Modifying and Comparing Gibson GA-19RVT Falcon Amps

[@MrAlsfan5]

I have one and it's fantastic. I love it and can't believe how underatted they are. The one I have is the early brown Tolex. I bought a Falcon in 1962 and was really pleased with it then. When I found the one I have presently, it was in a warehouse basement and was going to be scrapped/garbaged. A friend of mine took it and re-conditioned it and it sounds great.

[@scootergreen3]

How much does one of these weigh?

[@DavidCaris]

I have a 1962. It is my go to amp. Celestion G12-65 speaker in it which is a perfect compliment. It stacks up against my blackface Princeton Reverb, Reverberocket and Matchless SC30. These are the best deals out there. Thanks for the great video.

[@DaveHilts]

I've done about 8 of these, going back to the tweed version. these amps really are amazing and if you turn the volume down all the way and the reverb up you get some really crazy surf tone. I love what you have done here. I rebuilt a 62 crestline version, probably one of the first, and it had a lot of the tweed specs still built into the circuit. It sounded so much better than the others I thought i'd convert them to match. The '62 also had a aluminum chassis!! Thanks for your work.

[@TheGuitologist]

+Dave Hilts Thanks Dave. Nice to hear about others' experiences. I think I remember having an aluminum chassis one too. Maybe it was an early one as well, not sure. Interesting bit of info though.

[@scootergreen3]

How much does one of these weigh?

[@DaveHilts]

@@scootergreen3 it depends on the speaker really, they are much lighter than a deluxe reverb

[@veroamplifiers5205]

The "Tone-Sucking" network you refer to is a Bridged T-Filter. In short, it's a midrange control. Rather than delete it, you can modify the values, and dial in a more interesting tone. I modded a Falcon. I used a 680pf works for the bridge, and 200k for the tops of the T, and 2200pf for the stem of the T. Reducing the value of the resistors, moves the center of the "V" to a higher frequency for a thicker tone, and vice-versa for higher value resistors. Reducing the value of the bridge cap makes the "V" deeper, as does increasing the value of the cap for the base of the T. Changing any values affects the shape of the EQ to some degree. Take a look at the schematic for the GA-30RVT. It used 150K resistors for the top of the T, and a .01 cap for the base of the T, but they also had a pot underneath it. Turning the pot CCW gets those too muddy very quickly, and too far CW makes them much too bright. In short, the Bridged T requires a knife edge balance to sound good. Increasing the value of the coupling cap preceding the Bridged T helps a lot, but your tip on increasing the value of the 500pf cap in front of the cathodyne phase inverter would be virtually inaudible. The input resistance of this cathodyne is north of 12M ohms, so even a small cap will pass all the frequencies you need, although it has been said that smaller caps will make the circuit more susceptible to picking up noise. In short. Increasing that first coupling cap value, getting a more robust speaker, and even a beefier O/T would help the most. After that, I would begin to have fun by dialing in the Bridged T. As you were....

[@veroamplifiers5205]

I took a closer look at the GA-19RVT schematic. The 470k plate load resistor on the first 6EU7 doesn't need to be that large. It really isn't providing much more in the way of voltage swing than say a 220k, or even 100k, and its large value pushes the load line down into a more horizontal orientation. Down there, the characteristic of any distortion could be brittle. I would also take a voltage supply reading, and re-bias it accordingly. I also wish to correct my comment on the cap that feeds the cathodyne. The 12Meg input resistance would not apply since it is AC coupled. Still, the effect is probably subtle.

[@andrewwatsonkirk3287]

I just did this modification, along with a cap job. Second amp project, first being a tone circuit removal for a Fender Champion 600. Thanks for the detailed instructions, demos and explanations. I'm hooked!

[@TheGuitologist]

Sorry I missed your comment before. Thanks for the comment!

[@rylynnpdx]

My 1964 Falcon sounds amazing after a recap and your mods. I'm using it in stereo with my 1976 Fender Deluxe Reverb. If you are ever in Portland, Oregon, stop in at my shop, East Side Guitar Repair. Thanks for the video.

[@iamdrummer88]

Thanks for the info, going to dig into my '64 Falcon to smarten it up as soon as the caps come in. I've played it for years as-is, with the only change being a Weber Blue Dog 75w hemp cone, to help out with the highs. I'm playing more with single coils than humbuckers these days (namely my '63 Jaguar) and I really want to use this amp, without stabbing myself in the ear with treble!

[@timothyjay2012]

Dude that 3 Rd Modified version sounds unbelievable!! I'd love to have one of these amps!!!

[@Hollis6503]

Awesome reviews and playing. I have a 1964 Falcon with the red grill and I found a review of your Hawk 25rvt which I sent to my amp tech which he is still working on. I didn't see these review until today. Very helpful. We are still having some trem and reverb problems with the Hawk but the tone is the real thing. After r&r the 2 speakers with jensen c 10 R, caps etc Oh I have read that the cabinets are made of red wood, maybe just in the Falcon but any way.Yep just looked at the Hawk it is different plywood. Thanks

[@TheGuitologist]

+Hollis Sellew Silverhill,Alabama Some cabinets in the mid to late 50s were redwood. None in the 60s I know of.

[@sounddoctorin]

At 8:30, the plate resistors and bias resistors can be varied together along with a series 'coupling' capacitor with little change to the sound if proportional. On a triode amp circuit like this, the cathode/bias resistor will flow enough current to bring the cathode to a point of being above control grid to where there is an equilibrium condition. ie. with no input signal grid is pulled to zero volts nearly provided there is no leakage of coupling capacitor from a previous plate voltage . At about 1.5V for a lot of preamp tubes below cathode volts, they are curbing towards a pinch off state and so that tends to be the idle voltage you'll notice regardless of the size of the cathode resistor (within limits of the tubes ability to provide current). ie. if you use say a 1K resistor instead of 2.7K near 3X the current will flow to bring it up again near the pinch off voltage. So the different resistors used will mostly affect often the point at which the tube saturates/clips. Going with the 4.7K relatively low currents are going through the tube. Higher noise floor but wider signal range I'd guess there. Almost double the idle current with 2.7K so you have less headroom as the cathode can only supply electrons at a limited rate AND the Plate resistor and supply voltage will of course also present a limit. We have 280V or so and a 470K resistor even if grounded will flow 280/470000 amps or near 6mA so in this case that's maybe less significant of a limiting factor. THe 6EU7's max current is just a few mA I think? Anyway... Changing the PLATE resistor meanwhile will have another impact in the circuit though..well a couple. The higher the resistance the bigger the voltage gain since all the current is going through it save the small capacitive impedance in the circuit. ALSO though there is an RC time to be considered with coupling capacitance and any other circuitry in series/parallel. So for example we'd get a very similar sound if we used the 220K with the .02uf as we would with a 470K and a .01uf there. But twice the gain. So basically they double the voltage out of the chute there but then filter it in a more complex way rather than just a simple bass rolloff at 6dB/octave. So C12 in that circuit functions to stop DC primarily from leaking through the resistances to V2's grid, and it rolls off some bass at what appears about a 1M series load with the 100K, two 220K and 470K from the power supply's current source. Eg. say a square wave come in and suddenly turns the tube to pinch off state. Bam you go from max current sagging the voltage at plate to it's lowest point to 280V and the RC time of the high pass filter is 1M X .001uF and if that wave just stays high, the grid of V2 will experience an exponentially decaying pulse with a natural log point (about .39 isn't it as I recall?) at 1 millisecond roughly I'd think. So that's minimally where THAT cap starts diminishing things. a 500hz signal will pass fairly unaltered as you picture what that DC signal did that we just introduced. ie. 1 msecond is a half wave at 500hz... so that signal can form well within the confines revealed there since it's going from zero to peak to zero again. Rather than explaining using more complex math than some have taken you can get a concept by drawing these things out. But it begins to roll off the bass at some point at 6dB /octave getting ride of very lows we don't want over excursing the speaker etc. The filter circuit after the .001 (C12) then... has yes a high pass element in the 500pf. Coming into as much as a 1M load depending how pots are set there I suppose... but the 220K resistors are shorting highs to ground so you really have (to the high frequency component) an essentially 100K load on that part of the circuit since they will pass very efficiently through the .0033 or 3300pf capacitor. LOWS on the other hand (ie. frequencies outside the RC time domain of 220k X 3300pf = .007 seconds or so....1370 hz ish. so a few hundred hz will generally pass through lightly affected so those low frequencies essentially have a 440K resistance into the 1M drop or so. But at 1000 hz it's being attenuated significantly by the 3300pf cap to ground. Anyway maybe a good mod on those units would be install Anyway I appear to have an oddball amp...someone brought in here. It appears to have the older covering on the grill...a tweed (redone?) yellowish covering on the cabinet and the 6C4 (using the maestro schematic). Wood on the handle! hmm. Fairly nice shape from a guy in Helena, MT. I'm tired so hopefully I didn't confuse anyone too much :-)

[@sounddoctorin]

PS in the diagram I have it says 300V off the rectifier. 290V at the screen so the 400V cap or even a 350V would work fine unless it's a fail prone /old one as noted. There would be nothing wrong with having them in parallel except the fear that one of the old ones would leak. Having MORE capacitance though *can* be a good thing until at some point charging them up starts blowing fuses on startup :-). Generally smaller values were used because of cost/size restraints back in the 60's but in blues amp applications recitifier sag is desirable. In that case more capacitance would often be a bad thing since it would increase the time it takes for a sag to be perceived. But in cases where you are purely looking for clean tone, bigger is better since you don't want sag or noise in the signal *as* it sags.

[@tremelo68]

Just got one for cheap that needs restoration, so your tips are perfect. Thanks!

[@captainamerica9353]

I just bought my first Gibson amp, a very clean (cosmetically) Falcon like one of these. Has the original cover and manual, but somebody replaced the tube rectifier with S.S. and duct taped over it! Also has a 3 prong plug but a 2 wire cord.! Almost afraid to see what the chassis looks like inside. It works, but the volume is very low. Still sounds decent all things considered, but sure could use help. There is a lot of potential, I think. I bought a Variac recently and am getting a better Multi-Meter but I don't think I'm ready to get this thing squared away. Great video; these Gibby's need more love!

[@mikemitchell7374]

I have 2 of those brown ones like you have on the left. It is true they can sound a little shrill and thin stock. But they have a nice chime to them. I had my tech guy mod them to tame the high end and get a bit more gain out of them. I don't know if they are the same mods as you did here but they sound niiiiiiice. That brown one on the left sounds super great. I would love to have a schematic (which I can't read), take it to a builder and say "make me that". Also we need someone to start making good 6eu7 tubes again. Tungsol is doin it but they are not as nice as the old ones. Is go through them pretty good as I boost the signal at the front end of the amp hard. Great way to get distortion if you don't mind abusing your preamp tubes.

[@GIBKEL]

I know this is “old news” but it would be cool to hear the monitor out reverb through another amp. I don’t believe I’ve seen it demonstrated and it seems like a unique feature in this amp.That is if you still have one of these?

[@wadenkrangguttenberg3750]

man you get to mess with the coolest stuff. I have never even seen a gibson amp in person

[@TheGuitologist]

+Wadenkrang Guttenberg I'm not complaining! :D

[@josephballerini3730]

This is very interesting. I would have liked to hear the comparison with humbuckers as well since the original amps seem to have been voiced for that.

[@SuperCarver2011]

Just watched your demo on these 3 Falcon amps. The middle one sounds very "thin". Was it also modified? Maybe it's the speaker? Sounds like it has seen better days. The first one sounds good and the third one sounds not to bad for a replaced speaker. One thing I never liked about Gibson and their Epiphone amps was the construction layout technique used in placing the circuit components which made their amps kind of messy inside to begin with and even messier when repairs had to be done to them.

[@hermannmaier0]

Mine is stamped on cab as inspected on April 19, 1963. Badger Wood Products. Racine, Wisconsin. Maybe thats just cab date. Serial on front plate starts with 48..has red arrows in knob tops. Supposedly a 63, from my findings. I dont see the tone sucking circuit, and looks like someone has made mods to cap cans. Havent played it in a few years. Came to me with a weber feromax.

[@bucyruserie1211]

Very nice video.. I passed on buying one of those when I was younger as it sounded so thin, wish I didn't now. Can't believe the difference in tone between the two without the caps and the one with them still installed. They really come alive. I'm sure in person the amp with the new speaker is not as vibrant as the original, kinda hard to hear the difference after being compressed via KZbin. But I don't think it ever will sound as good as it is never going to be pushed as hard with it's 75watt rating (just my opinion), still sounded very good. I think you were being very kind calling the person who was inside the customer's amplifier prior to yourself a "tech".... butcher comes to my mind. Keep em coming. Thanks, Tom

[@TheGuitologist]

+Bucyrus Erie12 Yep, not the ideal speaker match on the WHS 75W. Something close to 25W would have been better. Broken in...even better still.

[@ebookpioneers]

Warehouse Speakers all seem to have huge magnets. I've yet to hear one that didn't sound real bass heavy. Jensens are an entirely different animal. I love them to death.

[@TheGuitologist]

Warehouse are going for the larger amp market overall, but they do have models that work well in small watt amps too. Another great speaker company from the great state of Kentucky! :)

[@thats2kewl]

Another really awesome vid!!! Very enjoyable to watch...and I always learn so much!! Quick question: you did the "same" mods to both the left- and right-most amps, correct? You attributed the difference in sound to the new, "tight" speaker (and wattage difference too)...is there a way the average person would be able to know/tell that the difference in sound is the speaker "only" and not a mod difference?

[@TheGuitologist]

Without opening an amp up, if you have experience with that particular model and know what it should sound like stock, you can sometimes tell if it's been modded. But the best way is opening it up.

[@SubtractiveMoves]

Subscribed 😊 I absolutely love the detailed content on all of your videos Thanks......much appreciated

[@SubtractiveMoves]

I also have a question if you are up for it. I'm looking at a Facebook add for a wheat grill falcon.....the add says that it's missing a power tube but still functions well. Is that a big red flag? Won't the remaining tube run way to hot and cause damage to capacitors and other parts? I'm very new to tube amps but I'm learning with the help of channels like this. Looking to purchase my first tube amp successfully......not run into a nightmare. I look at some forums and some say it's not good to run it with a missing tube.....and if it only has 2 power tubes.....it's definitely a no no. Your opinion and knowledge would be greatly appreciated

[@michaelpayne8337]

Thanks for the videos on these old Gibson amps. Just picked up a non-functional Falcon 19rvt. Mid-1964. Needed a fuse. Works great except the tremolo is not working. I've swapped tubes. Tested the foot switch. Any advice on what typically causes the trem to not work? I have installed a grounded plug. Removed the death cap. Removed the weird square tone cap as well. Thanks!

[@TheGuitologist]

There are four caps in the tremolo circuit. Replace all four of those and check all ground connections in trem circuit.

[@michaelpayne8337]

Thank you! Ground connections all look good. Went for caps today and in,y had trouble locating the .22 400dc black beauty. Any suggestions on a replacement?

[@michaelpayne8337]

Replaced tremolo caps. Still no Tremolo.

[@TheGuitologist]

Weak tube possibly,. Hard to tell without having it in front of me on the bench.

[@maxmcmillan99]

I enjoy your videos a lot, Brad, but I think that calling the tone stack in the later amp a 'tone-sucker' is a bit harsh. It's called a 'Bridged-T' and it does not filter bass or treble - it is a mid-cut circuit (with the given component values). It actually has a very low insertion loss and cuts about 13db centered on 550hz. This is a very Fender-like mid-cut without the huge insertion loss. To reduce the effect, you can put in a resistor (or pot) to ground to vary the amount of cut. Put in a SPST switch to ground and you can bypass the effect. It's also a bit misleading to say that a 1nf cap lets 'more highs' pass than a 20nf cap. It actually lets 'less lows' pass; but, you can't look at the coupling cap in isolation - the coupling caps form a high pass filter with the grid leak resistor of the following stage. In this case, the cutoff freq after V1 with the 1nf cap should be 79hz. Increasing to 20nf will lower the cutoff to about 4hz.

[@TheGuitologist]

Thanks for the comment! You are right this probably has the effect of cutting mids and "Blackfacing" the tone. I think I may have mused in the video whether the network was bleeding some bass off to voice the amp to GIbson guitars and keep the tone clean (which I still believe was the motivation), but that was just speculation. I have not analysed the values and calculated the exact frequencies being cut by this network, but I know their effects and they are less ability of the amp to break up and fewer overtones and low end tonal content, especially with single coil equipped guitars. Also, you are correct that I misspoke when I said the higher value coupling caps "pass more highs". Relative to the total spectrum, there will be "more highs", but technically you're right, what's going on is the bass cutoff frequency is being moved with the different cap value.

[@TheGuitologist]

Oh, by the way, that pot mod or switch mod might be a good idea, but I wouldn't want to drill an extra chassis hole for that. I'd much rather just remove the network and let that be that.

[@TheGuitologist]

Thanks Aaron. Yeah, I see nothing wrong with using input #2, or maybe even the monitor jack position, if you don't use them. I just have a hard time drilling new chassis holes in vintage amps. Good luck with your mods! Report back and let us know how they went.

[@richardturk7162]

Great videos Brad.

[@AnthonyMoon_]

Hello Sir . Love the channel. I'm giving a drum riser to a friend , and out of nowhere he tells me to take his Gibson Invader tube amp. It works great. 1x12 and 1x10. Are these worth keeping? Are they a Dog? I haven't got it home and set up yet. But it seemed to rock in his garage. Can't find info on it. Thanks , Anthony in Indy.

[@bluesboyst]

I have one.. .love it.. great tone......I have to take it in to the shop....blowing a fuse.. could be the rectifier

[@DeadKoby]

I have a GA-5T that has been repaired, but NOT modified. The brightness is off the charts.... DO NOT plug in a single coil guitar unless you want treble searing your face off. I plugged a humbucker gibson into it... and with the tone knobs of the guitar at half... it sounds PERFECT. I find the tone knobs on the guitar generally useless, but with that AMP, they are very helpful.

[@TheGuitologist]

+DeadKoby You are right, these were voiced with Gibson guitars in mind. I don't think they wanteed you to even be able to play someone else's guitars through their amps.

[@SuperCarver2011]

In the book "Gibson Guitars, Ted McCarty;s Golden Era 1948-1966), it was discussed what the marketing design strategy was for their amp line. Ted enjoyed the mellow sound of jazz played on their hollow body guitars and he wanted their amps not to sound as "raucous" as the Fender amps, so they were designed with these strange tone circuits(caps) to sound "mellow" when played through their line of guitars with humbuckers. However, that strategy backfired on Gibson when their sales people came back with very poor sales, Their customers wanted amps with that "raucous sound" to them and sales started fo fall off rapidly forcing Gibson and their parent company CMI to discontinue the amps around the time Ted left in 66, when he bought Bigsby.

[@sgtrutters5892]

Do you happen to have a schematic of how the tremolo on there Crestline Falcons? I have one and it is wired very differently than what the two schematics I found online are drawn as.

[@bootlegapples]

..the newer stock is cleaner and more jangly which is good for certain styles.It could be made a bit fuller just by replacing c12 with say a .01 or .022uf to let more lows through to make for an intermediate between the newer and older version.Coupled with a decent mid boost pedal you could get a fuller jangly/cutting tone (with a bit of hair) that kicks into thick crunchy mode with the mids booster on.By that time the volume boost should be present but not insane since everything will be compressing nicely.

[@nickmcintosh3785]

Would you change the caps to 50 uF and coupling cap to .0047 on a Falcon tweed version as well? Thanks.

[@waynegram8907]

When changing the cap values for the bypass caps and decoupling caps, do you do this one by one because technically I would think you would need 4 to 6 capacitor decade boxes to be switching all of them for all the stages at the same time or its going to be a domino effect when changing only one cap value leaving the rest the same and when you change the next cap value that is going affect the others so you get this domino effect? This process is called Amplifiers Tuning

[@jaysorensenIBEW]

Ive wondered about this. Voltages will change maybe as caps are changed. Thing is, after all caps and resistors that have been replaced if out of tolerance, the amp at all test points, should read what values are stated in the schematic. This is assuming the transformer is outputting within spec. [power xfmr]

[@otarskydog]

Hey man - I’ve got one of these, and it sounds quiet and a little thin - Would be curious if you could work your magic on it

[@earlethunders4345]

I'm about to acquire one of these. Can you tell me in a nutshell exactly what mods were performed on the one to the left?

[@robertrosejr1]

What a difference with modification

[@wesleymorris1]

I love my ga-19rvt it's the best amp I've ever play cleans through. I built a clone so I can preserve my gibson amp. It sounds close but not exact. I wouldn't take 10 grand for it. It sounds that beautiful.

[@abneration]

Hi Brad, Although I know nothing of the inner workings of amps, guitars, and other sweet electronics, I enjoy your your videos. I also have found hope that my Gibson Falcon might actually live again! Are you open to the prospect of modding it for me? I've not seen you address rather or not you offer service? Best

[@TheGuitologist]

Sure as long as you cover shipping to and fro, i'll mod it. bradlinzy at gmail

[@50gary]

Brad, how do I get in touch with you for amp work? I have the same early "brown" Gibson Falcon 19RVT The mods you did worked wonders for the amp. My computer speakers are pretty good and liked what I heard. I subscribed because your videos are great and easy to follow, good job.

[@TheGuitologist]

My email is bradlinzy at gmail.... Right now I am on hiatus from taking outside work for the summer. Trying to catch up on some of my own projects. Hit me back up in a couple months and we can talk about it.

[@maestrodmc]

The Guitologist , Do you have step by step instructions for the tone mod you did to the Falcon. I'm good with a soldering iron, but a newbie with Tube Amp guts. How does one get into learning what is needed to be safe and successful in amp modding? Thanks for your Channel, love it.

[@Bushradical]

I just did that mod to my Falcon....and it became a TON bigger and warmer....but it seemed to have lost its mojo. I swapped the .02 for a .01 and it got back its crunchy awesomeness without being the thin amp it was at first. I think the .02 lets too much bass through. And when you change the other cap from a 500pf to .0047 I think its just too warm. Even the original had the 500pf coupling cap IIRC. I kept the .0047 but swapped the first coupling cap to a .01

[@wckoek]

I encounter a Falcon which I believe is a late 60's 1061 model, is this a good amp to have for clean sound alone? I intended to use the amp for jazz only.

[@metropapt]

Came upon this while recapping a 1965 version and found the 10/10/10 uf lytic at the side had two legs of the cap wired together to apparently deliver 20uf rather than 10 at one point. The other 20/20 was wired as on the schematic, Wondering if you encountered this as well and why they diverged from the schematic.

[@ArianodiPuglia]

Greetings! I have a '62 Falcon Crestline GA 19 RVT(serial # beginning 774 ...) that has an RCA 6CU in the tube set. Somehow it has lost its tremolo capability. Is this a tube problem or some other component? Thanks.

[@virgilbprince]

thanks for this

[@Hollis6503]

I enjoy your videos !! I love the tone of these old Falcons. How about an ext. speaker. Do you recommend or not ?? I do use the line / monitor out and its very quite.

[@TheGuitologist]

Hi Hollis... If you're using this for recording or live playing, I'd just mic it up and roll with the internal speaker. Use the PA to get your volume if need be.

[@tobyk_8045]

Interesting plate resistor fact: 470 K instead of 220 K gives more second order harmonics.

[@mralsfan6996]

I have a Gibson Falcon amplifier and love it. I had one when I was 15, about 58 years ago and foolishly sold it. Then about 25 years ago, I found one sitting in a basement of a house that was being demolished. It was a mess. It had been on the floor with water dripping on it and rusting badly. I took it home with me anyhow for nostalgic reasons. A friend of mine took it home and did a beautiful job of reconditioning it. I use it sometimes instead of my Fender Twin Reverb. It's still a great amp.

[@markkloos6770]

Mine is 776 beginning serial #, tolex is tree bark like first on left + bluish and wheat grill. So cosmetically not in alignment with your progression. Maybe ‘used’ what they had.

[@brich2929]

Brad, a local person is selling one of these for just under 400 clams- is that a decent price?

[@danmccabe7435]

Hey Guys, I found a 1963 Falcon GA-19RVT next to the dumpster at my building today. It fires up but there is no sound coming out of it at all. All of the tubes are heating up. The 6v6GT tubes are all black. I'm not sure if they are supposed to be that way. They are Peavey 6v6GT made in china. Before I buys a set of tubes for it is there anything else I should look at before drop the cash on the tubes? I'm handy with a volt meter if there are some measurements I need to take. Let me know. Thanks a bunch.

[@AnthonyMoon_]

Are Gibson emblems available anywhere? For the Invader?

[@hermannmaier0]

A weber 12a125-A sounds great in mine.

[@JoshYenne]

well crap! I just started a video like this.. with one thats been modified and one that hadn't... but this is cool!!!

[@numbersabcdefg]

the particul bored backing is for light weight

[@davemadden7596]

Have two of the "tweed" model version of this amp...also too much twang. and not enough volume. Anything I should look at on these?

[@TheGuitologist]

Unless they're late run tweeds, you shouldn't have that tone-sucking network in there. I just worked on a tweed (video to come) and I don't find it "thin" with a Tele. Twangy, sure, but Teles are supposed to twang. You might check to see that your tubes are good and strong and your bias is correct.

[@defaulttoprime]

Interestingly enough, I'm having my old closet classic Falcon gone over... '62 Crestline... I'm certain it's the first time it's been serviced in 40+ years... We're just swapping out the two prong cord now... No evidence that tone sucking wafer was ever in the amp... Either it was never there, or it was removed long ago... There's really no evidence anyone has been inside the amp prior to three days ago... ultra-clean on the inside... I've always wondered why my amp had more balls than other Falcons... now I know...

[@tobyk_8045]

Wanna sell one of them?

[@nickmcintosh3785]

@@TheGuitologist The Tweeds also have the 500 pF coupling caps, don't they? Which could be changed to .0047 uF

[@stubkar]

Brad, looking to retube my falcon. any recommendations? mine is the model with 6eu7 pre's. '62, I believe?

[@TheGuitologist]

With 6EU7...you're very limited on choice. Only Tung Sol makes a 6EU7 current production. Here's a link to those: amzn.to/2qs5XYp There's NOS, but you'll probably pay thru the nose for them. That tube wasn't used in a lot of common circuits outside guitar stuff or vintage PA gear, it seems. A lot of people rewire the sockets for 12ax7, which I wouldn't personally do. Better to just buy the new production tube and it'll probably last a long time if you don't throw the amp down a flight of stairs.

[@tobyk_8045]

6EU7 is basically a 12ax7 with different pinout, so shouldn’t affect the sound of the amp.

[@scootergreen3]

Do these weigh about 30 lbs?

[@Michael-vv1gn]

I have a Gibson gss50 any none tube amps good or collectable?

[@gibby8562]

I have a Falcon sn 774934 like the one on the far left . Is it a 61?

[@7425park]

I use one for m electric fluglehorn

[@65dougk]

Love your videos. You know your shit!

[@chokkan7]

Brad, Great vid, but please stop spreading this around...the prices of these will shoot up tomorrow! ;)

[@TheGuitologist]

+chokkan7 Best thing to do is always buy stuff you KNOW is quality and under-valued. You can never go wrong with quality. If prices shoot up while you're holding a stash of something, even better. ;)

[@liberty5565]

Can't even find them now. Thanks a lot Brad.... 🖕😲🖕

[@liberty5565]

Brad can you pick out some great sounding obscure amps that don't sell for insane prices. Even late '70's Silverface Fenders are going up. Kinda giving up.

[@raedwulfone]

@@liberty5565 I just found one ! I bought it because of Brad I knew what it was >>>>>good Price too>

[@liberty5565]

@@raedwulfone Cool man, you just made an investment.

[@ryangunwitch-black]

2:07 this camera angle is killing me. Lol 😅 I know they're small amps but dang.

[@roscocsa]

For me the mod + new speaker is the best. The original is awful compared to both of the others though.

[@SirBelvedere333]

I’ve lost the reverb and trem. Any thoughts? Thx