Though best known for its iconic electric guitars, Gibson also produced its own amplifiers from the mid 1930s until the late '60s. A couple of years ago,company CEO Cesar Gueikian hinted at its return to tube amp manufacture, and now the first two combos have launched.
The new tube amps are a modern reimagining of the company's Skylark amps from the 1950s and '60s, and benefit from Gibson's acquisition of MESA/Boogie in 2021. That company's founder, Randall Smith, worked on all-new circuits with the Gibson design team in Petaluma, California, to create the Falcon 5 and Falcon 20 models.
The baby of the family is the Falcon 5, which features Class A power from a single 6V6 tube, plus three 12AX7 preamp tubes. The seven-watt combo outputs through a 10-inch Jensen Blackbird 40 Alnico speaker for "touch-sensitive, harmonically rich tube tones," but can be switched down to three watts for bedroom jamming. It also comes with cooked-in tube-driven reverb.
The Falcon 20 rocks dual 6V6 tubes and four 12AX7 preamp tubes with Multi-Watt technology for switching between 12, five or one watt output modes. This flavor comes with a 12-inch Jensen Blackbird 40 Alnico speaker, for the promise of improved bass response and wider projection. And along with the spring reverb, Gibson has added in a tremolo effect, selected via the included two-button footswitch.
Each model is encased in a birch cabinet mounted to an aluminum chassis that's wrapped in vintage-style cream vinyl with an oxblood-colored grille cloth. The single-channel amps sport two guitar inputs: normal for clean to overdriven tones, and low for cleaner voicings, and if the player so desires, the 6V6 power tubes can be exchanged for optional 6L6 flavors for added "flexibility, headroom, and punch."
"Over the last two years, I’ve witnessed the Gibson team working together to design and develop the new Gibson amplifiers and I couldn’t be prouder and more excited about what they have accomplished," said Gueikian. "It started with Randy Smith researching the Gibson sound, exploring the sound of many original Gibson amplifiers to design a new and improved circuit board that he passed on to the Lab team.
"John Marshall, Tommy Waugh, Jim Aschow, Doug West, Steve Mueller, Mat Koehler, and Craig Hockenberry all came together to create the amplifier and brought the new Gibson Falcon to the finish line. Upon playing the final prototype I immediately called Randy and told him, this is the Gibson sound, only better!"
Both Falcon amps are available in the US now. The Falcon 5 is priced at $1,499, while the Falcon 20 comes in at $1,799. Worldwide availability is pegged for April. The video below has more.
Product page: Gibson Falcon