And Your Bird Can Sing...

We travel back to the future to bask in the glory of Gibson’s reincarnated 1960s rare classic, the Falcon combo

- Martin Smith

From its sonic heritage to its sumptuous styling, the new Gibson Falcon promises a journey back to the 1960s. Not so much a direct replica of the original 1961 GA-19RVT Falcon, this amp is more of an 'influenced by', re-engineered update with a contemporary twist in the form of Multi-Watt power scaling. Technologically groundbreaking, the original Falcon was one of the first combo amps to feature both reverb and tremolo. Although comparable in size and wattage to the Fender Deluxe amp, it was produced in much smaller numbers so it is quite rare to find a surviving example in the wild today. Let's find out if this rare bird can indeed sing! It's certainly a beautifully finished amplifier from its cream Tolex covering to that vintage-style oxblood speaker grille, while its polished chrome vented fascia sits alongside a dazzling Lucite handle, emblazoned with the Gibson logo. An elegant jewel lamp illuminates a row of silver capped, vintage-styled speed knobs, and the large Gibson badge on the front grille is reminiscent of the headstock badge found on the original 1958 Gibson Flying V. We can’t detect any shortcomings in Gibson’s efforts to perfect its dazzling looks.

Under the hood we see the construction hallmarks of the Mesa/Boogie amp company, which was purchased by Gibson in 2021. The team has designed and constructed this amp around a densely populated PCB, to which the preamp valves are mounted. The power amp valves hang outside the chassis, protected by a sturdy cage and cooled by a quiet but undefeatable cooling fan. As a cathode-biased amp, it’s reassuring to know these valves can be replaced without need for rebiasing. The patented Multi-Watt Power circuit provides 12 watts in push-pull pentode Class A at full power from the pair of 6V6s, five watts of the same in triode mode for half power, and one watt of single 6V6 output in low-power mode.