Holland Gibb Droll 4x10 Combo

I bought this amp about 3 yrs. ago 2002 or so. It's a very clean sounding amp and was designed for the harmonica. It's single channel amp with 50 watts of really clean power. I likes pedals. It also has 4x10" speakers rated at 35 watts. They were emminence speakers and didn't handle the low end very well. I couldn't put the bass control past 2. I replaced the speakers with celestion tube 10's and holy cow what a difference. I'm setting the bass on 6 now and it's nice and tight. I love the clean tone.

I own 30 different guitars and they all sound wonderful and unique through this amp. I'll put a distortion pedal in front for a driven sound and it's awesome. I'll use a tonebone classic or my tube screemer ts808. I usually won't get the amp past 3 on the volume it's so loud. It has a lot of headroom and won't break up till you get to really high volumes.

Never had a problem with it yet. I replaced the tubes once and the speakers were upgraded.

Never had to use it.

I've been playing longer then I would like to comment on(40years). I've played all over the east coast and west coast and now in Colorado. I used this with a 2 amp setup. The other amp was a Fender Deville the 2 together was an awesome sound. I'm using a Rivera KR-55 at the present time for live gigs. I use the Holland for home use and practice/recording and I also have a Mesa/boogie Stiletto for a whole different sound. I'm an amp junkie and will probably buy a few more in the future.

I ordered my Gibb Droll brand new from Mike Holland after seeing a review on it in Guitar Player magazine. I called him up and he spent 30 minutes giving me the details of the amp, and his business. I received it about 2 weeks later on 8-28-96. I paid $1,470 for it including the on-board reverb unit and freight.
This amp is a Bassman clone with the typical 4 inputs and the standard volume and tone controls. It has four 10" speakers, the typical Bassman tube configuration, and is a little larger than a standard Bassman combo.
The reverb box is attached inside the bottom of the amp and the two tubes protrude from the top, so it does cause some negotiating to get the extra long power cord in and out of the back of the amp and not damage the tubes.

I use Fender Strats and Gibson Les Pauls with this amp. I play blues and rock and it is perfect for my style.
It has the purest old Fender-type sound of any amp I have ever owned (including a Reissue Fender Bassman) and I can get that shimmery strat sparkle with the volume knob backed off to 7.
If you open it up and hook up a Les Paul it gives a Marshall growl. It also sounds great with all pedals I own including a Teese Wah, a Full Tone Fulldrive 2, an Analog Man Chorus and a delay.
The only thing I would ask for is a tighter bottom end. It can get a little muddy if I set the bass control higher than 2. Maybe a speaker change would remedy this, but I like the sound of the original speakers and they break up quite nicely when I turn the amp up.

I had one of the original 10" speakers go bad 14 months after I purchased it. I called Mike and he sent out a replacement free of charge. I still have all the other original speakers in it ten years later. I think they are Eminence 20 watt alnicos just like the speakers used in the first Bassman reissues.
I have read all of the previous reviews and I have to say in Mike's defense, that aside from the one speaker, I have not had any problems with this amp that wasn't rectified with a tube replacement.
I have used this amp at indoor and outdoor gigs for 10 years and have received several compliments on the tone.

As I stated earlier, I have spoken to Mike on 2 or 3 occasions and he was very courteous and helpful.
This amp came with a lifetime warranty but I heard that Mike no longer owns the company. If I ever have a problem I will contact the Heritage Company that bought him out and see if they can help me.

I have been playing for a long, long time, and I have owned over a hundred amps. I buy and trade all the time to upgrade and try new gear. I have kept the Holland Gibb Droll because it is one of the best sounding amps I have ever owned. It can give me great Fender shimmer and dirty Marshall growl, what I consider to be the best of both worlds.
If I was ever approached for suggestions to improve this amp I would ask for a side mounted reverb box with 3 controls instead of one, (which I think was added to later models) and side mounted handles for easy carrying.

This amp was made May 26, 1995. Gibb Droll model 4x10 tweed. With your favorite pedals this amp is great for any music. With just the amp alone it is most suited for blues, rock and/or funk. The amp has 4 inputs with different tones coming from each. All sound fantastic. 2 volume controls, treble, mid, bass, presence and standby switch. The only thing I miss is reverb and vibrato. The amp sounds great at any volume and this hoss can be loud if need be(its at least 55 watts). Sounds extra nice plugging your guitar into channel one then crossing channels 2 and 3 and using both volumes to blend. It's hand wired and has mojo tone speakers. This particular piece sounds very, very good.

I play a California Schecter Strat w/ Schecter pickups in the neck and middle and a seymour duncan humbucker in the bridge position. Also has a coil tap on it. This guitar sounds great thru any amp. My style is blues based funk with rock overtones. It suits my style perfectly. The amp is not noisy at all. My settings are usually volume 1 on 3, vol 2 on 4, treble 8, mid 7, bass 6, presence 7 (all knobs go up to 12 instead of 10). I use the tone knob on my guitar alot. Sounds excellent indoors or out. It can be very clean (fender with a little sizzle) and then very marshall (plexi or jtm 45) sounding when pushed. The natural distortion is very, very nice. Very vintage marshall sounding. I use (sparingly) a Maxon 808 pedal, Original Marshall Guv'nor, Teese wah, DD-3 Delay all powered by VooDoo Lab Pedal Power.

Never had a problem with this amp. I have all neccesary back up parts just in case. I will say that I have heard that Holland is somewhat inconsistant (soundwise). My Holland sounds fantastic, that's why I have it. Do keep in mind, when shopping for an amp to play thru it for as long as possible and check out how versatile it is before making a purchase. Try to keep in mind your stlye of music so you can get the right amp for the right gig. (the right pedals help as well)

Never had to call them. Therefore, I'd have to rate this category a 10.

I play numerous instruments. Been performing since the age of 12 and I'm (a young) 42 now. I've owned high end boogies, marshalls, fenders, rivera, egnater. If this amp were lost or stolen I would miss it tremendously but I'd probably just get my insurance money and put it in the bank and use my DR Z Perscription head and cab. Not to say I wouldn't love to have another Holland Gibb Droll model, I would just save my money because I have a GREAT DR Z amp.

This amp was purchased used from Guitar Center in Hollywood California. It was made in 1996. I play classic rock, new age, heavy metal, rap, blues both vintage and modern, thrash, punk, reggae, latin and some country but I am not very good at it. The unforunate thing about this amp is it seems to be only suited for country so I am not very happy with it. I only bought it because my girlfriend liked the color and when a 5ft2inch a 240lb woman makes her mind up you may as well do it. If I had had my way I would have bought a Dimebag Darrel warhead which is more suited for my style of playing. I am listing this amp as very limited because it does not make the sounds I want.

Tone is the most critical element of my sound. I play a Epiphone Ace Frehley through a dulop fuzz face, cry baby wah, line 6 pod, dod death metal, grunge, digitech rp300 and GNTX preamp, Ibanez tube screamer, pro-co rat, a peavy univerb, zoom 5000 and a Korg ax 100g toneworks modeling processor. I used to have an electro harmonix big muff pie that all only bought because it reminded me of the old lady but I got rid of it because it was changing my tone too much. And hell yes the amp is noisy. It is hard to hear the guitar because of this crappy amp. I swear if I did not love that woman so much I would buy a decent peavy 1X15 and then maybe I could put the final touch on my tone. However a good piece of booty is better than a slightly better amp any day as far as I am concerned. This amp distorts as soon as I turn it on but just like the other reviewers I turn the volume down on my guitar and clesn it up. Tha bad part about doing that is you do not hear the guitar anymore but at least it gets rid of that horrible distortion.

This amp is extremely dependable. I have only had to make some minor repairs since I bought it six months ago. I have replaced the tubes, had the reverb worked on once, it quit during the middle of the second gig I took it on but my local music store got it running by changing just two capacitors. I was dissapointed that two of the four speakers have blown but since Holland does not make them I will not hold it against him. If this keeps up I will get rid of my back-up and not have to carry so much gear.

Never returned my calls

I have been playing for 5 years. I love the old lady who loves the color so by proxy I love the amp. I compared it to not getting laid the night I bought it and it was worth every penny. If it were stolen I would pity the poor asshole that took it. To answer your question of what do I wish I had it would be in the following order, I wish a had a skinny girlfriend, a dimebag darrel guitar and a chevrolet chevette. If someone out there could make this happen I would give this category a 10!

I believe this amp to be about 5 years old. has 4-10 Mojotone speakers. 2 Channel's: one bright and one normal. Each channell has two inputs, one hotter than the other.... nice. With the two channell setup you can get a variety of sounds. it's great for Gibson and Fender type guitars. It's somewhat of an early fender bassman. To get an overdrive sound, you have to crank the volume. There is no channell switching and no effects. Just a basic good tube amp.

It handles Humbuckers and single coils well. A little more soulful and/or twangy with the fender, a little more jazzy and/or distorted with the Gibson. It's nice and quiet. A great blues style/ early ZZ top style distortion when pushed... a nice surf/Chet Atkins sound when kept clean. Perfect for everything but metal.

It seems pretty reliable. Just turn it on and go.

I called Holland and got an answering machine and no return phone call. I only want to know what tubes they recommend for best performance. If anyone has any ideas, please drop me a line. I know I bought it used, so I wasn't expecting much.

I've been playing for many, many years. some of the amps I've owned: Fenders... 2 twins, deluxe, vibrolux. Marshalls... 50 watt half stack, 50 watt combo, studio combo, micro stack .
Mesa... Boogie, son of boogie, Blue Angel. Matchless... chieftain 2-10. Carvin 50 watt bel air. Ampeg... older 4-12 "fold in" model. Traynor... Voicemaster. Crate, 50 watt solid state. Sears Silvertone 100 watt, 2-12. Gibson combo's, (2). Wards airline. Musicman HD combo.

As you can see it has added up. The only amp that is in the same league as this that I have owned is the Matchless Chieftain. I actually like this amp a little more, and I loved the Matchless. For what I do, this amp is perfect.

Purchased in 1995 from Jimmies guitar in Hollywood Ca.Amp is pretty basic typical bassman controls,you have no reverb or channel switching which is ok for an amp thats suppose to do one thing to get good tone.

I use mainly A gibson 335,and 57 american strat and 62 strat all pickups are stock.Play mostly blues and R&B,and southeren rock,suits my playing to perfection.It is not noisy at full volume,I use a Fulltone FD-2 and dan echo delay pedal and the clean tones are just plain full and lush with all the guitars,when I kick in the FD-2 I can nail SRV and Clapton tones perfectly,I own a 56 basman in original cond. with jensen concert speakers and both amps can nail simialar tones except holland of coarse is louder.Holland has 2 original mojoe tone,and 2 kendricks replaced speakers,I hooked up the 56 bassman speakers and their is no outstanding differances yes the jensens sound sweeter at lower volume,but not very much.You get two tones from this amp great and greater,an outstanding amp.

I,have had it for 5 years and have had two beers spilled on it filling one tube half ways with beer it blue a fuse.Repalced fuse and both tubes and biased amp turned it on and never gave a ploblem,I did install tung sol 5881s and one carbon tracked power tube socket and thats it, what can you say about outstanding realiablity.I have called Mike on several ocassions and he always returned my calls a couple of times he would e-mail just to see if all was ok,with amp.

Same as said before outstanding service.

Playing 35 yrs,if stolen I would buy another,Ilove what it is suppose to do get good tone,Like I said I own a 56 bassman and holland is same tone wise,

4 unput channels similiar to a 4 hole Bassman. Presence,Mid, Bass, treble and a volume for each channel. No master volume but you dont need one! No reverb but a solid pine cabinet so folks think it has reverb. This amp was made in 1995 bought it used.

I use a Gibson 335, PRS custom 22 and Strats for blues and jazz. I also occasionally use a reverb tank, but you really dont need one. I just like reverb. You can get some AWESOME tones from this amp! The normal channel is a similiar to a Bassman with more volume and the second input is similiar to the front end of a Marshall.I can use either humbuckers or single coils and get some SRV, Ronnie Earl or Wes. This amp is very quite even at high volumes. I like the eq set with treble at 6,mid maxed out, no bass, and presence at 8. The volume is almost always set at about 8 and I use my volume on my guitar. This is a solid 50-55watt amp!!

I have had no problems with this amp. It was built in 95 and own 2 Holland amps

Mike is awesome and is always available. I have call and e-mail him many times and unlike his competitors responds in a timely fashion. Hey he called me long distance on his DIME!!!! Can't get much more supportive than that.

I have 2 of these amps.. Enough said..

The term versatile can mean different things to different people. I do not like amps filled with on-board effects, too many channels, tones, eq's, inputs, loops etc. They try to be too many things to too many people. The Holland "Gibb Droll" delivers pure tube tone that reacts to every nuance of my guitars sounds and my playing style--you hear the mistakes to so watch out. I use strats and V's and Charvels for everything from blues to jazz to metal and if I can pull it off, the amp will deliver. The two channels deliver a warm smooth sound and then a hell of a punch depending on which you choose. The reverb sounds great. it comes with its own little tube amp. Mine only has one knob like others here mentioned, but, I like just plain reverb. Too many controls and I start to get cranky because too many can really muck up the works.
The Gibb is versatile to me because I can set it and use just my guitar volumn to get drive, sustain and feedback then roll the vol. down and the amp cleans up nicely. And the drive is nice and clean so you can play melodic chords with punch without getting muddy and ruining the harmonies.

I was reading some of the other reviews about this amp and I can not believe how picky some people are. Complaining about the tubes. I visit alot of chats about amps and people are always talking about changing tubes in their Fenders to try and get this sound or that and I think we can all agree that Fender makes some fine sounding amps. The Holland gives back everything you give it. If you want hot output put in hot tubes, it can handle it. If you want to mellow out you can make it do that too.
I know the instructions for this review section said to be critical but I find little wrong with this amp. It is LOUD, which can be a problem in some rooms but just pull out the appropriate stomp box and you are in bussiness.
It is also hard for me to be critical of the resistors and what not that some reviews have complained about. I am a techno-phobe and would not know one from another.
This amp just fit me. You know how you can pick up a guitar and think, "this is ok", then pick up a seemingly similar guitar and it just feels like you have been playing it all your life? That is the way this amp was for me.

I have never had a problem with the Gibb. I have a '95 model--the 24th one Mike Holland built as a matter of fact. As I said before I am not technical at ALL, so I can not comment on the electronic craftsmanship but I have had no problems with the amp.

I have never had to send the amp in for repair but Mike was pretty patient with my tube questions since I really did not know what I was talking about and had a hard time explaining myself.

I have been playing since '74 and have gone through a few amps, Marshall, Music Man, Fender, Sunn, Lab Series. The bottom line with my Holland is that it is totally unforgiving. If you put in a good sound it will soar, if you put in crap you will get it back in spades.
It is pure , honest tone. NO extra BS.
It is pricey and may not be worth the price until your ear can hear the difference. If something happened to this amp I would get another one without a second thought.

Typical Bassman with 4 inputs with the exception of a ground switch. The Gibb also has a different feature on 2 channel. Mike wire it to sound similiar to the front end of a Marshall (Bright with more gain).My model also came with Reverb with no dwell or mix. The amp is all tube, however I was disappointed with the choice of tubes Mike uses on this 1650.00 amp. Mine came with Sovtek 6l6 power tubes,a Sovek 6ugb Recitfier and for the per-amp tubes 2 Sovtek 12axt+ and a Chinese 12ax7 as a cathode.

My main axe is a Gibson 335 and a PRS Custom 22 and I mostly play shuffle blues. I change the power tubes to Tung-Sol 5881 and put in a Mullard rectifier tube. I took out those cheesy preamp tubes and put a RCA black plate 5751 inn the 1st gain stage and a Telefunken in the 2nd stage and a GE 12ax7 as a cathode. With the amp set to idle at 33ma it breaks up with the volume controls at 5-6. This amp is very quiet even at high volumes. This amp will not give you the mellow tones like a Victoria 4510 but is a bit louder. The reverb is lushful but rattles at high volumes. If you are looking for that Fender vibe this amp does not have it. It sounds more like a Marshall than a fender.

When I 1st took the amp out of the box. I did what I normally do when I buy any new gear. I took the cover off. This amp came with Radio Shack resistors and some cheap Eminence 10" speakers. The baffle board was also split. The negative speaker input jack was missing thew the ground wire. I spent more time replacing and repairing this amp than I did playing it.

Mike was always available to help me out. He immediately shipped out a new baffle board. By the way there are no authorized service centers for this amp. But for 1600.00 bucks it should be built like a tank.

I've been playing for about 8 years. I currently have a 65 Fender Twin re-issue,Victoria 4510, Fender Bles Deville and a blues deluxe. With the Gibb sitting next to my Victoria it is not a very apealing amp. It looks like a big stuffed box. I CAN'T GET THIS AMP TO SOUND AS GOOD AS MY BLUES DEVILLE.

Amp was made in 1997. Bassman features, but had reverb added. See other reviews for details. Not meant to be a jack-of-all-tones, so only a 4 for features.

I play a Hamer Daytona with Fralin Blues Specials. I play "Big Tone" blues. This amp should be ideal for this style, but I had many problems with it. More on that later. This amp has very punchy mids, sloppy low-end. The highs were good, but not exactly to-die-for. The bass on my amp could never be up past 2, and this is with single-coil pickups. My main problem was getting the damn thing to break up earlier than setting the amps volume on 8. Since I don't use pedals, I have to rely on the amp for drive.

Here is where I had my problems. Not long after I bought it, I noticed an audible buzz coming from the reverb unit. This unit, incidentally, had only one knob. The unit itself sat in the bottom of the cabinet with the power tube and preamp tube sticking straight up. This made it tricky at best trying to get the chord out without nailing the tubes. Anyway, when I called Mike, he said that I must have his "old design" unit, and that he could upgrade it to his new design for a mere $100 extra. So I did. Incidentally, the original unit cost $200. When I got the amp back, the unit now sat on the side of the cab with a new pan as well. At least it looked new since it had a different cover. A somewhat better design, but it still only had 1 knob, not to mention that to get to the tubes, you either had to have very long fingers and a lot of nerve to reach inside, or completely unscrew the cover which could only be done with special tools since the cover was right up against a speaker magnet. Was it worth $300? It sounded very good, but I still felt I'd gotten the Holland shaft. After playing the amp for about a month, I noticed the low-end was really bad, so I called Mike again. He said to send it back again which I did. I asked if he could possibly modify it to where I could turn the bass up past 2 since I thought it might overdrive the amp better, and that I wanted it to break up sooner. He said " Sure, no problem." After about a week and a half, I called him. He told me there were two blown speakers. He said he would replace them with his next size up (Kaptons). I asked him that if he was going to install two higher wattage speakers, shouldn't all the speakers be the same for purposes of good tone. He agreed. So, you guessed it. He replaced all four speakers for a mere $300. It actually may have been a little more, but I remember it was at least $300. As a side note, when Mike installed the reverb, he designed it so that only reverb came out of one speaker, leaving the other speakers to handle the amp. This leaves 3,15-watt speakers to handle a conservatively rated 45-watt amp. Hmm. Could this be why the speakers blew? When I got the amp back, the bass response was no different than before, and the speakers were the deadest I've ever heard. It still wouldn't break up short of 8. Did I mention he kept the speakers that he removed, even the good ones which I'd payed for? He also kept the old reverb unit which I'd also payed for. Reliabi-
lity? 2. It worked more than once.

Beside the previous horror story, I had another incident involving a biasing unit which he said he could make me for $50. I said "okay". After a couple months, I sent him the money and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally after a couple more months, I called him. He said it would be $20 more. I sent him the money and waited, and waited, and waited. After a couple more months, (I swear I'm not exaggerating) I wrote him a letter asking for either the unit or my money. Then I called the Better Business Bureau in his area. Since I
didn't have the cancelled check, it had been sooo long, they couldn't help me. Finally the unit arrived. To Mike's credit, he included a pair of
NOS Groove Tube 6L6s. I immediately took the unit down to the local Fender repair shop. The tech checked out the unit with, I think a multimeter, and told me that it was so inaccurate as to be useless. The word he used I think was "cheesy". Customer support? 2.

I have been playing 21 years. Obviously I wouldn't buy another Holland. I'd pay the bucks and buy a Clark. Why? I sent the chassis to Mike Clark of Clark amps. I told him to make it "stock Bassman". While he was doing that, I ordered 4 Weber P10Rs. The reverb was removed, and all other necessary changes were made. The amp is a different amp now. Much tighter on the low-end, though still boomy. Maybe that's just the way Bassman's are. Much smoother and warmer tone overall. Mike Clark also recommended that I bridge the channels if I really wanted it to growl at a lower volume. And it does. Thanks Mr. Clark. Wished I'd bought one of yours to begin with.