Gibson Lancer GA 35 RVT

richardp69

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So, I seldom play electric anymore and have no need for this type of amp. But, a guy I know came upon this in a house he just bought (along with boatloads of other stuff). He doesn't play and has no use for it. He knew I dabbled in musical gear so he gave it to me to do with as I please. It's filthy and needs a good cleaning but it looks like a 1X12 speaker with Reverb, Tremelo a foot switch etc. I haven't plugged it in to play yet. I'm going to clean it up 1st. Anybody out there have one of these??? Thoughts either good or bad??? I don't believe Gibson amps ever got a lot of love but what the heck do I know.

I'm likely going to clean it up, sell it (any ideas on price) and give the guy half of whatever I can get.
 

jp

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I've always read that the white-panel models (mid to late-60s) of Gibson tube amps are the least sought after because they aren't easily pushed to overdrive. That's only what I commonly read. This doesn't mean one can't get good clean sounds out of them. That was the case with a GA-RVT19 Falcon from the Crestline series I used to have, but it was super cool for surfy, jangly sounds.

Here's the price history from Reverb:
 

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capnjuan helped a forum brother bypass the stock tonestack in one and converted it to the tweed style. It improved the overdrive considerably over stock.
 

shihan

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I have a Crestline GA-17. it’s very simple to have a tech remove what’s known as the ‘tone suck’ circuit, and that makes a huge change in the tone. A better speaker will make that amp sound great. If you’re willing to spend a little beyond the purchase price, these are fantastic amps. The Lancer will be LOUD, though.
 

richardp69

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Well, surprisingly, this one cleaned up pretty nice. Plugged it in and doesn't work though. Powers up just fine but it's all crackly etc. and I can get no tone from it..

I put it on CL for $150 and it looks like a guy is going to take it. Thought about taking it to an amp tech but they are few and far between around here the closest one is not very trustworthy so discount sale it is.
 

Rambozo96

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Is it one of the whiteface amps? I have the GA-15RVT with a broken reverb tranny and I remember bone stock the tonestack just made it super icepicky. Like I never had the treble up past 2. They got good bones to be something special but bone stock they’re too trebly. I also recall that Gibson didn’t do a very good job keeping up with all the revisions so you’re liable to have one that differs a bit from the schematic. Also they’re usually pretty messy under the hood.
 
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