DavesNotHere Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Another local music shop is going out of business. My guitar teacher teaches out of the shop and he told me about it closing. So I went over there the other day to check it out. Everything was 50% to 75% off. This one was marked $1200 with 50% off. Well this behemoth struck my fancy .It didn't have a power cord so I asked one of the guys if he could grab one so I could fire it up. It didn't quite fire up, and after 10 minutes of knob twiddling and tube tapping I made a super low ball offer and he accepted. It's branded Gibson, but it's a Trace Elliot design built in Great Britian. Kamen bought TE, then some old TE employees bought back TE from Kamen (sound familiar?) They then sold out to Gibson. Gibson made them in England until around 2002, then shuttered the factory and moved the lines they wanted to keep to the US. So I know what I'm doing over the Christmas break So no tone report for now....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrymclark Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Oh!!!!!!!!! Pardon me while pick up my jaw from the floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billgelder Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Nice. good luck with it. Let us know how it goes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HRB853370 Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 So its a Gibson clone Dave? Looks like the real deal. Nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrymclark Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 So its a Gibson clone Dave? Looks like the real deal. Nice. Actually a rather desired Gibson. I have heard these just raved about. I only had a fleeting experience with the amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavesNotHere Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 So its a Gibson clone Dave? Looks like the real deal. Nice. No and yes...from what i understand the Trace Elliot design was loosley based on a vintage Gibson design and through a series of acqusitions Gibson bougt TE in 1998 and made the TE amps in England and just rebranded them as Gibsons (and doubled the price). Gibson then closed the factory in England around 2002. Peavy now owns the Trace Elliot name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I like the Gibson guitar knobs for the controls... Nice touch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HRB853370 Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I like the Gibson guitar knobs for the controls... Nice touch! They could be Heritage control knobs....or generic top hat knobs.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 They could be Heritage control knobs....or generic top hat knobs.... Let's just go with who used them first way back in the 50's... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HRB853370 Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 No and yes...from what i understand the Trace Elliot design was loosley based on a vintage Gibson design and through a series of acqusitions Gibson bougt TE in 1998 and made the TE amps in England and just rebranded them as Gibsons (and doubled the price). Gibson then closed the factory in England around 2002. Peavy now owns the Trace Elliot name. From my understanding, Gibson (or Gibson Labs) has abandoned all amp manufacturing. My GA40RVT was assembled in the USA (has a mix of US and foreign components) but it is a heck of a nice 30W class A (dual mode, Pentode, Triode) amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavesNotHere Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 From my understanding, Gibson (or Gibson Labs) has abandoned all amp manufacturing. My GA40RVT was assembled in the USA (has a mix of US and foreign components) but it is a heck of a nice 30W class A (dual mode, Pentode, Triode) amp. That they did. This one was made around the turn of the century Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbp810 Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 No and yes...from what i understand the Trace Elliot design was loosley based on a vintage Gibson design and through a series of acqusitions Gibson bougt TE in 1998 and made the TE amps in England and just rebranded them as Gibsons (and doubled the price). Gibson then closed the factory in England around 2002. Peavy now owns the Trace Elliot name. Ding ding ding ding ding That being said, they are fantastic amps whether they say Gibson or Trace Elliot on them - nice grab Dave; no go get that baby singing again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 From my understanding, Gibson (or Gibson Labs) has abandoned all amp manufacturing. My GA40RVT was assembled in the USA (has a mix of US and foreign components) but it is a heck of a nice 30W class A (dual mode, Pentode, Triode) amp. Sounds like a nice amp. You don't hear much about them, even by Gibson. Wonder why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steiner Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Looks like a cool amp. Once again, it's fun to get a deal and invest some sweat equity into polishing a diamond. Merry Christmas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrymclark Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Sounds like a nice amp. You don't hear much about them' date=' even by Gibson. Wonder why?[/quote'] Gibson are among my top and possibly favorite sounding tube amps with a few Fenders. There was a day when Gibson amps were in the hands of many. I can't explain why they lost favor. Maybe they didn't push amps the way Fender did. Who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavesNotHere Posted August 6, 2013 Author Share Posted August 6, 2013 Well, I'm resurrecting an old thread. I finally got around to getting it working. They used 1 amp rated diodes in the filament power supply and it was supposed to be regulated to 900 milli-amps, but that's not enough design margin to handle the in-rush. I put in 5 amp rated diodes and I shouldn't have that particular problem again. The amp sounds fantastic! It is so clean I didn't realized how loud I was playing.I thought I could hear it howling when I hit those high notes, and I was digging it, but it turns out it was one of the dogs hiding in the corner howling. Sheesh, everybody is a critic. But it is a great sounding amp on both the clean and high gain channels. But, damn it's heavy. Anyway, I love it and for the at least the next little while it will be my #1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schundog Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Right on! Enjoy it, Dave. Just make sure to not let the smoke get out of this one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 that's a great looking amp!! I love the retro styling I remember trying a Trace Elliot 1x12 combo that just rocked, this would have been late '90's. it was green and one of the first "small" amps to appear on the market before the small ampo craze hit. "Velocette" I think it was called then I heard Gibson bought them out, and rebranded the amps as their own....I have never seen a big 2x12 like that made by TE though, it must have been built after the murders & acquisitions? I did hear about a lot of QC/design problems...that problem you had right there is a good example!! at least it was an easy fix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthpawGuy Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 A very cool looking amp for sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steiner Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Congrats DNH. She's a beaute! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Get some casters and you'll be all set! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbetts41 Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 How about that volume! Those are very loud amps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnieboy2 Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I owned the 30 watt version a few years back, the one with the 12" and 10" speakers and it was awesome. The only thing that was a slight negative was the awful weight and the padded tolex was more easily snagged and damaged than the regular tolex over wood. Did you happen to get the original foot switch with yours? Now that was one of the most complicated (component packed) f/s I have ever seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrymclark Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Awesome! Yes, they are WICKEDLY loud amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brentrocks Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 damn.....did someone call the police, because you stole that thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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