The Gibson Falcon GA-19 RVT Corner...

[Mike Eskimo]

Got one of these last weekend w/ 2 far more desirable amps and , even though I knew these had really great reverb and trem I wasn't really excited about it.

I like it now way more than I thought I would even though A) it's not nearly loud enough and B) it's all clean headroom (which I need) .

Now I learn (from a very reliable source) that there was some circuit that Gibson installed that cut the mids out entirely so it's all either boom or hiss. And that it's an easy mod for a tech to remove the junk (caps ? resistors ?) and make it come alive again.

Anyone have one and/or have this done ?

I would love to rescue the fantastic reverb and trem that are stranded in this otherwise mediocre amp but the last thing I need is another gain-y 6v6 amp.

 

[1977CJ5]

Maybe you need to get the amp checked out before doing any mods. Maybe it needs some work. I've had 2. Both were great sounding amps. I did not have a problem with all boom or hiss. The only complaint I had was like you said, all clean headroom. Mine would distort pretty nicely with the amp turned all the way up and a humbucker guitar. My Strats and Teles would not distort the amp at all...

Never heard of the mod you referred to.

You may want to check out the Gibson Scout. It looks just like the Falcon, has reverb and tremolo, but NO tone control. Also, it has a 10" speaker, even though it is in the same cabinet as the Falcon. I still have one of these and It pretty much blew my Falcons away. Much louder.

Here is a picture of my Scout on the left and the Falcon on the right. Not the dogs You can see they pretty much look the same.

 

[Papa Joe]

I've got the RV15 with a real nice sounding 10" Jensen in it.The cap on the bass control was missing and I grabed what was handy and wired it in.It's workung so good for me that I have no intention of using the right one.I can get all kinds of nice tones just by tweaking the bass control.
I was surprised at just how good that little reverb sounds,though I'm not enthralled with the trem..
Great little studio amp,I've used it for lap steel too...

 

[ojaverde]

I have one. There are two schematics for this amp. The early tweed version and the later brown version. I have a 63 with the brown tree bark tolex on it. When I got it the trem wasn't working. I tried unsucsessfuly to fix it myself. I ended up taking it to a tech. I had him fix the trem and "tweedify" it by changing some of the caps and resisitors to match the earlier tweed schematic. Before it was pretty boring and lifeless(and way too clean). Now it sounds great. It's much more resposive. Even when dimed it never gets a ton of breakup but with my Hywy1 tele I can get a nice right on the edge of breakup tone that is fantastic.

I have pdf file of both schematics, as well as instructions on tweedifying that I got from another forum if you are interested.

 

[BobH]

I had a Falcon and I really dug it. Needed some work so I traded it away... It was very close in sound to a tweed ('56) Fender Deluxe (I also traded) plus great sounding reverb..... Wish now I'd kept it (BOTH of them..) My amp tech up in Lubbock (Wally here @TDPRI) knows these old Gibson amps... Email him.........

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[Mike Eskimo]

Supposedly Gibson was working on a "Gibson" sound which is why the tone control works they way it does.

My amp is the tree bark one and I love the warm it does (I have another Gibson tweed that will melt your face so I don't need that sound) it's just like a whole section of the tonal spectrum (mids) is not available.

 

[ruk777]

speaking of Gibson RVT 19s, there is a "moniter" jack next to the two inputs. Is this mean to go to a direct amp via a cable like a line out? Or is this a speaker output that I would use a stereo cable to plug into another speaker cabinet, like the second output that is on every blackface fender amp?
Can someone erase my ignorance?
Thanks!

 

[TNO]

Mike- the circuit you are referring to is a midrange cut. It's a square, orange Sprague deal that looks like a ceramic capacitor except it has three leads. Bypass that sucker and change the tiny .001 coupling caps to something more normal like .01 or .02 to let a more reasonable amount of bass through the amp.

 

[Wally]

I prefer the early version of the GA-19RVT...with the controls on the back a la a Tweed Fender. I have had the singel slant front control GA-19RVTs.....one of them was fantastic, the others were just usable. The fantastic one??? IT would overdrive readily....thick, smooth and creamy distortion.

 

[uriah1]

I have the GA20-rvt...great amp..
have it in to amp tech now though..got a radio crackle going on

 

[Silverface]

I just serviced a tree-bark Falcon Crestline for a friend. After the initial surprise of finding an old wasp nest, fishing lure swivel and a couple dead cockroaches in it...along with the dripping filter caps and rat's nest "lead dress" I expected, it turned out to be the sleeper of the year. I think he paid $250 for it and after tubes and caps (plus a few stray off-spec resistors) he ended up with an inexpensive, lightweight amp that'll keep up nicely with a BFDR and (IMO) has better trem and reverb than Fender's BF/SF designs (bias trem and reverb that works on a far wider frequency range than a Fender).

These are NOT your typical 100% clean, headroom-'til-10 Gibsons. When serviced and if the original speaker is in good shape they'll break up early like a DR - actually at a hair lower volume. Great small club amp - just enough clean volume with a little edge for country-rock and crank it up and use your guitar's volume and tone control(s) to drive it for blues/rock. Of all Gibsons these are probably the most versatile for most players, and can be found for far less $$ than similar low/mid-powered amps.

 

[Paul in Colorado]

I had one for a while, a '63, I believe. It needed a cap job at the least and I was having some financial problems so I sold it. It still had one of the hang tags under the reverb tank and the original tubes. I wish I could have kept it.

The monitor jack is a line out rather then an extension speaker jack.

 

[TNO]

The monitor jack is a line out but it is right at the end of the circuit so you get the effect of the output transformer and everything.

 

[Wally]

The monitor jack is a line out but it is right at the end of the circuit so you get the effect of the output transformer and everything.

TNO, it is my understanding that that is exactly what a line out is. A line out is taken off of the speaker leads. A line out is different from say a preamp out that taps the circuit prior to the PI.
IT is interesting that Gibson was thinking along the lines of using line outs for recording or for larger amplification of that small amp's signal way back then, isn't it? Gibson did a lot of things before anyone else did it.

 

[marc13]

I have a '63....when it works, it's beautiful, a total sleeper amp....LOVE the reverb and trem....when I first got it, I played it for a while, then the whole power section blew....caps, resistors, tubes, and my OT....brand new power section now, played it for 45 minutes, boom, blew the preamp and my reverb tube. Saving the dough right now to take it back and replace the whole preamp section....so much for anything being original, other than the original Jensen cab and chassis haha. At least it'll be reliable and sound awesome

EDIT: I know people tend to not like the way these things look, but I think they look pretty cool, they have a classy look to me, maybe it's just the poop-brown tolex most people don't like.....

 

[ScottJPatrick]

TNO / Wally, using the monitor out is exactly how I use my GA19RVT, either into the PA or using a tranny amp as a slave to be louder onstage. It works really well and I can set the amp volume to just under break-up (about half) which is where is sounds so good.

 

[Daytona]

I was very excited to find this on Craigslist. It was listed as a 63 because it wasnt tweed. But once I got there and saw the finish, I got even more excited. It's a 61. It was pretty rough as you can see from the first picture. After cleaning it up a little and taking it in to my local tech to get a "once over" we discovered it still has the original tubes. There were several leaky caps which appeared to be the original. After plugging this in and playing it, I fell in love. Amazing sound. Can anyonetell me if the "top hat" type knobs are the original? Theres a 61 amp in eBay (for $1495) that has the "pointy" knobs and Im not sure which one is correct.

 

[Wally]

Welcome, Daytona. Congrats on the find. Yes, that cab style is obviously not a '63, ime. The rear-mounted controls were last built in 1961 sometime, I think. Knobs??? I think I see what are 'bell' knobs in Gibson world, and yes, those could be original...or not. Some amps from that period had 'chickenhead'---pointy-- knobs while some were transitioning to the bell knob. My near mint, all-oriignal 1960 GA100 Bass amp in tweed has black and gold bell knobs, but I have owned some of the small combo guitar amps from the same period that carried the chickenhead knobs.

 

[Daytona]

Thanks for the reply Wally. It seems nothing was very cut and dry back then. Whatever was on sale I guess. Lol. Im impressed with the tone. Im an aging metal head and my tastes have certainly changed.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

That model is so far beyond the version right after that with the brown bark tolex it's ridiculous.

The later one needs mods and stuff removed to sound really great.

The one you got is simply bad ass. Cap job, new speaker or re-cone if necessary and done.

Love the trem and reverb too.

Those knobs are original.

http://www.vintageandrare.com/product/Gibson-Falcon-GA-19RVT-1962-Tweed-35388