'm not deducting for it but the Standby switch is an irritant.

Apart form these concerns the Tolex, piping, hardware and fit of the cabinet is excellent. It definitely has a vintage vibe.

The previous reviewer went over the features of this new Gibson GA20RVT amp quite well. I've had mine about a month now.

With respect to features, it probably would have been useful to have a line out and an effects loop, but not necessary of course. You can actually switch channels using an A/B/Y box such as that made by Whirlwind (which is what I use). The channel 1/2 blend input is sweet and my normal preference. This input allows you to mix in reverb and tremelo into the gain channel (channel 1). The tremelo on mine is adequate but a bit weak unless you run it close to max. Very good reverb. Excellent overall appearance in my opinion, except I'm not real crazy about the black chicken-head knobs. I would have preferred something with a little more pizzazz, since the amp has a very high-quality looking vintage vibe. I may change those out eventually. It's very easy though to see your amp settings in dim light with the chicken-heads.

I really like the sound quality of this amp. Overall, I would say it is less bright than some of my other amps, but it excels at that nice Bassman-y "tonky" tone quality that I really like. This is particularly true using my Gretsch Roundup guitar with single-coil pickups. I find that in general I can use the bridge pickups on my guitars more often without the "icepick" effect on your ears. The amp is generally quiet, moreso than typical I would say.

You can turn the amp's clean channel 2 up quite a ways before it begins to break up, and it breaks up smoothly. Channel 1 (the gain channel) is generally much louder than 2 at the same volume setting. I would say that while the tone controls are effective, the effect is somewhat subdued compared to my other amps. The amp generates killer bluesy tone at high volume settings, particularly using neck pick-ups with the treble rolled back a bit. This amp also makes a great "jazz" amp. The pentode/triode switch is effective at reducing the overall volume while preserving "tube-ality". 6 watts is still quite loud, however.

So far, the amp has performed flawlessly and I use it at least a couple hours every day.

I've generally found Gibson customer service to be good on their guitars, but haven't had occasion to use them otherwise.

I've been playing for over 45 years and know a little bit about gear. I really like the looks and sound of this amp, except I would prefer a bit stronger tremelo effect, and to be able to drop the power down even lower to a watt or so. Currently, I use this amp in preference to my Tone King and my Mesa/Boogie. It has a generally fuller tonality, but you can put a cutting trebly edge on the tone if you want. With the volume cranked a bit, the amp puts you in the tonal "nirvana" territory most of us like without deafening you.

Gibson GA20RVT - First production run of the new Gibson Handbulit amp line. USA made. July 2006.

15/6 watt (pentode/triode switchable) Class A, 1x12 Combo
All tube including reverb and tremolo.
Hand built, hand wired turrets on top of heavy glass epoxy PCB construction.
Channel 1 = Overdrive channel. Volume, Treble, and Bass controls.
Channel 2 = Clean channel. Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass, Reverb, Tremolo Speed and Depth controls.
Mix Input = mixes Channel 1 and Channel 2 including reverb and tremolo.

6V6 (Chinese) duet for power section
Preamp section: 5 each 12AX7s (Sovtek):
V1 ? Preamp power
V2 ? Preamp power
V3 - Reverb
V4 ? Reverb return and Tremolo
V5 ? Phase inverter

12? Eminence Legend speaker asymmetrically placed.
External cab jacks: 2 each 4 ohm, 1 each 8 ohm, and 1 each 16 ohm.
Footswitch Jack
Footswitch ? 2 button for reverb and tremolo. ON light for each switch when engaged.
Power and Standby switch.
Pentode/Triode switch.
Detachable power cord.
Two-Tone vintage brown and tan Tolex.

That is a lot of features to only get a 7. Here is why.

The only way to engage the reverb and tremolo is with the footswitch. Break it or loose it and your out of luck. -1.

Since there is no other place to address design flaws in the 5 categories I have made deductions for them here.

Using anything other than the stock Chinese power tubes can cause concern. The tubes extend from the back side of the chassis out towards the back of the cabinet. The stock Chinese 6V6 has a clearance of 3/4 of an inch between the tube top and the back cover. Install the Tung-Sol 6V6GT reissue and the clearance is down to 1/2 inch. Both of those tubes have fairly flat tops. If you throw in a duet of JJ 6V6S, the top of the bottle is round and has a small nipple. These tubes (which in my opinion really open up this amp, especially on the clean channel) will come within 3/8 to 1/4 of the back which is a bit close to the Tolex wrap and wood. There is foil tape which surrounds the heat venting grill on top of the cabinet above the tubes. For JJs it would be advisable to extend the foil the beyond the length of the tubes. I also installed foil on the inside of the back where the tube tops point as a precaution against heat. Since re-tubing improves the sound the owner will have to at a minimum shield the panel from with some foil. -1.

Two ? x ? x 6 inch wood strips are installed on each side of the cabinet just below the chassis. This will prevent the chassis from falling out if the screws holding it to the top of the cabinet back out. The problem is the transformer on the left (looking in from the back) will not fit on the chassis properly with the wood strip there. Gibson?s solution is to bend the transformer ears on the left side in order to angle the transformer away form the wood strip. Therefore the transformer is not sitting flush to the chassis as it should. It is secure and it solves the problem of getting the chassis in over the wood strips but it is a design flaw, looks as if it is broken, and is not in line with the type of quality this amp promises. -1.

The Standby switch makes a terrible popping noise as you switch the amp to the Standby mode. The only way to switch channels is by physically removing the cord jack from input to input. I?m not deducting for it but the Standby switch is an irritant.

Apart form these concerns the Tolex, piping, hardware and fit of the cabinet is excellent. It definitely has a vintage vibe.

1966 GA-20RVT 1 x 12 combo tube amp:
2 channls - 2 inputs each (1st Vol,Treble,bass 2nd Vol,Treble,bass,reverb,trem intesity, trem speed, on/off rotary switch.
Tubes: 2 x EL84 (6BQ5) , 3 -6eu7s and 2 -12au7s
Black extremely rough tolex with matching handle.
footpedal has reverb and tremelo swith

The amp gets a full spectrum blues and jazz clean with excellent tube characteristics and then cranks up to a very sweet and creamy
overdrive with big volume, but not Marshall 50 watt volume. It is a
20 watt amp and has awesome tube tone. Classic blues overdrive

Very vintage and thought the build quality is good it would be difficult to :rely" on any vintage amp.

Gibson would probably decline to work on this amp. It would be better off in the hands of a good vintage tech.

this is the first Gibson in my collection and I hadn't had very much
experience with the Gibson tone, but this amp exceeded my expectations with dynamic tube tone and great overdrive. It works well with various pedals too. Most people say it is somewhere inbetween Fender and Marshall. It is very portable and the speaker,
which is a Gibson rebrand alnico magent sounds fantastic. These are
still extremely affordable and I can't believe there aren't more people interested in the old Gibsons.

Gibson named it the Minuteman

Made in 1965?

20 tube watts!
1x12 Gibson speaker.
two channels
Loudness, Treble, Bass, Reverb and two Tremelo controls

Insanely tough tolex and masculine leather handle.

Has a reverb and tremelo footpedal controller.

weights about 40 lbs.

two long and skinny power tubes and 6 smaller tubes.

It was noisy until I replaced a 12ax7 tube, next to the power tubes, and replaced it with some kind of vintage weaker tube with quite a different Part No. [1196?]

The reverb and tremelo are not working and I know someone has gone inside and toyed with the electronics but oh man does this amp sound great!
Using a 2000 American Series Stratocaster and no effects the amp just sings. Sounds very much like Eric Johnson! Lot's of compression and sustain and the sweetest overdrive ever. I just put all the knobs on 10 and use the guitars controls. I jumped the channels and fattenned it up a bit.

This amp is so very musical and I can't believe they are not as heralded as Fender amps. My 1968 and 1973 Fender Champs do not come close to the responsive touch and shimmering overdrive the Gibson produces.

Too bad no one knows how to fix these amplifiers. Reverb would be nice but the P.A. can handle that chore during shows.

No bad sounds from this amp. Set the knobs anywhere and it still sounds great. This is THE sign of a great amplifier!!!

Not for metal but from jazz [and it really is a great jazz amp!] to Stevie Ray Vaughn to Eric Johnson this amplifier is perfect!

Bell like highs, warm bass, smooth sustain, no mid hump, just sweet! I'm gushing but it's so exciting to find such a sweet sounding amplifier.

I use my Boss CS-3 Compressor/Sustainer to boost the input signal [and for a little more sustain] for wild soloing [aka Hendrix].

I wish I could rate this higher, like a 20 or 30. It's really in a whole different class. It makes any other amps sound like amplifier substitutes.

Suddenly, my solid state Fenders {a Frontman 25r, two Champion 30s and my Princeton 65) have lost a lot of my love.

Actually, I bought this amplifier about 4 years ago and it had issues (noise) and the reverb and tremelo did not work. I had a guy try to fix it and he got rid of a lot of the noise out and he too was blown away by the sweet singing Eric Johnson tones. I was into Marshalls back then and so this amplifier found it's way into a box in the garage.
Now, I play in a church band every Sunday and I find a need for mellower sounds so I dug this out of the garage and started to play with the tubes to see if I could get a better sound from it.

12ax7's are over-rated if you ask me.

I've been playing since 1969 and should be a far better guitarist after all this playing.
I have 4 vintage Marshall half-stacks, a real 1964 Fender Stratocaster and a few early 70's Les Pauls.

I play mostly classic rock, grunge and metal but occasionally go to the SRV arena of music. Jimmy Page taught me the blues.

I love the sound and old look of this amp. I love that it is simple in design and that someone should be able to fix it. Even I did alittle repair to it.

I'd love to buy a new Marshall TSL100 head but fear that if anything broke that it would cost too much to repair.

If it was stolen I would call the police and file a report. Then I might buy another old Gibson amp off eBay or somewhere else.

Now that Fender is reissuing all it's old great amplifiers there is no status in having an old Fender on stage with you cause people will think it's a reissue. With this old Gibson, people know it's old and must look up to you.

Seriously, I prefer the tone of the Gibson over any Fender I've heard.

THAT'S GOOD!

Considering that if it had a Fender nameplate instead of a Gibson plate that this amp would sell for 500% more that makes it one hell of a good value!

1967 I play rock ,jazz ,country, 2 channels,4 inputs Reverb,tremolo, footswitch factory wired 12" speaker don't use the schematic tbe chart it leaves out the 12au7 in the 4th position 2 el84 then 2 12au7 should be

I play everything, Gretsch, Fender, Gibson , Duncan, PRS quiet as a mouse great gain breakup at full volume , bridge the channels by runing a guitar coerd from normal to vibrato then plus guitar intonormal or vibrato ,about a 20 db boost , I guess it uses an entire extra preamp tube

it's 35 and it still reigns , had her since new , polarity switch got broken that's all

It's quite a serviceable point to point wired amp

if stolen I'd kill !