The Definitive Book on Gibson Amps

[capnjuan]

Mr. Marx's Gibson book showed up today. It's divided roughly into 25% the origins of amplified sound, 25% Gibson corporate history and product development and 50% guide to Gibson amps. No punches are pulled when it comes to discussing Gibson's attitudes towards amps in general ("...not really musical instruments..."), Mr. McCarty's and Mr. Lover's attitudes towards the then-existing trends in music a/k/a R&R ("Jeez ... turn it down willya?"), and the rise of Fender ... which was driving the train seen leaving the station.

In its introduction to the guide to Gibson amps, the author reminds that there was: "... always room for variations and different configurations that we do not know about." and further "...If a certain model does not match the information here, please inform us so we an research it and include it in a possible revised edition in the future." (page 97) I can think of several misses and missteps but they aren't worth listing here. As a personal comment, I think the book spends too much time with the then top-of-the-line amps that nobody bought and apparently didn't sound very good and too little time on amp design and engineering and with the pretty neat 50s and 60s student models that they sold by the thousands and, thanks to some decent-enough engineering, have lasted until today and still sound pretty good.

The book was published by Blue Book Publications. It's interesting and informative ... sort of like the Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars. It doesn't offer itself as a history, only a 'guide'; it is more like the Blue Book and not a committed, scholarly history of Gibson of the type and intergrity of Hans Moust's book .... not even close. Finally, Mad Dog's late '50s two tone GA40LP made the cover ... maybe there's hope yet! (logo blocked out to avoid / evade Mr Moto Foto bouquet copyright police :evil: )

 

[firebirdjake]

The book looks like a must score, but my, oh my, what a classic 'Stude! There's an old dealership in west Atlantic City that still has the company's coat of arms(!) on the upper part of the building- good excuse to go grab a couple pix for practice. Beautiful car, John.

 

[capnjuan]

Hi Jake; the book is worth the trouble and the car ...... it's one of my two or three wish-I-coulda-woulda-shouldas.... J

 

[Default]

Below is a picture of a 56 Buick Special Riviera 4 door hardtop.

Model 43-Four-Door Riviera....................................91,025

I owned one with a cracked torque tube when I was young and too broke to get it fixed. Mine was black with a white top. It had a 322 cubic inch (5.3 liter?) 4 barrel carb with a 3 speed manual transmission. I didn't have the wherewithall to fix it and I had no place to keep it. The engine was a "nailvalve" v-8. One of the interesting things about GM cars was the sharing of framing members. Until 53 or 54, all the engines were inline sixes or straight eights(with the exception of Cadillac). Apparently, fitting a v-8 into an engine bay designed for inline engines was a challenge, so the designs were "off" for the lack of a coherent Steve. Chevy had the "small block" designed to fit in the smallest possible space, Oldsmobile's cylinder block was a narrow 77 degrees, instead of the normal 90 and Buick had the nailhead v-8.

Buick "Nailhead V8"

Buick first generation of V8 lasted from 1953 through 1956. It was an OHV/pushrod engine like the then new Oldsmobile "Rocket V8" engine. This engine became known as the "Nailhead" for the unusual vertical position of its small-sized valves—which looked like nails. The Nailhead-V8 family employed a camshaft with higher lift and longer duration to offset the smaller-sized valves and arguably restrictive intake- and exhaust-port areas. The small-size valves and intake runners made for engines with a lot of torque, with many exceeding one foot-pound per cubic inch, which was exceptional for the day.

Note the vertical position of the intake and exhaust valves. Normally, the valves are in the same plane as the cylinders. My car had a lovely lope to the exhaust at idle and a great snarl through the carburetor ("induction hoot").


Linkage to Guild-like engine wackiness.

 

[capnjuan]

Interesting; I always wondered with those valve covers that were parallel to the ground were all about. I had 55 Buick Special for a while; straight 6 ... as if there were anything else then ... it too died of nomoneyitis ... attacked in the U-joints it was.

 

[Default]

According to that article, hotrodders used a custom-groind cam and a supercharger to push the fuel/air mixture through the exhaust ports and used the intakes as exhaust ports, so, instead of a carburetor, you had a stack pointing straight up from the hood.

Yow!



Picture of BB's '56 to veer back on topic

 

[capnjuan]

Wally 'Zeppo' Marx says that GA70 'County and Western'; twin 6L6s, 15" speaker was more like a Fender " ... than almost any other Gibson amplfier before or since..." ( pg 46). Says it was Gibson's take on a Pro ... but couldn't sell them. Rob's work is amazing.

 

[teleharmonium]

Cap'n, have you tried any glass 6SJ7s in a guitar amp ?

Have not; I have two GA20Ts with 5879 pentodes in channel 2; one runs well but needs a new speaker and the other hums pretty hard although I believe I know why. Are the 6SJ7s worth the price of admission?

Sorry, I thought I had replied to this. I'm not sure, I think I've played through a couple of old amps that used 6SJ7s but not for long and they would have been the metal ones. One of them, I loved the sound of, it was an old Epiphone Electar amp manufactured by Nat Daniels pre-Danelectro, with a fragile looking field coil speaker and 6L6G power tubes. I don't know what to credit for the sound out of the numerous variables compared to more modern amps, but the 6SJ7 does interest me.

 

[capnjuan]

Sorry, I thought I had replied to this. I'm not sure, I think I've played through a couple of old amps that used 6SJ7s but not for long and they would have been the metal ones. One of them, I loved the sound of, it was an old Epiphone Electar amp manufactured by Nat Daniels pre-Danelectro, with a fragile looking field coil speaker and 6L6G power tubes. I don't know what to credit for the sound out of the numerous variables compared to more modern amps, but the 6SJ7 does interest me.

S'ok TH; I'd like to learn more about preamp octals with an older GA20 for pretty much the same reason. I guess there were technical reasons for abandoning them ... maybe heater noise for one thing. Mr. Marx' book, while good in the areas of mgmt attitudes and success/failure of the high-line Gibson amps, doesn't spend any energy at all on subjects like when/why did Gibson (others?) abandon field coils (was it Jensen: 'we ain't going to make them anymore?) or the attributes of the 5879 which is the heart and soul of the GA40LP - at least currently, one of the few well-regarded amps of the era. :shock: