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NAD Gibson GA-60RV Super Goldtone (Like I need another project!)


DavesNotHere

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Posted

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.......

 

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Guest HRB853370
Posted

So its a Gibson clone Dave? Looks like the real deal. Nice.

Posted

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.
Posted

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.

Guest HRB853370
Posted

I like the Gibson guitar knobs for the controls... Nice touch!

 

They could be Heritage control knobs....or generic top hat knobs....

Guest HRB853370
Posted

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.

Posted

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 ;)

Posted

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!

Posted

 

 

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?

Posted

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!

Posted

 

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.

  • 7 months later...
Posted

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.

Posted

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

Posted

Congrats DNH. She's a beaute!

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

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.

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