"Gibson" Falcon 20 - First Look Inside
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- Опубліковано 26 січ 2024
- Note: this is a comedic opinion piece only.
Opinions not to be taken internally.
If pain persists, please see a qualified medical professional.
All in a bit of fun, champions.
Retailing in Australia for $5,499.
www.megamusiconline.com.au/pr...
That's a lot of money for not much amp.
But you do you.
Webpage: www.bradsguitargarage.com.au
Facebook: bradsguitargarage
Instagram: / bradsguitargarage
Equipment:
Soldering:
Pace MBT station w/SX100 & PS-90 handpieces
Hakko 474 w/815 handpiece
Hakko 936 w/907 handpiece
Hakko FX-888D w/FX-8801 handpiece
Quick 861DW hot air station
BOFA fume extraction unit
Loctite Multicore solder (C511 / 362)
Test Equipment:
Fluke 11, 175, 177 & 179 handheld DMM's
Tektronix 2236 analog oscilloscope
Rigol DS-1054z digital oscilloscope
BK Precision 4017A sweep / function generator
BWD 160a function generator
HP 6236B triple output DC power supply
Kyoritsu 3132A insulation / continuity tester
Video equipment:
Overhead cam: Panasonic HC-V785 w/Audio Technica AT9946CM mic
Handheld cam: Panasonic DC-G85 w/Olympus M.Zuiko Pro 12-40mm f/2.8
On location cam: Panasonic DC-GH5s w/Panasonic-Leica 9mm f/1.7 & 12-60mm f/2.8
Capture card(s): Magewell HDMI USB, ATEN UC3020-AT, ATEN UC3021
Headset Mic: Audio Technica BP892xcW-TH
Lapel Mic: Rode Go
Editing: Adobe Premiere Elements
Hand Tools:
Wiha, Felo, Stanley screwdrivers
CK & Engineer cutters / pliers
RS Pro wire strippers
Sidchrome & Gear Wrench spanners, sockets & shifters
Veritas planes & chisels
Materials / Consumables:
JJ's / TAD electron valves
Elixir / Ernie Ball / D'Addario / Rotosound strings
Electrolube & DeoxIT cleaners, lubricants & chemicals. - Наука та технологія
![[柴犬ASMR]曼玉Manyu&小白Bai 毛发护理Spa asmr](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0TsXQ7z2Dh4/mqdefault.jpg)
To reiterate the video description since nobody seems to read it:
Note: this is a comedic opinion piece only.
Opinions not to be taken internally.
If pain persists, please see a qualified medical professional.
I love your sense of humour, mate. You crack me up.
Thank god for your Aussie honesty and give-no-fucks opinion. This overpriced p.o.s. needs to be called out. WTF Gibson? Are you deliberately trying to piss us off (again)?
Comedic opinion piece only? You called it out for the overpriced piece of shit it is. Good work!
Finally, an amplifier built to the same quality standard as Gibson guitars and priced to match.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Ouch!
Hahahahaha! Too right!
I wanted to come up with something similar. Could not. I am glad you nailed it Bro. What a piece a crap for 1800$.
Ha ha so true
I'm holding off for the Murphy Lab reliced version.
It will relic itself in due time with failed components burning the board. Authentic burnt PCB and wiring smell. It’ll be worth 3x more then.
@@K707OR30
"Smell Authentic."
Cool, the version with scuffs and melted circuit board with a bent speaker frame...so Rock n roll!
I want to start a business when The Relic craze is over. Refinishing all the Reliced guitars there will be Millions
"Hand" wired is a gibson acronym for 'highly automated neatening device''
$1,799 US, it's £2k here in the UK... With those PCB insides...
Ok... So. Go custom made to order. There's a company here in the UK called Stoneham Amplification who makes bespoke amps, hand wired, made to order, made in a little workshop in the UK. Sleeves, head shells & cabs are commissioned for another UK builder called F.A Guitar Cabs.
I bought a custom 150w Sunn Model T clone, KT88, bespoke custom UK made output transformers, hand wired etc., boutique quality. And it's an absolute beast. I paid £1,750 for it a couple of years ago, prices may rise ever so slightly now but the builder keeps the prices realistic and I very much doubt the same amp will go over £2k, if so it won't be by much. Keep in mind older "real" Model Ts and clones by others will cost you way, way in excess of £3k-£4k, I've seen originals go for £5k and some clones costing not much less.
Go custom. Support the little guy who works with passion in his little shed and workshop.
You only wrote "bespoke" twice. Are you sure you're English?
Absolutely fantastic have a good weekend Brad ❤😊
Really appreciate this type of review, thank you
Love the review ya bloody legend!
as someone who spent way too much time looking at dual rectifier gutshots, this is a Mesa Certified Design. this is going to be fun for techs...
“That’s our Gibson!”
Thanks for posting
I’ve been waiting for this!!🍿
Heh me too. I already suspected what the outcome would be. And indeed...
Thanks so much for a honest review😁‼
Thank you. These are everywhere, it seems, but you're the first to pull off the back for me.
As I suspected. No surprise at all. Certainly not what I'm after.
Awesome vid.
I hope you will do the same for the new Magnatone Slash amp.
Would love a deep dive on that one.
I'd LOVE to dive into a Magnatone.
If one ever presents itself, rest assured I'll put it through it's paces!
I've been trying to get a look inside the new Soldano 20 . Or any of them , can't find any .
Thank you brad- you were first and made everyone else follow suit. Bravo to a truth seeker
When I heard Gibson was coming out with a line of guitar amps this is exactly what I expected. A real Mess of Boogers.
I bought a Maz 38 NR in 2008 for $1650 Canadian, I had a look inside and it’s night and day compared to this, have had no issues, my Mesa Lonestar is a nightmare to fix, which crackles in channel one.
Greetings Brad. I’ve seen your messages at Psionic Audio’s video and decided to check you out. I subbed.
Welcome aboard!
When this was first announced I wanted to see the guts…oh dear Lord it’s about what I feared.
Yeah it's pretty much exactly what I expected when I first heard about the Gibson buyout.
gibson being low quality is an opinion... i guess. but to lie about the wiring? a new low for gibson
another brad vid !!! yay Oh you're reviewing pictures. Nice man. I'd love to send you pics of my Tremlord 30 for review. I have thick skin.
Not sure that the hand-wiring is authentic?
Its good to see some people on YT exposing what youd get for +$5K AU. The cab and speaker look the goods. Its a shame the most important piece in ones signal chain looks like absolute garbage.
I see several sets of IDC connectors (insullation displacement connectors) which are probably being used at well above their voltage and current ratings.
Would they have it any other way?
It only needs to outlive the warranty.
Thanks for the honest opinion. When I first saw these amps, listed as handwired, I was seriously interested. Nowhere could I find an inside shot, to check out the lead dress. How the heck can Gibson sell these as handwired?
I actually wasn't expecting the insides to look like this. I was expecting PCB construction, but 1970s style with the valve bases fixed to the chassis and wired to the PCB.
I’m so stoked to hear this thing shredded apart by your expertise lol
I look forward to seeing one in the flesh, that would be a proper review rather than just whatever this is. LOL!
@@BradsGuitarGarage for your sake, I hope you’re seeing it because someone is paying you to be in the same room with it 😂
For service and repair, sure. You won't find any paid reviews of any kind on this channel. That's why everyone calls me a whinger and negative.
Because they're used to the paid glowing reviews on all the shill channels.
@@BradsGuitarGarage a repair was Exactly my sentiment. Judging by how it was built and who built it, maybe you’ll get a bougie pensioner who decides to get one and it breaks down lol
Have you checked out the Quilter mach 3
Do you like the Engl Ironball SE? My amp, a lot of features, and sounds good made in Ger. What do you think about it? :P
Engls are great amps.
While I haven't seen the Ironball in person, I've worked on and played many others and I really like their tone and build quality.
shipping costs are up ?
Compare the falcon 5watt to the fender bassbreaker 007.
We get shafted on prices over here in NZ on some brands as well. Same problem I guess. Distributors who have a brand monopoly, so add on a big cut. There's not many guitar items that do not work out significantly cheaper to just import yourself. Don't tell folks on local pages though. They tend to go 'support local' -- but plenty of them turn out to have a horse in the race, i.e., they work at a music retailer etc. Some of the 'NZ' distros are based over there in Aussie, so we would probably get stung for GST and duty, as well as the Distro's cut (Fractal is one of them, plus Guitar Parts NZ is based there now too, so no more local parts supply, or Allparts necks and bodies etc).
For $5K I'd be expecting good. Very, very good. Close to that did not get me quality from Marshall unfortunately. The Randy Rhoads head. It blew up about a week from being brand new. I think if you want the classic sounds, it's best to get a clone built by somebody who really knows their onions. That goes for all the classic brands, e.g., Fender, Marshall, Vox, Orange, and Hiwatt. A clone can be built the way they were back in the day, which is something amp brands do not see to be able to do these days. It matters to how the thing ends up sounding. My JMP clone is a little ripper and does the Marshall thing so well (I need to trace the source of a bit of treble channel hiss though, but that's no big deal).
My nephew likes Dave Gilmour's playing and tone the most, but what he actually likes playing is stuff like Tool , AIC, and Lamb Of God etc. He thinks he needs a Mesa. I am on the look out for a video that might explain to him how much owning a Mesa could cost in repair bills. Fender and EVH have issues too. He asked what amps are well made. I said Friedman or Suhr. That's not easy for me and makes me a little sad. I am a Kiwi, but grew up in Milton Keynes where the Marshall factory is, so have a soft spot for them (plus they are such a classic sound and rock icon, e.g., Angus!). Marshall is not stupid expensive in NZ though (I see the Americans have to pay almost Friedman prices for Marshall amps like the JVM, so they must have some add on bumping the price up I guess - so much for fee trade huh?)
I totally agree with you, an amplifier's construction makes all the difference in the world.
Back in 1976 I was 15 years old and had saved up $400 to purchase my first real guitar amplifier.
Being a Ted Nugent fan (I grew up in Detroit) I purchased a brand new 1976 Fender Twin Reverb, cost was $400.
That Twin Reverb survived my Teen years as well as my early '20s being dragged around from party to party, dropped, dragged and generally abused that amplifier never let me down. I still own and use that amplifier regularly and it still works just as well as it did when new.
I've replaced Filter caps 4 times and can't remember how many tube changes its had, point being, buy quality now and your future self will thank your past self.
Amplifiers like this new Gibson are literally designed and built like a new cell phone or even a new automobile, totally disposable.
Tell your Nephew to purchase an amplifier that will last him a lifetime and his future self will thank his past self.
Set your future self up to win, a cheap amplifier like this MESA clone will be dead and forgotten in 10 to 15 years.
love getting shafted here in australia
Tell me about it, mate!
I watch a couple of other amp repair channels, but I've never seen as detailed a breakdown on how good/bad a circuit design is.
I'll keep an eye on Freidmans.
Do you have any thoughts on PRS amps? MT15 (most interest), MT100 and the Archon series?
What about something like the EVH 5150 Iconics?
I haven't seen any of those amps in the flesh, but I do know Lyle battled with some PRS amps and the verdict was not good. Check out his channel @psionicaudio
Every PRS I’ve played through has a noisy effects loop. I’ve had both the MT15 and Archon MK1 and MK2. The MK1 had the effects loop fix done, MK2 Archon and the MT15 were noisy right out of the box. The 5150 Iconic is what you’d expect, thin PCB with tube sockets mounted to it. It has some of the mini sized surface mount components but it’s for stuff like the digital reverb which I don’t like anyway. Main part of the circuit is standard sized components. But honestly for the price the Iconic isn’t bad, you get a lot of features for $1k or less used (I have the 80w head). Sounds great, quiet effects loop, loud as hell, built in volume boost that’s foot switchable and built in noise gate. Plays well with my Helix when footswitching for the boost and channels. It isn’t built amazingly well but I’ve gigged mine, played it a lot, it hasn’t let me down. I expect it will someday but it looks reasonably serviceable. For the features and relatively cheap price, I can live with that personally. Not sure I would get the combos, same features crammed into a smaller board with less ventilation for the tubes.
As soon you see "Made in Petaluma" I would recommend running out of the store screaming "Get thee behind me!!"
Didn’t know there is a Pentaluma is China as well 😅
@@ratt669 Hahaha. Funny. Of course, as you know, many great products come out of China these days.
@@theguitaramptech Eastman guitars, for ex.
Thank you for helping to debunk the myths of these hyped up reissues. This amp was a pos when they first made them and very few wanted them. In my book, Friedman and Suhr make good amps now. There may be others I am not familiar with.
Dr.Z
Gday from Melbourne!
whats with the hot snot glue randomly deposited on some components 🙃
So many great quotes in this video 😂👏👏👏 “That drugged out weirdo signed it” killed me
is he? like are there good stories?
Mesas may be built haphazardly to the technician's eyes, but they do sound great. And mine have never failed me yet. This Gibson branded amp isn't for me and I do agree that the price point is off the charts. Maybe you could start a chart with best to worst build quality ratings of all amps that come across your bench?
From what other Falcon amp reviews say, this amp has a loud fan like the Trace Elliot Elf and Hartke amps use
Great amps for the money-Dr.Z,hand wired in Cleveland,Ohio.
What is with all of the seemingly randomly-applied silicone supposed to be doing? It reminds me of a "modern' era Supro Model 50 over on Psionic Audio, except the Supro has a LOT more silicone inside.
Reduces microphonics in the caps
@@williampimblott8373 Interesting. . . If that is the case, it doesn't explain why Supros require all that silicone while other hand-wired amps don't use any silicone. Is it inferior quality caps or poor design/construction that is the cause?
@@retroman541 nah man. The modern supros aren't handwired... I'm I'm fairly certain they are not hand selecting components for tolerance or microphonics. Hand assembled, maybe. They're all circuit boards. All caps are somewhat microphonic to an extent, but higher gain circuits make things more obvious.
It’s a Boogie.. quality and pricing as predicted.
Good to view someone who tell the truth about rip off companies
This is why I have a quad cortex
Curious if the components are soldered to the pcb by hand. U could claim hand wired at that point. But why make it handwired to start with when it’s designed like that? They are ~$2.2k CDN and I think supros are around there. So prob not to outline for that category, no? For the record I’m not defending mesa and gibson prices have just gone completely nuts.
They got everything delivered, plugged it in, sold it to morons.
Good call out mate. It’s a $500-$700 amp tops.
When you said the price I yelled "HOLY FUCK!!!"
I don't think I've ever clicked on something so fast! ..... lets just say I'm very curious. I'll watch the video now. :)
Whoa what, hand wired?? ”Play authentic” - I finally get it!
Hey Brad, how much does a fender DR reissue cost in Aus?
2nd hand, around $1200-1500.
New around $2400-2800.
@@BradsGuitarGarage Well, that would seem to be an easy purchasing decision then.
Absolutely.
This looks like the inside of a blackstar ht series. Since when did accountants design amps?
It was hand packaged
When I saw the inside I figured they will follow later with a hand wired version at a higher price. But I see this one is already "hand wired."
That quality looks like one of the old Tandy or similar kits you could get, shocking for the price. I used to design and layout circuit boards and that is not a great layout, like you say pads are too small and creepage gaps are too close in some areas and yep many rookie mistakes. That amp looks like it would fall apart if taken on the road and thrown in and out of a van. Good honest detailed review you did here.
On the bright side it looks like that board will come out easy.
Yes, I think it will be much easier to repair than most other Mesas.
Look at Traynor. Great Canadian amps.
Traynor are excellent amps, I've never even seen one in Australia, though.
I always have, and will defend their guitar's. Mine are great,never had a problem one,but this is off the chain. The balls to print handwired right on the amp when all a person has to do is look at it to see that its not.
I wish someone would do a deep dive and inside look at the new Supro Delegate and Ambassador Custom amps. They are over 3000 US and Im wonder ing if they are as crappy as the Gibsons
Looks better then most Mesa on the inside
I agree.
Someone should sue Gibson for falsely claiming this amp is handwired, or at least report them to some consumer protection agency.
For the price this is pretty much what I expected inside these Gibson amps. Check out Carr amps which are absolutely beautifully built inside but that puts the cost of an amp like it over $3000 USD. On the other end of things the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe is $1000 USD but is built even worse than these Gibsons. At least the pots on the Gibson aren't on the board and from what I have heard in other videos on UA-cam the amp does sound a lot more like a vintage amp than the stiff bright modern sounding Hot Rod. That stuff and a nice cab I guess is what you get for the extra $800 USD.
Like Deja Vu all over again!
That's some outrageous pricing! The 5-watter looks to be about $4360! In 2010 I bought a little Marshall Class 5, mostly because it was pretty cheap and halfway decent for what it was. UK made, single-ended, $799 AUD retail. I was staff, so I only paid cost for it ($450 or so), but street price was about $600. With all the inflation, if they released something similar today I'd expect it to be about $1100-ish maybe? It's probably a similar level of construction quality to these Gibsons. I wonder how they're justifying the extra $3200?
Edit: Just checked Australis (Aus wholesaler) website. 5-watter is $4799 retail! Crazy.
The JTM 20 watt combo costs about half as much as this and think of all the shit Marshall got for that
Vox's new "hand wired" series has been released at NAMM 2024. It would be interesting to get your thoughts.
So far, the Vox HW series have been of turret board construction, and actually hand assembled and wired.
Great platforms for refinement and improvement.
@@BradsGuitarGarage It will be interesting to see.
I’ve said it before Brad, you should make and sell replacements for boogies…. Start with the Lonestar Special hahah (and yes I know this isn’t realistic but we can dream)…
Have you seen the PRS Hendrix clone, are they crap? The guy shot seems OK for the price to me….
I tried to think positive and noticed that those front panel pots are not mounted on the PCB. Perhaps that, according to their interpretation, gives them the right to use the term "hand-wired". 🤓
However, no fake bumblebees this time. 😁
This is incrediby ridiculous and disappoiting at the same time.
None of my amps have backs on them because 1) I'm lazy and 2) I am often swapping out preamp tubes in pursuit of "tone". How long would these PCB tube sockets last before the solder joints crap themselves? Not very long I'm picking. I love my Les Paul but I am embarassed with this latest debacle that Gibson and Mesa have created. Likewise all of the UA-cam channels that are attempting to rip off their customers by saying nothing about these POS amps should be ashamed. Props to you and the Guitologist for speaking out. Cheers from NZ
Handwired can literally just mean wired by hand & not necessarily meaning point to point wiring (pre pcd which people mistake for being hand wired), the other option is robots where the entire pcb is populated & soldered by machines and not by hand.
Like big name swiss watches people often think that they are getting something entirely hand made, the reality is they are often only getting something machine made & then finished by hand unless its a company that prides itself on being bespoke & hand made.
Australis Music Group dont mind a decent margin (imagine how little these amps cost at wholesale, probably 1,100 USD?).
We have 15% duty plus GST to pay of course, but with freight costs post covid still being high and are forecast to go much higher again with whats happening with the Suez........ We are going to be pretty cooked in Aus!
If we want nice import amps itll cost more than ya left nut.
Its a great time to make you own small batch amps Brad! I would buy at least one or two quality Aussie made heads at 2.5-3k AUD ea (ill take an AB763 super, and a JTM-45 mod kthx 😁 )
You're in luck, mate. I've got some fun projects cooking as we speak.
The only new amps I would buy are a Friedman, Suhr , Amplified Nation and Two Rock. Go with a Suhr/Friedman for the absolute best quality v money. Go with the other two if you’re a blues lawyer.
I will agree Friedman is probably the bast amps for the money these days , but what can we do as consumers, all the amp companies make mostly cheaper amps, cause they gotta sell stuff to make money
Why didn’t they just make a GA-5 skylark reissue and be done with it
They did that I have one all premium parts but never sounded good until I had it modded. So for Gibson that was a big fail
The picture might be fake, the lack of leather jackets makes me suspect it's not from a authentic gibson amp
Sad to think someone voided their warranty by doing this and taking the pictures because you know they’re gonna need it.
you can get a vintage gibson amp for less.
you’d think these companies would just consult with people who actually know how to do this stuff nicely, like yourself or Psionic, but i guess almost every decision is based on making it cheaper to produce.
I looks like a blues Jr, and should be priced accordingly
Honestly, those plastic clip PCB standoffs makes me think of a $100 Bluetooth speaker.
$5500 AUD WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the words of Luke Skywalker... "what a piece of JUNK!"
Rugged Up Weirdo...Love it.....
ua-cam.com/video/UKcI2mcsueM/v-deo.html
Yeah, that made me chuckle as well.
I could see the price if they make a super limited amount, and later becomes a collector piece because of gibson name
Every paid shill and dealer is raving about those electric turds. I recently spent $2200 on a 1968 Deluxe Reverb with a JBL D120F. Which one would you rather have? I spent $200 on speaker reconing supplies and a JBL D120 Pro kit made by JBL. The F in a D120F is just a wider voice coil gap. I have to add some old greeting cards as shims when I put the voice coil and cone assembly in. Whoopty doo!
Maybe the dealers are the ones adding the 100% profit margin, I have no idea.
WTF!!! 6000 Australian Dollars!!!! Now I can relax after I spent 940 US on a handwired Champ! They are taking the piss with doubling the RRP. Like you say the cab and speaker look Okay. Makes the Fender 68 Deluxe look like a steal!
Looks cheap like something from Crate or Fenders cheapies. And trust me the "Hand Wired" was no mistake on either Gibson or Boogies part. In their mind this is up to Gibson snuff and hands at some point did wire some of it. What a joke. These amps were never highly sought after. In fact up until recently you could buy 60's examples for $400 and less. These are geared at lawyers who are buying up the $5k Les Pauls and the 1k pickup sets. Gibson Lifestyle strikes again.
Anyone who relies on an Internet e-commerce business to give an honest review of something that they sell is a fool. Anyone with any sense will Unfollow these people immediately as they don't have the players best interest in mind.
When Gibson bought Mesa we knew what was coming. Mesa amps rebranded as Gibson.
Friedman vs Bad Cat? That is construction.
It's a joke imho. You can buy a fender Deluxe, Deville, Pro reverb, Twin Reverb, Marshall DSL40, Vox AC30, and many others for less with as good or better quality.
as a mesa owner for 30 years, and had great trust in them, i'm quickly wondering - WTF am i doing. maybe i should just flog my single rec and go a local brand who gives a sh1t. heard you're going to make amps. I like Friedman, but keen on Ozi stuff. show us what your doing.
Mesas can sound amazing and are built like crap, both statements can be true.
It’s a shame, as I quite like how it sounds. Only Gibson would build a compact amp to Fender Reissue quality standards, and then price it up in Custom Shop territory…
I was wondering what you and Lyle would think of these. Edit: I’m probably 30 seconds in and already I smell a RAT. There’s a Kalamazoo pun in there if you look close enough.
Lyle hates anything that isn't Friedman
Messy Booger "Engineering" strikes again... Brad, I swear, if you and Lyle would agree to tag-team with me and go chew out the Mesa team in person (hell, Fender's in California too, why let them get away unscathed?), I'd pay for BOTH your airfares and food/lodging. Seriously. This has to stop. Tube amp design is a wonderful, respectable form of hybridized art/science... And these people call themselves industry giants....yes, theyre Godzilla, stomping on and breathing fire all over our musical Tokyo.
Jeezus H Christ! $5K for that????
5 thousand dollars is a curious type of joke
Someone beat you too it. I saw it yesterday.