The Falcon (GA-19RVT) was a guitar
amplifier
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power su ...
made by
Gibson Guitar Corporation
Gibson, Inc. (formerly Gibson Guitar Corporation and Gibson Brands Inc.) is an American manufacturer of Guitar manufacturing, guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashvi ...
in 1961. With the Falcon and a few other models, Gibson was ahead of
Fender in bringing an amplifier with
reverb
In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then decay as the sound is a ...
on the market. In addition, the Falcon also had
tremolo
In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are multiple types of tremolo: a rapid repetition of a note, an alternation between two different notes, or a variation in volume.
Tremolos may be either ''measured'' ...
.
The Falcon got 14 watts out of two
6V6 tubes (the same tubes used in the comparable
Fender Deluxe), and had a Jensen 12" speaker. The pre-amp was powered by three
6EU7 tubes, and a
7199 The 7199 is a vacuum tube, combining a pentode and triode. Typically, the pentode was used for the input stage, and the triode as a phase inverter. The tube was used in a number of American guitar amplifiers; the Gibson Guitar Corporation, for insta ...
for the reverb circuit. It also has a 5V3GT rectifier tube in the V7 socket. Unlike Fender's later reverb amps (such as the
Princeton Reverb), the Falcon had a fairly unusual placement of the reverb circuit: rather than being placed after the pre-amp section and having the wet signal mixed with the dry, the Falcon's reverb circuit taps the signal before the volume and tone control, and mixes it with the dry signal via independent volume controls. In addition, the Falcon had a separate monitor output at line level, to connect the amp to a separate "Regular Amplifier" (the Falcon being referred to in the brochures as "Reverb Amplifier") and create a stereo effect.
The Falcon's sound is described as "full, rich" and "sweet-sounding", with a "raw, gnarly, compressed tone" at higher volumes. It is relatively rare: according to Gibson's records 204 were sold in 1961; the next year, the Crestline design was introduced, involving a redesign of the control panel as well as the circuit.
There were three variants of the Crestline version of the Falcon, all with similar specs that lasted until 1965-1966. The next version of the Falcon, and the last tube version was released in 1967-1968. This last version was similar in specs to the previous versions but had different cosmetics, with a taller cabinet sporting a larger front mounted control panel with two rows of knobs. This version used 4x 12ax7, and 2x 6bq5 tubes, with a solid state rectifier. Few of this version were made. There was also a solid state version of the Falcon released in the early 1970s.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falcon, Gibson
Gibson amplifiers