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Topic: Dating Vintage Gibson Amplifiers |
Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 27 Jul 2013 7:23 pm |
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I have an old Gibson Skylark GA-5 that was my very first amplifier. My folks bought it for me for Christmas in about 1964 or so. It was used when they purchased it.
Is there a way to date the amp using the serial number?
This one has blonde (not tweed) tolex with brown speaker cloth. They were produced from 1957 - 1961.
_________________
Lee, from South Texas - Down On The Rio Grande
There are only two options as I see it.
Either I'm right, or there is a sinister conspiracy to conceal the fact that I'm right.
Williams Keyless S-10, BMI S-10, Evans FET-500LV, Fender Steel King, 2 Roland Cube 80XL's,
Sarno FreeLoader, Goodrich Passive Volume Pedals, Vintage ACE Pack-A-Seat |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 28 Jul 2013 4:41 am
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I don't know of any coherent serial number scheme for old Gibson amps for that period. There may be a way to figure it out, but I've never seen anybody bother with it.
Part of the reason for this may be that it's pretty straightforward to date them by model + features (e.g., covering, controls, speaker number and size, etc.); which tubes were used on the specific model; and the EIA codes on the pots, transformers, and speaker(s). The reason this works is that Gibson changed things up pretty frequently, so most any particular combination of these narrows it down pretty well.
These sites should give you the particulars on what model/features/tubes go with what years, and you should be able to use the EIA codes to fill in the rest:
http://www.superiormusic.com/page199.htm
http://www.0rigami.com/gg/amps.html
http://home.provide.net/~cfh/pots.html
If it's this version with blonde tolex, oxblood grill cloth, and 6BM8 triode/pentode tube, then I'd guess '60 or '61
But look at all the details and EIA codes to narrow it down further. |
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Kevin Mincke
From:
Farmington, MN (Twin Cities-South Metro) USA
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Posted 28 Jul 2013 7:41 am
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Boy they really changed in just a few years. Here's my GA 5T I had gone thru by Savage Audio sometime back.
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 28 Jul 2013 9:31 am
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Dave - That's the model I have.
Kevin - I see your "G" is broken. Mine is too. Mine says yibson. The top of the G is broken off. |
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Kevin Mincke
From:
Farmington, MN (Twin Cities-South Metro) USA
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Posted 28 Jul 2013 10:19 am
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| Yep, see a lot of them that way Lee....must have been a design/weak point when making the logo. |
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Darrell Grigsby
From:
Jonesburg, Missouri
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Posted 30 Jul 2013 2:04 pm
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I have one of those Gibson Skylark amplifiers.
My parents bought it for me---I believe Christmas
of 1960.
It has the original Gibson tubes.
It has been recapped.
Power cord replaced with 3 prong.
Serial number is 27530.
After bringing it up to standards---it worked for
about 3 hours. It did sound pretty good for an 8" speaker. I was playing steel through it. I had taken it to a practice. In process of getting new tranny.
Now, has a dead leg on the power transformer.
Darrell |
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Len Amaral
From:
Rehoboth,MA 02769
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Posted 30 Jul 2013 3:52 pm
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| I don't remember the model Gibson amp but as a kid I would go to my local music store and there was a Gibson amp that was something like a twin with two speakers but they were at an angle facing (left & right) sounded nice. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 30 Jul 2013 3:54 pm
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The Skylark (with tremolo) was introduced in 1961, and had 5 watts and an 8" speaker up until '63. In 1964, they upped the output to 10 watts, and featured a 10" speaker, and that lasted until 1968. 
The non-tremolo Skylark was introduced in 1957, and had identical specs. It was also produced from '57-'68.
The amp with the angled sides was the "Multi-Stereo", and it featured two 10" speakers, but only 30 watts of output - far inferior (output-wise) to a Twin or Twin Reverb. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 30 Jul 2013 7:15 pm
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| Len Amaral wrote: |
| I don't remember the model Gibson amp but as a kid I would go to my local music store and there was a Gibson amp that was something like a twin with two speakers but they were at an angle facing (left & right) sounded nice. |
Sounds like a Gibson 79RVT - does it look something like this?:
Very celebrated amps, perhaps the Gibson amp that many rock and rollers like best. Roughly 30 watts from two dual-6BQ5/EL84 power sections. I've had a few over the years - great gritty rock and roll sound, but never could get what I'd call a great 'clean' sound from them. Earlier versions in tweed, but tolex by mid-60s. They made the 79RV with reverb but no tremelo, and there was a Bell version. Like some other Gibsons of the period, the mixer controls for the dry and reverb sounds were completely separate - so you can turn down the dry volume and, turning up the reverb volume, get just the completely wet reverb sound. |
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Len Amaral
From:
Rehoboth,MA 02769
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Posted 30 Jul 2013 7:43 pm
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Hi Dave:
That's the amp. You have to remember, it was almost 50 years ago when I saw that amp in the music store. I didn't know anything about wattage, speakers, tubes, it just looked nice. |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 31 Jan 2022 10:50 am
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I have an update on my little Gibson Skylark amp. Recently, a tech friend of mine did some work on it. It had been sitting on a shelf in my closet for a long, long time. I was afraid to even turn it on.
He replaced all the electrolytic capacitors. He said there is one that is actually three in one package, so to speak. He had it made by a company in Iowa, called Hayseed Hamfest. They custom manufacture hard to find capacitors. He said there were a couple of old wax type capacitors that were way, way past their useful life.
Oh, and he replaced the old power cord with a grounded one!
What a wonderful sounding little amp.
_________________
Lee, from South Texas - Down On The Rio Grande
There are only two options as I see it.
Either I'm right, or there is a sinister conspiracy to conceal the fact that I'm right.
Williams Keyless S-10, BMI S-10, Evans FET-500LV, Fender Steel King, 2 Roland Cube 80XL's,
Sarno FreeLoader, Goodrich Passive Volume Pedals, Vintage ACE Pack-A-Seat |
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Michael Butler
From:
California, USA
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Posted 31 Jan 2022 11:56 am
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i have two of the gibson ga79rtv. fantastic amps. also have a few other gibson amps.
that component is a sprague network that almost everyone with gibson amps dispose of and call "tone suck." very easy to bypass or replace with standard resistor and capacitors.
if interested, there is a gibson guitar amp group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/234008453370077
_________________
please see my Snakeskin's Virtual Music Museum below.
http://muscmp.wordpress.com/ |
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Michael Brebes
From:
Northridge CA
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Posted 31 Jan 2022 11:00 pm
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To date your amp, I would look for date codes on the potentiometers.
_________________
Michael Brebes
Instrument/amp/ pickup repair
MSA D10 Classic/Rickenbacher B6/
Dickerson MOTS/Dobro D32 Hawaiian/
Goldtone Paul Beard Reso
Mesa Boogie Studio Pre/Hafler 3000
RP1/MPX100 |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 1 Feb 2022 10:35 am
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When my parents gave me the little Gibson amp, which was used, they also gave me a brand new Made In USA Harmony H19 Silhouette guitar, which I still have.
It sounds really nice through the Gibson Skylark amp, as does the orange early 60s Gretsch 6120 I inherited from an uncle a long time ago. |
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