Thanks to the magic of eBay, the same tweed Gibson GA19RVT recently came and went and then came and went again on eBay; a tale of flippity dippity
the amp sold here for $1,050 and it sold again
here for $1,200.. The selling power of a good rug should never be underestimated. Gibson made three tweed reverb combos; this one, the GA30RV, and the GA77RV. The GA19RVT with reverb and tremolo uses 3 6EU7s, one 7199, and twin 6V6s with a 5Y3 rectifier. All were fitted with Jensen C12R speakers mostly for clearance ... a belled P12R wouldn't fit in the stock cabinet. In any event, it's one way to make $150 ... and justify keeping a good rug around.
For $1,050 ... (feet cropped out) ... average condition:
Original knobs and stains ... mold in the patterned cotton backing of the vinyl tolex interacting with the water-based glue. Without the stains, it would have sold for several hundred dollars more:
Except for the cathode bypass caps and new power supply cap, all original electronics including the 'chocolate drop' caps that tend to mud up the tone:
... this time for $1,200 ... nothing like a nice rug ..
If you're bored, you can compare the stains on the back in the pic above to the stains on the back in the pic below ... okay ... a different angle but big stain wad in the middle and above and below the vent on the visual left ... it's the same amp.
... and, when he flipped it, he shot the chassis from a different angle:
Below is a comparison between the GA19s reverb circuit (upper) and the Princeton Reverb (aa1164) circuit, also a twin 6V6 design with tremolo; Leo's acknowledgment that money could be made in small reverb combo amps; both using two tube sections to ramp the to-be-verbed signal up and another section to send the 'verbed signal back to the line.
Pretty good YouTube audio sampler of the tweed GA19
here. Not sure but I believe the sample model still has its ceramic Jensen in it.
My GA19 from a couple of years ago; fresh grillcloth but with after-market plastic badge:
The chassis was in very good condition (including original Gibson-logo'ed tube set but cabinet nasty. Found another on eBay and then a back-panel but from the other shade of tolex used by Gibson:
The chocolate drops are really bad; not going to argue with Fenderistas about the tone of blue- or brown-molded signal caps or the virtues of authenticity; in the tweed Gibsons, it better be mint to justify hanging onto them; anyway ... from my Orange Drop period and fresh mylars for the trem circuit. Except for Bluesdan's GA18, the best trem on the planet. Beefy boy blue Sprague Atom power supply filter caps slung between two wiring strips. Also fitted with a Weber 12A125/Jensen P12Q by cutting the lower speaker baffle batten, replacing the baffle, and dropping the speaker to the point where the lip was just above the bottom of the cabinet to generate the physical clearance between the pre- and power-amp tubes.
The eBay amp sold (and resold) for about the going rate; the vgc models typically closer to $1,500 or so. They don't sound like Fenders but then again, they don't sound like Fenders ... smaller output transformers and different phase inverter design mostly but the better-grade Gibson amps are generally hanging on to their value.