Vintage 1961 Gibson Maestro GA1RT Reverb Echo tweed amp; big box Champ w vibrato

Description: The two GA-1RT amps I listed previously sold. Then I sold another last week. There are two more. I've been collecting them. Don't wait!This Gibson-made Maestro Reverb Echo model GA-1RT is a 5-watt little monster that's in 95% original condition and plenty loud for its size . It was made by Gibson circa 1961. Like a Fender Champ, the amp comes with an 8" Jensen Alnico speaker. Tubes and circuit is similar to a champ. Unlike a Champ, there is a 19.5" wide, 7" deep cabinet, tremolo, and an original foot switch that tucks into a bracket inside the cabinet. It has been freshly gone over by a pro tech and brought to excellent conditionOld amps usually need servicing but this one needed very little. Mostly just "service" like cleaning the tube sockets, etc. The control panel is decently clean on this one; I have not tried to clean it further. These amps were designed to be used in either of TWO ways:1. Use it to add spring Reverb-Echo effects to a separate 2nd combo amplifier. There is a (new replacement MOD) spring reverb tank in the base of the amp. A cable (included) from the tank can be connected via alligator clips directly to the speaker of the 2nd amp to add Reverb & Echo to the dry sound of the 2nd amp. The "dry" sounds come from the second amp and, the same sound, but with reverb and tremolo, come out of the GA1RT, usually positioned across the room or stage.(An added plus is the spatial sound dispersion of using two amps.) This is known as “Speaker-Driven Reverb”. It's a very cool and original sound effect that was dreamed up in the 1960's, before tube reverb was incorporated into amps and before stereophonic effects. In this usage, the amount of reverb is controlled by the volume of the Reverb Echo amp.2. You can also use the amp on its own and it's an awesome fully functional, self-contained little tube amp. Used this way, the GA1RT is a killer practice or small gig amp with a circuit very, very similar to a Fender tweed Champ (but without the $4K price tag), for those who want a real vintage tweed champ circuit WITH tremolo AND a wide-panel cabinet that is about 1/3 BIGGER than a champ (for better bass response and less of a "toy" appearance) PLUS the option to run it as an outboard speaker-driven reverb unit as described above..At low volume the tone is rich and warm/articulate; turn it up to 8 and the vintage tube distortion kicks in. At 10 the amp is beautifully dirty without killing your ears. No need for a distortion pedal, you have the real thing. (The song "Layla" was supposedly recorded with Eric Clapton and Duane Allman using tweed Champs, which says alot about the tone.)Original tubes; 1x 12AX7, 1x 6BM8 & 1x 5Y3GT ; One 8” original Jensen speaker and footswitch. About 5 watts but plenty loud for most applications like home/studio. I use them for gigs too. Transformers are original. Handle and brackets are original, see photos. I now have two of these amps (I started with SEVEN) so please get in touch if you want more than one. They are great to run in pairs! This one has clean tweed with some mild water stains on the bottom couple inches. Excellent condition inside.I got so many because I use two at gigs in stereo (I'm keeping those!) and had an idea for my tech guy to make the amps' reverb work in an elementary way w/o having another amp involved. That idea worked on ONE amp so I bought all the others over time at various places. Sadly, we were never able to replicate the reverb thing on the other amps, so I'm giving up and selling the extras. Also selling a late '70s Champ and one more GA1RT soon.

Price: 990 USD

Location: Kings Beach, California

End Time: 2024-10-31T00:51:55.000Z

Shipping Cost: 85 USD