Gibson GA-5 - Gibson says, "Discontinued"

[younkint]

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote Gibson Service, inquiring as to whether the wonderful little Gibson GA-5 Les Paul Jr. Amp was being discontinued. The timing of this communication coincided with the "Blow Out" sales for this amp at MF, etc. Today, I received a reply from Gibson Service. Evidently, it's all over for the GA-5. Here's the text of the reply from Gibson:

Hello,

Thank you for writing! The GA-5 amp has been discontinued. This does not affect you warranty however and you are more than welcome to contact us with any issues that you have with the amp at 1-800-4GIBSON.
Thanks again!

Those of us who own these little jewels know how nice they are, so it's a shame to see it vanish from the store shelves. I am particularly sad to see another USA product disappear.

[furrfurrfurr]

I'm loving mine more and more every day. My Esquire has never sounded better.

[Rob DiStefano]

There's a better than fair chance that lots more of the $299 GA-5's will turn up at Music123 or MF or GC (as they're all the same company).

[boris bubbanov]

My instincts tell me Rob is right.

I suspect now that MF/Music 123 is the liquidator (allegedly) of this little amp, they will use it to jump start their relationship with the amp community from time to time over the next year or so.

I mean, the supply of the Squier 51 after discontinuation just went on and on and on. These guys are gonna play this little product to the hilt.

And once they are really really gone, then Gibson will re-introduce the product incorporating all of Rob's upgrades. If their new masters let them, of course.

[Sidney Vicious]

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

My instincts tell me Rob is right.

I suspect now that MF/Music 123 is the liquidator (allegedly) of this little amp, they will use it to jump start their relationship with the amp community from time to time over the next year or so.

I mean, the supply of the Squier 51 after discontinuation just went on and on and on. These guys are gonna play this little product to the hilt.

And once they are really really gone, then Gibson will re-introduce the product incorporating all of Rob's upgrades. If their new masters let them, of course.

Not challenging you but I don't recall that regarding '51's -

I think the fact that the GA-5 is US made makes it less likely that there is a big warehouse of these somewhere - I suspect what was sold is what there was - not that there might be some resellers that grabbed a couple to resell.

I personally wouldn't think that throwing off a dozen of these in a new "sale" of this amp would do much to establish MF/123 in amps -

the GA-5 is cheap so they could sell it, sure - but if someone buys it they're not buying something else from MF/123 - particularly if looking for tube hand made in USA - will just look elsewhere.

The amp at that price is really a one-off - the only thing broadly comparable IMHO is a silverface Champ for the quality and price.

And if they put up a few again only to have them sell out quickly . . . same thing, I would think. There is not percentage in keeping some around to sell in a new sell off, I would think.

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by Sidney Vicious

Not challenging you but I don't recall that regarding '51's -

We have a sticky over at the Squier 51 modder's forum, and many related posts before that, pertaining to availability of the 51s, and the posts are called "Uh-oh, they're gone for sure this time" or something like that. 12 months later and MF found a few more that got sold yesterday, I think, at $ 76.99.
Maybe I'm too influenced by this experience, but I can see the merit in having ticklers or teasers or loss leaders that can be dribbled out. It keeps a bunch of folks watching for stuff who have other things to do, and they see other stuff while they're watching and money is made that way.
Or not, just speculation on my part.

[gibsonjunkie]

At Guitar Center's website, where they list it at $699, they said it is backordered and due in 3-4 weeks. I'm not holding my breath...

[boris bubbanov]

Someone at that new site this amp's manufacturer has, suggested Gibby is doing a redesign on the GA-5 and they wanted therefore to liquidate all the amps they had in stock. They had June, 2006 build date amps there, it seems like.

This makes real sense to me; they need amps to make the case for being a full line guitar company, and this would be a reputation re-builder which they need badly.

[KC]

I don't know, man -- seems like Gibson's already got a well-deserved reputation for making fine amps, a little off the beaten track in terms of design and features, that are so wildly overpriced that nobody will buy them. I've got an old GA15 that's a perfect example -- a really great little amp, except that the knobs are on the back, which drives a lot of people nuts. Oh yeah, and list price was like $1000 for a 1x10, 15-watt amp with one tone knob, no master vol and no reverb.

If they would have put a master vol on the GA15RV (same amp but 1x12 and reverb) and then priced it to compete with the hot rod deluxe, they would have sold a million of them. It's a really great amp. Instead they priced themselves out of the market and then people like me bought them for $300 when they were blowing out the remaindered stock at the end of their product life.

That's what's happening now with the GA-5. When they're gone, they're gone, and they ain't coming back at anywhere near this price. Gibson's never felt the need to compete with Peavey at the low end of the market (which is exactly what the blues junior / hot rod end of the Fender amp line is designed to do). My bet is that whatever comes along to replace the GA-5 in the lineup will be really nice, really well-made and really expensive.

[jh45gun]

Gibson's never felt the need to compete with Peavey at the low end of the market (which is exactly what the blues junior / hot rod end of the Fender amp line is designed to do). My bet is that whatever comes along to replace the GA-5 in the lineup will be really nice, really well-made and really expensive.

Which is why you see a LOT of Peavey amps on stages and Fender amps and not Gibson's. I have played for over 40 years and of course equipment interest me so I look to see what folks are using. Only Gibson Amp I ever seen being used was back when I first started playing a guy in an other band had a large Gibson amp and this was back in the late 60's. Now it maybe a regional thing maybe Gibson amps are used more other places but I never seen them much around here in Northern WI. I never seen any on TV either being used by anyone.

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

This makes real sense to me; they need amps to make the case for being a full line guitar company, and this would be a reputation re-builder which they need badly.

I apologize for not speaking clearly. I feel that Gibson should make and market more amps like this GA-5, North American source, to take some attention away from some of the lack of quality control in Tennessee on the electric guitar side.
I've never had a low opinion about Gibson amps, well certainly not in general, and I always wondered why I saw so few Gibson amps in use.

I agree that the redesign will no doubt be expensive, should it come to pass.

[GuitarFlunky]

Has enyone here tried the GA-5 with an acoustic with built in electronics? (I use my Priceton Reverb with my acoustic, and without the reverb it is fairly flat.) Any opinions on this Gibson?

[Chito]

I think people tend to forget that the original price of the GA-5 was $699.95 IMO, a little overpriced for a 5 watt amp. They were not able to sell a lot of these before the price was cut in half by MF. And with the Champion 600, Epi VJ, Blackheart, etc. It got even worse for them. And I'm not saying that the these other 5 watt amps are on par or better than the GA-5, as I have not had a chance to hear a GA-5, but with that kind of competition, it would be very hard for them to continue making them and trying to sell these amps.

[Ron C]

Originally Posted by GuitarFlunky

Has enyone here tried the GA-5 with an acoustic with built in electronics? (I use my Priceton Reverb with my acoustic, and without the reverb it is fairly flat.) Any opinions on this Gibson?

I love my GA-5, but honestly can't think of a worse amp to use with an acoustic. With so little clean headroom and so much, well, tube coloration of the tone it just doesn't get much worse than this for plugging in an acoustic.

It's been said that acoustic guitar amps have a lot in common with PA systems, keyboard amps, and bass amps -- all use lots of clean (generally solid state) power with little coloration. For 5 years now I've used and love an Ultrasound acoustic amp similar to this one http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ier?sku=482066. My daughter sometimes uses it for keyboard and vocals as well, and it always sounds great for those applications. There's a smaller version for only $200 as well.

Ironically, Ultrasound amps look a lot like a GA-5, but that's about where the similarity ends.

[jh45gun]

Kustom makes a really nice solid state 15 watt accoustic amp for about 125 bucks. It has a Celestion speaker and sounds real nice with an accoustic. I had one but traded it in when I went back to a Tele and needed a larger amp. I talked my brother into buying one and he loves it. It also has a mic input so you can plug in a mic and sing with it too for small rooms by your self. Nice amp for the money if your looking for a reasonable accoustic amp.

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by Chito

I think people tend to forget that the original price of the GA-5 was $699.95 IMO, a little overpriced for a 5 watt amp. They were not able to sell a lot of these before the price was cut in half by MF. And with the Champion 600, Epi VJ, Blackheart, etc. It got even worse for them. And I'm not saying that the these other 5 watt amps are on par or better than the GA-5, as I have not had a chance to hear a GA-5, but with that kind of competition, it would be very hard for them to continue making them and trying to sell these amps.

You've stated the case against reintroducing them very well indeed. I dunno with the Gibson acquisition going on if these guys would get the green light to reintroduce it, and at what price. Gibson could lose money on this each way to Sunday, at any price we might propose. I just wonder if it isn't wise sometimes to offer a few products at a loss just to demonstrate to the market that the brand is not in retreat. Goodness knows Honda has lost a ton on the S-2000, NSX and Formula One, but that doesn't stop them.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally Posted by Ron C

I love my GA-5, but honestly can't think of a worse amp to use with an acoustic. With so little clean headroom and so much, well, tube coloration of the tone it just doesn't get much worse than this for plugging in an acoustic.

It's been said that acoustic guitar amps have a lot in common with PA systems, keyboard amps, and bass amps -- all use lots of clean (generally solid state) power with little coloration. For 5 years now I've used and love an Ultrasound acoustic amp similar to this one http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ier?sku=482066. My daughter sometimes uses it for keyboard and vocals as well, and it always sounds great for those applications. There's a smaller version for only $200 as well.

Ironically, Ultrasound amps look a lot like a GA-5, but that's about where the similarity ends.

IMHO ...

At the minimum, with the trinity mods accomplished, and a more robust speaker, the GA-5 sounded Great -a very warm acoustic tone that mic'd well- when fed by a Seagull loaded with a K&K Pure Western Mini and no intervening preamp or pedals. YMMV.

[Ron C]

Originally Posted by Rob DiStefano

IMHO ...

At the minimum, with the trinity mods accomplished, and a more robust speaker, the GA-5 sounded Great -a very warm acoustic tone that mic'd well- when fed by a Seagull loaded with a K&K Pure Western Mini and no intervening preamp or pedals. YMMV.

Well, I'd value Rob's results actually plugging an acoustic in to this amp over my hypothesizing (I never even thought to try it) any day! Thanks for sharing.