For sale is a great underrated 50s Gibson amp - the GA-5 'Les Paul Junior' amp.
I believe it was named so because it was meant to be paired with a contemporary Les Paul Junior model, being a student amp for a student guitar.
As such, it feels somewhat like a Champ - driveable at living room volume and while it's hardly going to fill a stadium, it has quite a lot of utility for home playing / recording.
This one is largely original, though I believe the original owner had converted it to a UK transformer etc. It had also been painted over in black, much of which has come away (pictured) revealing the original cream tolex. However the faceplate is untouched, clearly legible and with the serial impressed to the facade.
It was serviced by Coopersonic (Nottingham) about a year ago and not touched much since. I've included a few pictures of the internals, and here are the service notes:
'Test all valves 1x 6V6 (RCA), Tidy speaker wiring, Tighten hardware, Repairs to bad joints on input sockets, Clean pot and sockets, PAT test. Notes: I think bad sound was due to bad joints on the input sockets in combination with vibrations from the speaker. The 6V6 was a Soviet valve; these are usually pretty good but this one has become quite microphonic so this replaced with a nice and most appropriate RCA. It has been recapped at some point; a little ugly but effective'.
As such, I'd deem it 'player grade', but then again an amp really should be, shouldn't it.
Similar to a period Champ, but a fraction of the price. Gibson amps are rightfully getting a second look - while not as popular as their Fender counterparts, I feel they've held up quite well.
top of page
£525.00Price
bottom of page


