OLD Gibson ga20t

[lenny]

i played a gibson ga20t, with a jensen speaker coded 220613.
i think it might have been 1956? my friend had it in the back of his closet (yep lol not lying) and he said he thought the speaker was bad, but it was fine, it was just giving MAJOR overdrive as you turned the amp up.
and speaking of... HOLY COW. it had the most natural breakup of any amp i've ever used, and it sounded really warm and great! past around 4 it quickly started going into overdrive, and on 10, it had tons of overdrive, harmonics, very nice sounding . i was using a ibanez shredder guitar with a floyd rose and old strings that was his only electric in playing condition.
he was saying, "yea, my friend's uncle used to play , what it called rock a... what's it called?.. . rock a billy (lol im not kidding) with it in bars".
he also has a 1974 mahogany guild 12 string that is really cool, and a silvertone amp in case guitar which i didnt plug in.
anyway..
i was curious if any of you have used one of these or had any info about ga-20t's

[Flipped Mustang]

Hi Lenny,
I've got a '54 GA-9 which behaves much the same as your description. The small Gibsons sound similar to my Fenders/Ampegs/Supros from the same era. They all have subtle differences, but the (basically) same tube complements and layouts. The Gibsons do seem to sound warmer and thicker than the others.The GA-20T was made between '56 and '62, so from your speaker code it sounds like a '56 or '57. My handy dandy reference book says it was a 16 watt, 1x12 amp that was renamed "Ranger" in 1960. I've got an unhealthy fondness for these small '50's amps and while my collection has many great sounds, they all seem to be a bit temperamental with various little problems that drive you crazy if you're trying to record or gig with them. I like 'em anyway :)
Rich

[Tim Swartz]

Tweed Deluxish (or better) tone at about 1/3 the price. On my deserted island list. For even more serious honk and grind plug into the microphone channel (5879 pentode input).