Gibson Falcon Amps

[Sigmund451]

Very pretty cabinet!

[Rob MacKillop]

I'm salivating here, Phil Gorgeous gear I have to say. I use a Henriksen Blu 6, which is great, but need something in front of it for some styles. Looking into options.

[BreckerFan]

The price of a Princeton Reverb in 1965, per a quick Google search anyway, was $169.50. Inflation adjusted to 2026, thats just about $1800.

Also I didn't think Randall Smith was involved with Mesa anymore, I thought Gibson pushed him out.

But regardless, Mesas are super high quality amps that will last forever. I have a mid 90s Mark IV thats built like a tank. Blues Jrs are good amps but, judging from some that I've come across as house amps, they are not the most sturdy and can have some electronic quirks. High end amps aren't required to sound good of course, but I like the idea of buying something simple and high quality once and keeping it for years. I could see how the Falcon would fit the bill.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I'm salivating here, Phil Gorgeous gear I have to say. I use a Henriksen Blu 6, which is great, but need something in front of it for some styles. Looking into options.

Me too! I've known of Gordon Rankin for years, but I've never encountered any of his products in the flesh. TBH his prices on amps are not at all outrageous, especially considering what you get. When I move the amps I have posted for sale right now, I'll look into one of his small heads for my little studio and practice room.

I've also been eyeing the Enigmatic pedal since it came out. I've now seen several serious touring acts who use only UA pedals on stage, feeding the board directly and monitoring with IEMs. We saw an excellent Eagles tribute band from Canada some months ago called Take It to The Limit. There were no speakers or amps at all on the stage, so I asked them after the show what they were using - and it was all UA. They sounded amazing! The guitar effects were gorgeous, and the clean tones were full and rich. The bass was tight and deep too. I can't imagine getting better sound quality from any equipment I've ever heard.

FWIW, BreckerFan, I know of many BJs that have crapped out and required multiple repairs. The internet is full of horror stories too. They're biased very hot, which causes major problems with the traces on the boards and the tubes. Filter caps are marginal, and input jacks are prone to breakage. The second guitarist in my blues band had 2 and was constantly taking one or the other to his tech. They're not really up to the rigors of heavy gigging without some mods and a lot more care than turret board and point-to-point wired Fenders., and they're intolerant of even mild physical abuse.

[213Cobra]

I'm salivating here, Phil Gorgeous gear I have to say. I use a Henriksen Blu 6, which is great, but need something in front of it for some styles. Looking into options.

When I had to downsize, I sold all my heavy, bigger tube amps and went compact with the Bud Six, the Wavelength gear, and then added the SeQuel Vermont just because I couldn't resist it, and still have money leftover from selling the classic Mesa and Fender amps. I always had some pedals around but didn't use them all that much. I have a Strymon Bluesky and El Capistan, but mostly for foolin' around. What got more use in the past were the FMR Audio A.R.C. and Cornell Germanium Fuzz. I have a few of Paul Cochran's TIM pedals, and some Fulltones and other odds and ends. But still, mostly played straight into amps when going electric.

But these more hifi circuits in the Henriksen and Wavelengths combined with the encapsulated model quality in UA pedals has me using these pedals more. Well, all the time in the case of the headphone amp. The UA pedals are more expensive than some but they sound quite authentic. For me there's some overkill -- I don't need MIDI nor all the options the UA app enables. But they are effective pedals. Think about it: for around the price of a nice, entry-level, Asian laminated archtop, you could cover five or six decades of amp/speaker voices with the UA Woodrow '55, Dream '65 and Enigmatic '82 pedals in house, played through your Blu Six.

Another interesting option I have no experience with is the NUX Amp Academy Stomp Modeler. $279 here in the US:

Access to this page has been denied

Or you can go old school and get a narrower-focus pedal preamp with a tube (valve to you) in it. Easy for analysis paralysis to set in. But you can survey for what makes sense. Life is short. Pick something or other and play.

Phil

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks for that, Phil. I have a Fairfield Circuitry The Barbershop Overdrive pedal on order already, after several recommendations on this forum. I’ll see how I get on with that first, before splashing out further. But everything you mention has interest for me.

[Phil59]

I'm amused by this discussion of current amp economics. I know that part of it is that we like to talk the gear. But the truth is that you can buy well-made, hand-wired, vintage Fenders, Gibsons and Ampegs for the same or usually considerably less. Or something like Victoria amps. This is not being negative, it is pointing out reality.

[DawgBone]

I'm amused by this discussion of current amp economics. I know that part of it is that we like to talk the gear. But the truth is that you can buy well-made, hand-wired, vintage Fenders, Gibsons and Ampegs for the same or usually considerably less. Or something like Victoria amps. This is not being negative, it is pointing out reality.

It's always the same routine with every new amp release, doesn't really matter what it is. Forum gushing over a new amp. Then a few people buy them, maybe even many people in the case of more affordable amps, then they gush over them in honeymoon phase threads. Then six months to a year later they are for sale in the marketplace or reverb, having never lived up to the hype because at the end of the day a guitar amp is only as good as the person playing it.

I actually feel quite positive about the whole thing because guys obsessing over expensive new stuff keeps the price on those classics down. Case in point there is a nice Ampeg Reverberocket 50 2x12 with a high quality road case for $699 on my local CL right now. Serious bang for my bucks!

[213Cobra]

I'm amused by this discussion of current amp economics. I know that part of it is that we like to talk the gear. But the truth is that you can buy well-made, hand-wired, vintage Fenders, Gibsons and Ampegs for the same or usually considerably less. Or something like Victoria amps. This is not being negative, it is pointing out reality.

That's all true, but reality also is that much of the market wants something new, with a warranty, or made by a brand they recognize. The Gibson / Mesa recognizers are a superset of Victoria or Wavelength, for that matter.

Phil

[garybaldy]

But the truth is that you can buy well-made, hand-wired, vintage Fenders, Gibsons and Ampegs for the same or usually considerably less.

The same can be said of guitars. One case in point being my recent acquisition - the L7.

[Stringswinger]

Over the years, I owned quite a few Mesa and Fender tube amps. Both companies made some great amps back in the day, and probably still do. But today, that sound can be (mostly) had with lighter and more reliable modern solid-state amps. Let's be real, tubes are unreliable (particularly the ones being made today).

I am down to two amps, a Quilter Mach 3 and a Henriksen Bud 6. I now have a UA Dream 65 pedal to put in front of the Henriksen to get the Fender Tube amp sound. Plus, I have kept a Rich Raezer made Stealth 12ER, for when I need a 2X12 amp (sometimes you want to push a bit more air than a 1X12 amp can do on it's own).

If I had to have tubes and wanted a new amp, I would probably choose a boutique offering from companies like Carr and Milkman. Companies like Mesa and Fender have too many mouths to feed in the distribution chain (as Phil has correctly pointed out) and I think one can get more bang for the buck (and probably better quality as well) from the smaller makers.

[jads57]

I will admit there’s something wonderful about a sound when especially power tubes are pushed hard. Compression,Sag,whatever it has feel like your amp is breathing and has more touch sensitivity.

That said with all of the hassles mentioned above,and low pay, as well just being tired of being a furniture mover,lol!
Quilter and amps like them are 98% of the way there!

[DawgBone]

Over the years, I owned quite a few Mesa and Fender tube amps. Both companies made some great amps back in the day, and probably still do. But today, that sound can be (mostly) had with lighter and more reliable modern solid-state amps. Let's be real, tubes are unreliable (particularly the ones being made today).

Define reliability. I've never had a power tube let go at a gig in my amp and I think I had to swap a V1/V2 preamp tube out once in maybe 30 years of tube amp usage.

[Stringswinger]

Define reliability. I've never had a power tube let go at a gig in my amp and I think I had to swap a V1/V2 preamp tube out once in maybe 30 years of tube amp usage.

I have had both Power and preamp tubes start to fail on a gig. I always carried spares, so it was an easy fix (but it still messed with my head big time on those gigs). You have been lucky, may your good luck continue!

[Jimmy Mack]

Pre-amp tubes these days come and go. I have spares. I have NOS. But the amp stays. Princeton Reverb II.

Sometimes the best sounding ( newish) tubes just don't hold up.

It's hard to know just what's going to work out. To sink good $$ in NOS doesn't guarantee great tone. (I have a nice old Mullard 12ax7)
it's not ideal sounding. Yes, I do hear the differences in pre-amp tubes.

Always interested in hearing about good sounding 12ax7's