[Harp-L] Gibson GA90

[SONNYTONE@xxxxxxx]

There is no evidence to my knowledge, Scott Dirks and Joe Filisko would  
probably know best about suspect amps Walter was said to use. The only one I  know 
of personally, and this is when I had my Dano Commandos, was he used one of  
those, Billy Boy Arnold saw mine at the Harmonica Masterclass in 98 or 99 and  
said, yeah, like that, where you split the two pieces apart. The GA90 was 
used  by Kim on Tiger man, it has good tone, but when you start to get more 
volume out  of it, she does not cooperate. You can check with anyone that has owned 
one, I  have had 4 or 5. Eric Besanko has one of the cleanest collections of 
Gibson amps  possibly available for sale, you can check the 
_www.harmonicamasterlcass.com_ (http://www.harmonicamasterlcass.com)   vintage amps page. Plus 
Gibson's of that area always need major cap work and are  not a walk in the 
park to service. Search if you must. Walter was known to take  old PA systems and 
put the two speaker cabs on the wall, as can be seen in a pic  from Scott's 
book. I had heard he used Masco MA17 which is what I based my Sonny  Jr 1 and 
Sonny Jr 2 on, we used the low voltage to the plates from those amps,  the 
power section, and Tom of Cotton Amps designed the preamp section for modern  day 
application with harp, and I went searching for the best 8" speakers, and  the 
custom big Pyle's outdid any vintage Jensen, and trust me, I tried them all,  
so that is where we went , Initially in our search. First the SJ1 to capture  
Walter's recorded sound, then we knew the Harpking was coming out and 
designed  the Sonny Jr, which drove yes that six 8" speakers, only with us we used 
two  output transformers to keep it fatter and thicker. Of course we tried 
bigger  outputs running all 4 6L6's but not the same sound. I believe the Gibson 
GA90  ran one output for their small 3-5 watt speakers they used, usually Rolas, 
285  manufacturer code. The guys with the really loud bands had commented 
that the 8  inchers did not project far enough into the audience, and besides, 
Pyle went out  of business hence ending any other ideas of using 8" speakers. I 
have tried  every new one on the market and they all use a smooth shiny cone 
that sounds  like buzzing bees. Hence the putting together of the SJ410, using 
the preamping  knowledge from previous Sonny amps with the bassman, but using 
the parts I did  felt I could separate myself from any other replica maker, 
and all the reviews  support it. You don't see many hear on harpL as not many of 
my guys are on the  list, but I invested a large sum to buy out two 50's 
supply houses of all their  AStron and similar military brand paper in oil 
capacitors, while everyone else  was using orange drops.That with custom wound True 
to specs outputs and power  trannies, both are unique in a bassman, especially 
the output, speaker config  mixing speakers, Scott and I had similar ideas 
working on that front and never  met each other yet. A really good shape GA90 
will run you $1200 - $1600, and if  it was a killer harp amp, I would say go for 
it, just my experience and a few  others that have owned them. Eric is my only 
contact for you. His email is   _EBesanko@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
(mailto:EBesanko@xxxxxxxxxxxx)    you  can tell him Sonny sent you, and good luck. One of the 
absolute best Gibson or  any other amp I have blown through, and I dont think I 
missed many, was an early  version of the GA77, from 1954 - 1956. They changed 
the circuit completely in  57, those early ones with a single 15" have the best 
harp tone naturally I have  come across in all my years. Only 154 made in 54. 
Search on Mudharp if you must,  get some other opinions, guess my bottom line 
take on the 90 is great tone, but  cannot be pushed past the point of wanting 
to really kick it out there without  feedback. Now that guys are stepping up 
to the 410 that have previously owned  the SJ2 with 6 x 8, they are available 
from around that same price quote I gave  you for a 50 year old amp. I don't 
sell them and not pushing it, but if you want  that sound from a GA90 I think 
that amp comes closest, guys don't use the treble  control on the SJ2 enough, it 
acts as a boost gain, so many have always been  afraid of treble from Bassman 
experiences, depends on how the amp was  designed. All the best. For the 
vintage buffs, I recently acquired one of the  most rare Danelectro amps made, the 
white 1957 Dano twin 15, each 15 had and  output driving it. Very few have 
seen one, even the fellows who wrote the  Guitars from Neptune book, and 
excellent history of Dano and Silvertone amps, my  friend Doug had only briefly seen 
one in his whole Dano career. Alas, I had to  have it when the opportunity 
arrived, only to find it had too much gain for  harp, and will be sold as a pure 
collector/ guitar amp, Sick sound for guitar,  FAT. On the new website I am 
developing I hope to evaluate a vintage amp per  month, my opinion and then get 
your feedback on ones you have had. Worst harp  amp that was touted as being 
great, so don't bother, is the Valco with 4 large  oval speakers, zippo, 
nothing, no tone, imagine my surprise when I finally got  one last year after 15 
years of searching. You tap on the mic and go, crap, no  bottom , no tone, and 
sure enough, nadda. I only give these opinions to  hopefully save you guys that 
have heard myth stories about vintage amps, yes  it;s just my opinion, but I 
think my ears do well for tone after hearing so  many, at least 3000 vintage 
amps have passed my way, my tech has the arthritis  to prove it:))