Gibson GA9 amp

[Wicked-T]

Hi all,

I haven't been on here for about two year's and sorry about that. Between getting Cancer
and going though Chemo is not fun but I'm still here, all of a sudden I got that little bug in me
to pick up the guitar again. I been looking at a few old amps and the GA-9 looks interesting
but wondering how it sounds and that coil speaker it uses can it be switched out?

Thanks to all Merry Christmas

 

[RoscoeElegante]

Can't comment on the amp....but I'm very glad that you're back, and hope your health gets & stays good.

 

[dkevin]

Welcome back!!
The field-coil speaker can be replaced with a permanent magnet speaker if you add a choke to compensate for the field-coil.

 

[gridlock]

Can’t help with the Gibson Amp (curious about them also), but we are glad your back. Get well.

 

[Gris]

Not a fan of the Gibson field coil octal preamp tube amps. The 1961-62 dual single ended Gibsonette (1x10) & Discoverer (1x12) are glorious amps, after a spkr swap.

 

[King Fan]

The 1955 GA-9 I restored for a friend was a cute amp, with a pleasant but polite mid-50s sound. I didn't replace the speaker, basically just e-caps and a couple severely drifted resistors, but in that one at least *loud* and *distorted* weren't big items. To be fair, I didn't want to turn up too much because my friend wanted to keep and use the 1955 speaker. It'd be cool to hear from someone who replaced the speaker and cranked the sound, or played an original they could turn well up.

I will say a great small amp is a GA-5, say the late 50's tweed version or the ~1960 Skylark. They evolved further in the '60s; I think @Wally knows the chronology, and I don't, but I get the sense at some time things got weirder, and eventually maybe worse....

 

[68silverw/black]

I can say that there is a 1961 Gibson GA-8T on Reverb right now for $699 plus $99 shipping. I have one of those and it sounds great. It has an original Jensen Alnico speaker and works great. It probably looks at least as good as the GA-9 and no need to get a choke to replace the field coil speaker.

https://reverb.com/p/gibson-ga-8t-discoverer-1961

 

[Durvoid]

I can say that there is a 1961 Gibson GA-8T on Reverb right now for $699 plus $99 shipping. I have one of those and it sounds great. It has an original Jensen Alnico speaker and works great. It probably looks at least as good as the GA-9 and no need to get a choke to replace the field coil speaker.

https://reverb.com/p/gibson-ga-8t-discoverer-1961

I highly recommend this type of amp. I have the 1960 version. Really love the feel and it sounds good both clean and cranked. The tiny Jensen sounded glorious when pushed, right up until I blew it up (yeah, I know...). Playing this amp seems like I'm having a conversation with it, whereas my DRRI talks a lot, but doesn't seem to listen much...

 

[fenderchamp]

Not a fan of the Gibson field coil octal preamp tube amps. The 1961-62 dual single ended Gibsonette (1x10) & Discoverer (1x12) are glorious amps, after a spkr swap.

I had a 2 tone GA-20, late 50's. I bought it unheard and not working. It needed a new speaker and got a Weber speaker in it, and it got recapped. I sold it, it just didn't have much going on, not very loud, not very clean, but really not gainy enough for me either, I thought it would be tweed deluxe-ish, but it wasn't. I played another one at guitar center, that had the original speaker in it and It was a little better, but still didn't really "blow my skirt up".

In contrast I bought a Crestline Skylark GA5 (Not GA5T) about 5 years ago, I still have it and love it, it's not tweed deluxe-sh either, it more like a bigger badder champ. I love it with a tele, a strat, p-90s or humbuckers, it's great for recording too, somebody replaced the speaker with a Fender labeled 10'' it looks like a speaker from a silverfaced super or something. I would check a crestline out before an old octal amp.

If you want something that sounds truly old and "pre rock'n roll" Maybe the octal amplifiers are what you are looking for.

I wanted something that I could crank up all the way and that would sing a little bit, and I found the "newer" design to be more to my taste.

In any case I would make sure and try any old Gibson out, before I committed to it, as they are notoriously uneven and fickle.

 

[muscmp]

i have a few gibson, and fender amps. this is a 58 ga9. not in the best shape but a fun little amp to play. only 10 watts but two 12ax7 and two 6v6. so it is a later version.

i do have some with the octals and field coils like ga20 and ga50t and they are great. check out all of the early GA series.

play music!

 

[corliss1]

Gibson model designations are meaningless to me. They put the same name on totally different things over the years.

Stay with the pre-1962 ones and avoid the slant-top cabinets of the mid to late 60s and you'll be alright. All the earlier ones are pretty "tweed" sounding, in my opinion.