Tag: features

In the late ’50s and early ’60s, Gibson was apparently convinced the Vari-Tone switch was the way of the future, with its instant access to six different tones. But a high proportion of players who clocked serious miles on their ES-345 and 355 guitars had the switches disabled (and the guitars rewired to mono!).

As for the rendition of this tone smorgasbord on the GA-80T Vari-Tone amp of 1959 to ’61, access to a range of voices makes a little more sense. Where the six-way Vari-Tone on Gibson’s guitars was always in-circuit – arguably loading down and thinning out a tone that really didn’t need such heavy-handed assistance (seriously, you want to cobble a bunch of caps and resistors and a couple of chokes between two PAF pickups and your output?) – there’s more logic to it as applied to a preamp’s EQ stage, even if it functions in roughly the same way.

Thanks to its general proportions, the tweed cabinet, and the 15″ speaker, the GA-80T of this era is another of those pieces that players point to and declare, “Yeah, Gibson’s ‘Fender Pro’.” In truth, the amp is very different from the tweed Pro of the day, and has little in common with it other than those aforementioned elements and its dual 6L6GB output tubes. For that matter, few of Gibson’s amps of the ’50s and early ’60s bore much resemblance to any particular Fender on the market. Thanks, in part, to its cathode-biased output tubes, its relatively diminutive output transformer, and the modest plate voltages, the GA-80T was rated at just around 25 watts, paltry by today’s standards – or even late-’50s to early-’60s standards – for a 6L6-based amp. The inefficient Jensen P15P speaker didn’t help matters much, either, but these same ingredients add up to a juicy, rich tone with easy-yet-elegant breakup, and for many players that means a lot more than raw decibels.

The GA-80T Vari-Tone uses a pair of 5879 pentode preamp tubes, best known in guitar circles for their appearance in Gibson’s GA-40 Les Paul Amp. Here, though, they are employed quite differently. Given its high amplification factor, the 5879 (like the similar EF86) frequently serves as a lone gain stage in guitar-amplifier preamps, but the GA-80T puts another triode in front of it, using each of the halves of a 12AX7. On Channel 1, a Tone control is coupled just ahead of the Volume control, and from there the signal runs straight into the 5879. On Channel 2, the signal leaves its first gain stage via the same .022-uF coupling cap, then hits the six-button Vari-Tone Selector network, which sends it through the player’s choice of five tone caps when set to buttons II through VI, or (with button I engaged) a traditional rotary Tone potentiometer, rendering it virtually identical to Channel 1 up to this stage. After the second channel’s Volume pot and 5879 tube, however, it also branches into tremolo territory, throbbing to a simple circuit powered by half a 12AX7 according to where you twist the depth and frequency controls. The phase inverter is really just that, a single-triode splitter formed from half a 12AX7, but it doesn’t need the driver stage that many such inverters use since the 5879s present enough oomph to keep your signal belting right along to the output.

With its initial goose from the 12AX7 and some beefy gain make-up from the 5879, the GA-80T Vari-Tone achieves a thick, meaty overdrive that starts to pay out at just short of noon on the dial, even with many single-coil-loaded guitars. When the amp is cranked, many would call it an archetypal blues tone, though there’s plenty more in here, from classic rock-and-roll to jazz to whatever breed of gnarly roots-rock takes your fancy. The GZ34 rectifier lends a stoutness among other tube rectifiers, but still gives up a delectably tactile feel when pushed hard, and is one of several ingredients that help to make the Vari-Tone superbly touch-sensitive, in a manner expected of any great vintage amp.

For all the bells and whistles on Channel 2, lots of GA-80T owners will tell you they mostly stick to Channel 1, or when using Channel 2 for its tremolo, keep button I engaged for the traditional Tone control. As used in this amp, though, the Vari-Tone switching isn’t radically different from the rotary “click switch” that Matchless would put into the similarly pentode-driven second channel of its C-30 series of amplifiers (which uses an EF86), and it can be a quick means of finding a good “set it and forget it” voice for that channel.

The GA-80T Vari-Tone was produced from 1959 to ’61. Gibson’s records show numbers declining from 282, to 181, to 131 year-to-year throughout that period. As scarce as they are, they command a little more on the vintage market than some other tweed-era Gibson amps of roughly similar specs, but are usually not priced too outrageously for what they are. Expect to pay a mere fraction of what the accompanying 1960 ES-355 will cost you, in any case. It is arguably a better-sounding and more practical amp than its even quirkier cousins of the same year, the GA-83S with stereo vibrato, or the famed angle-fronted GA-79T, but usually won’t command quite the price of either. The GA-80 also distinguishes itself from the otherwise outwardly-similar GA-77 or GA-70 Country Western (both dual 6L6s, single 15″ Jensen, 25 watts) in its 12AX7-into-5879 preamp, making it a true tone-alternative in the world of vintage amps.

This article originally appeared in VG September 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

As a maker of high-quality instruments, Gibson was hit hard by the onset of the Depression in the 1930s. Company president Guy Hart, a former accountant, recognized that Gibson could not survive by simply waiting for better times, and he took action, diverting some guitar production to wooden toys, creating the Kalamazoo line of budget-priced instruments and taking on contract work for outside distributors.

The most successful of these distributor’s brands made by Gibson were Recording King (sold by Montgomery Ward) and Cromwell (distributed by Grossman, Richter & Phillips, Gretsch & Brenner, and Continental). Gibson made several archtop acoustic models under the Recording King and Cromwell brands that would be considered at least borderline high-end guitars. The best of all of the contract models, however, were a pair of dreadnought-sized flat-tops made for Recording King and endorsed by cowboy movie star Ray Whitley. Model 1027 had rosewood back and sides and Model 1028 had mahogany back and sides.

Gibson’s relationship with Montgomery Ward began in the spring of 1931 with a deep-bodied flat-top similar to Gibson’s Nick Lucas model. Two years later, Ward contracted with Gibson to produce a squat-bodied flat-top similar to the Kalamazoo KG-11 that was endorsed by country singer/songwriter Carson Robison.

By 1937, Ward was offering more than a dozen Recording King flat-tops and archtop models made by Gibson. Buyers may or may not have recognized the body styles and workmanship as Gibson’s, but none of the Recording Kings (or Kalamazoos or any other non-Gibson branded instruments) had Gibson’s patented adjustable truss rod in the neck.

That same year, Ray Whitley visited the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo. Born in Atlanta in 1901, Whitley was raised on a farm, where he learned to rope and ride well enough to become a rodeo performer, specializing in tricks with the bullwhip. He moved to New York in 1930 as a construction worker, but quickly launched his musical career on WMCA radio with his group, The Range Ramblers. He had made one marginally successful stab at a film career, returned to New York, and was ready to give Hollywood another try when he ordered a custom guitar from Gibson.

Gibson had great timing in introducing the Nick Lucas Special endorsement model in 1927. Lucas was well-known as a singer and guitarist but his career – along with exposure for his Gibson model – took a giant leap in 1929 when he performed “Tip-toe Through the Tulips” in the film Gold Diggers of Broadway. Gibson had a similar opportunity with Whitley, who took his new Western-trimmed “super jumbo” Gibson to Hollywood, landed a contract with RKO Pictures in ’38, and became a familiar face in Western movies (albeit mostly in the role of a sidekick). He also wrote “Back in the Saddle Again,” which he introduced in the 1938 film Border G-Man and which, with a rewrite from Gene Autry, became Autry’s theme song a year later. And he managed the Sons of the Pioneers, during the period when the group included Len Slye (soon to be Roy Rogers).

Gibson actually received great benefits – at no cost to the company – from Whitley’s cowboy friends in Hollywood. Gibson catalogs pictured all the Western film stars who had ordered a Super Jumbo for themselves, including Gene Autry, Ray “Crash” Corrigan, and Tex Ritter. Perhaps Gibson didn’t feel the need to reward Whitley with a formal endorsement model, but Montgomery Ward seized the opportunity.

In the spring catalog for ’39, Ward introduced Model 1027, featuring Whitley’s signature on the headstock. It was not similar to the Gibson SJ-200 that Whitley had helped introduce. If Whitley or Ward had asked for a similar model, it’s likely Gibson would not have wanted to dissipate the excitement that the SJ-200 was generating. Instead, the Whitley model was based on another relatively new Gibson – the Advanced Jumbo. Like the AJ, which had been introduced in ’36, the Recording King Whitley had Gibson’s round-shouldered dreadnought body with rosewood back and sides. Also like the AJ, the Whitley had an X-braced top. Virtually every other flat-top model that Gibson made under a contract brand (or under the Kalamazoo brand, for that matter) had lateral bracing. The bound fingerboard had small diamond inlays, unlike that of any Gibson. The bridge was an elegant new three-point design (which Gibson would soon introduce on its J-55 model), and the oversized pickguard was also unique to the model. The only Gibson element the Whitley model lacked was an adjustable truss, which Gibson never installed in anything but a Gibson.

In the fall of ’39, Montgomery Ward introduced a second Ray Whitley signature model (1028), also an X-braced dreadnought, but with mahogany back and sides. The fingerboard inlay was less elaborate – simple pearl dots – and the bridge on most examples was the rectangular-style Gibson used on its standard mahogany dreadnought, the J-35. Again, the only significant difference between the Whitley and a Gibson was the lack of a truss rod, and this mahogany Whitley delivers the same power and tone one would expect from a J-35.

Shipping totals compiled by Gibson employee Julius Bellson show the rosewood model (1027) got off to a good start, with 171 instruments shipped in ’39. In 1940, however, only nine were shipped, for a total of 180. The less-expensive mahogany model (1028) shipped 116 in ’39 and another 116 in 1940, for a total of 232.

By ’39, Gibson was enjoying a resurgence of sales of Gibson-branded models and booming business with its Kalamazoo line, and the company began winding down its contract production. In 1939-’40, 232 mahogany Whitley (1028) models were sold, making it the best-selling Gibson contract model for any outside distributor for that two-year period – a testament to the quality of the model.

Whitley never achieved the star status of Autry or Rogers, but he had a solid career, making 54 films for RKO and performing at the Venice Pier and other Southern California venues. Full recognition of his accomplishments didn’t come until after his death in 1979. He was inducted posthumously into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Western Music Association Hall of Fame. His prototype J-200 is currently displayed at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. And guitar players and collectors are just beginning to fully appreciate his Recording King models.

This article originally appeared in VG September 2010 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.