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Post subject: Advice on an amp
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 4:04 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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SO my local guitar shop has a 1963 gibson skylark. I have been looking for a tube amp recently and they are not selling for that much (250 bucks). Wondering if i should buy it or go with a new fender pro jr?


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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 4:18 pm
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The GA-5's are pretty sweet little amps. And they'll probably outlast the Pro Jr.

:mrgreen:

Here's some additional data for your perusal.

http://www.angelfire.com/blues/rockinjo ... _ga_5.html

Best of luck, HTH

Arjay

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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 8:28 pm
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This amp has a similar circuit as my 1952 Fender Champion 800 (5C1). It's not going to have the gain of later Champs that used a 12AX7 (my Champion and this Skylark used a 6SJ7 pentode in the first gain)... but the 800 has a tone to die for. Brown, slow onset of overdrive. Sweet compression and harmonics. Perfect practice or recording amp IMHO. I included links to both amp' schemos. You can play this kinda amp at "10" all day long,once the 'lytics are upgraded. Enjoy!

http://www.drtube.com/schematics/gibson/ga-5lpj-jp.gif

http://www.drtube.com/schematics/fender ... -schem.gif


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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 9:05 pm
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I agree with Arjay. The 60's Gibson amps are very sweet sounding ! My first amp was a '64 Gibson Scout(GA-17RVT), very similar to the '63 GA-5 & GA-5T. When you test drive the amp, be sure to play it long enough to get it pretty warm(20-25 min), then with the guitar still plugged in and volumes up to -5- pick up the amp and set it down, about the way you would when loading it into your car. Listen for any pops or static. The reason : Gibson amps of this era were truly point to point construction. This means that there are plenty of components and wires supported only by their connections. This is fine as long as the connections are solid, and keep in mind all the parts and their terminals were very robust. If you can spend an hour testing the amp, all the better. Just don't want to see you get home with a crackling amp. These Gibsons are comparable with the Fender Harvard amp, big-time R&B recording amps. Good Luck ! Art

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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 9:38 pm
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My mistake ! I misread the GA-5 info, about the "Crestline" model name and increase in power. BMW is spot-on, a 5watt wonder amp ! Like the Champ. Same test still applies. Hey Beemer, you never got back to me about those paper-in-oil caps. Art

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Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 1:27 am
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BMW2002Ti wrote:
You can play this kinda amp at "10" all day long,once the 'lytics are upgraded. Enjoy!


+1

With a vintage Jensen P10R or a CTS alnico, these amps positively rip! As Art mentioned, expect some serious "Bell-Bottom Blues" vibe a la the tweed Fender Harvard.

Most of the kids in a guitar store will saunter past these curmudgeons on their way to the mega-stack eye candy without so much as a second glance. Their loss, our gain.

:mrgreen:

Arjay

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Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 5:10 am
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Ain't that a hoot,about the younger generation thinking the old amps are junk. :lol:
I walk into a GC and hear them wailing away on the high gain amps and then go into the vintage room and look at all the sweet old tube amps that I KNOW sound so much better.


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Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 8:14 am
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Don't let our secret out, RS!

:mrgreen:

Arjay

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Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 9:06 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
Don't let our secret out, RS!

:mrgreen:

Arjay
:lol: :lol: judging from the prices nowadays,the secret is out....to those of us who know what is good!....let the newbies THINK they sound good.
I was talking today to the guy who works on my amps when it really gets technical,and he told me about playing at a gig,a huge outdoor BBQ here, and during a break a 16 year old guitar "star" needed an amp to do his solo performance....cough :roll: ....and the guy being the nice guy that he is let him play through his hotrodded Princeton,the boy wanted a distortion pedal :P ...he couldn't even get the tube distortion :lol: that amp will jump and sing.
He didn't even know what he had plugged in to.


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Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 4:41 am
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I would pick it up


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Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 4:37 pm
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Most Fender and Gibson amps from that era are just little tone demons I'd be on that amp in a heartbeat for that giveaway price.

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Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 5:23 am
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guitslinger wrote:
Most Fender and Gibson amps from that era are just little tone demons I'd be on that amp in a heartbeat for that giveaway price.
Yeah,and they can be fixed with some know how and a few components,and played for many more years.


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Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 2:56 pm
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Rebelsoul wrote:
guitslinger wrote:
Most Fender and Gibson amps from that era are just little tone demons I'd be on that amp in a heartbeat for that giveaway price.
Yeah,and they can be fixed with some know how and a few components,and played for many more years.


Every guitarist should have a porch weasel in his arsenal. Whether a Fender, Supro/Valco, Silvertone, or one of these Gibbies, there's just no getting around the "mojo/kewl" factor of a single-ended-and-dimed 6V6 chassis torturing some chintzy eight-inch speaker.

Arjay

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Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 3:49 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
Rebelsoul wrote:
guitslinger wrote:
Most Fender and Gibson amps from that era are just little tone demons I'd be on that amp in a heartbeat for that giveaway price.
Yeah,and they can be fixed with some know how and a few components,and played for many more years.


Every guitarist should have a porch weasel in his arsenal. Whether a Fender, Supro/Valco, Silvertone, or one of these Gibbies, there's just no getting around the "mojo/kewl" factor of a single-ended-and-dimed 6V6 chassis torturing some chintzy eight-inch speaker.

Arjay
That pretty much say's it all.......... :wink: Mike

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Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 5:14 am
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:lol: :lol: :lol: ...porch weasel :lol:
Where do you come up with these things Arjay,I thought the only people who talked like that was us Southern boys....but I'll bet you've passed this way before. :wink:


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