Thanks to King’s X Ty Tabor’s “secretive” use of such amps
during the late 1980s, but is the Gibson Lab Series guitar amplifiers the best
sold-state electric guitar amplifier ever marketed?
By: Ringo Bones
Forget the Peavey Bandit, those Marshall Valvestate
solid-state amps or those solid-state Crate electric guitar amplifiers endorsed
by Lita Ford back in 1990, never mind those dry-sounding Carlsbro solid-state
electric guitar amplifiers of the early 1990s or those "modelling" digital signal processing based solid-state guitar amps that came in later – the best solid-state electric
guitar amplifier of all time is the Gibson Lab Series electric guitar
amplifiers. But does the Gibson lab Series’ claim-to-fame live up to the hype?
We make have to thank King’s X guitarist Ty Tabor for the
mystique surrounding the Gibson Lab Series because his “secretive” use of the
famed solid-state electric guitar amp got many – as in other guitarists not in
the know - to start wondering if Ty Tabor’s current set-up during the late 1980s
early 1990s era King’s X were hyper-modified vintage Fender or Marshall vacuum
tube amps. Believe it or not, B.B. King used one too – in the form of the Gibson
Lad Series L5, a 100-watt combo amp design equipped with two 12-inch speakers.
Weirder still, I though B.B. King’s trusty amp is a 1965 Fender Twin because
I’ve always resorted to using one in replicating his solos during his
collaboration with U2 in When Love Comes To Town during the 1988 Rattle And Hum
sessions.
Historically, Gibson Lab Series electric guitar amplifiers
are Moog designed electric guitar amplifiers – i.e. Moog the famed electric
organ maker of the 1960s – were very well made and quite dependable but
probably often misunderstood for its time. Lots of different settings were available
which made most guitarists during the latter half of the 1960s feel a bit
overwhelmed when performing in hastily set-up gigs. Veteran electric organ
designer Bob Moog did not realize that he was a few years (maybe 25 years?)
ahead of his time – as in this was before the amp tweaking rack friendly era of
late 1980s hair metal. Originally made by Robert Moog’s company which was
bought out by Norlin – who also owned the Gibson brand at the time, in
consequence, the amps were marketed through Gibson outlets, which is where the
Gibson association comes from. But the Lab Series amps weren’t actually made by
Gibson.
Most of the Gibson Lab Series amps on the second hand market
were manufactured by Gibson via Gibson’s subsidiary Norlin in the late 1970s to
the 1980s. The onboard effects and preamplifier was manufactured by keyboard
maker Moog and has their name on it. The Gibson Lab Series 2 was made by Garnet
round the 1970s. The input and tone control sections’ active devices were
standard integrated circuit (I.C.) circuits of that time and the power amp’s
output stage consisted of 10 TO-3 packaged NPN transistors in a
quasi-complementary push-pull configuration which was deemed an “inferior”
design in comparison to high end solid state high fidelity audio amplifiers at
the time boasting a full complementary NPN-PNP output stages. Was the use of
quasi-complementary output configuration the secret of the Gibson Lab Series
amp’s tone?
My favorite of the Gibson Lab Series – due to its tonal
flexibility – was the L9 model, especially when connected to an external JBL
15-inch guitar speaker in an open back cabinet with a whizzer cone. Most of
them had great reverb too and could easily be mistaken for a 6L6 vacuum tube
equipped 1965 Fender Twin when everything is working in its favor. And it’s not
just B.B. King who found his own sound in the Gibson Lab Series L5, various
funk groups of the 1970s had been using its excellent onboard compressor to
great effect.
Gibson Lab Series amps are known for their vintage Fender
amp like tone. The Lab Series’ master volume is actually useable and you can
get a nice right-at-breakup vacuum tube tone at most any volume. At 100 watts
true RMS, the Lab Series amps can get louder and offer more clean headroom than
most vintage Fenders and unlike a lot of vintage Fender amps, all of the Gibson
Lab Series controls actually do a lot; as in be prepared to do a little more knob-twiddling
and knob-tweaking than with an old “plug-and-play” vintage Fender amp. And in a
Gibson Lab Series amp, be prepared to trade your tremolo for optical
compression.
These days, most used Gibson Lab Series amps in good to
pristine condition retail for around US$300 or a bit less, while a “working”
vintage Fender Blackface Super Reverb with a power supply hum problem and a
background crackling sound suggesting that its 6V6 output vacuum tubes might be
on its last legs retails for US$1,500!!! And believe-it-or-not, Gibson Lab
Series amps were praised for their B.B. King like tone, as he used one himself
and managed to make it sound like a 6L6 vacuum tube equipped 1965 Fender
Twin.
