Does anyone else remember SG Amps from the mid 70's? The were big, clunky looking amps with aluminum rails around the edges to make you think they were road-case rugged, and had huge Captain Video-looking knobs. Also the first amp I ever saw with a built in phase shifter. A guy is selling a 2x12 SG amp that needs work for $100. Other than the obvious answer(how much work does it need, how are the cosmetics, etc) can anybody tell me if they'd buy it? It is tube, by the way. Anybody have fond remembrances of one, or is it better off being buried out back without a marker?

One turned up here on craigslist recently, and the guy said it was a division of Gibson, the actual headline was "vintage Gibson amp," but I think he was just making a connection with the "SG" name and Gibson... but now that I think about it, they do look like the ROAD-brand of amps from the '70s (that were always backline for American Bandstand when I was a kid)... I can't remember who made ROAD but I assumed it was Roland... okay, a quick search identifies ROAD as a division of Rickenbacker.



Okay, it seems sG was Gibson...



From what I understand this amp is a conglomeration of companies working together in the early seventies to create a new amplifier for Gibson. Its more then thirty years old and is still kicking. If you would like to know more about these amps you can search either cmi tube amp or sg systems but there are alot of different opinions out there.

Nels Cline wrote of an encounter with one as supplied backline on his website (" Amp Du Jour," an entertaining read) and gave it a bit of a "alright for sound, great for oddball looks" rating.

It was my understanding were Gibson also. Our Gibson dealer sold those. Later the sold Lab series amps.

CMI was the holding company that owned Gibson.

Holy crap it's been a long time since I saw or even heard of one of those!!

Super oddball looking; the only one I ever saw- in real-life or in a photo or anything- was dead in a second-hand store.

"Built-in Maestro Phaser"- THAT should be a BIG clue as to SOME sort of Gibson-connection, smokily labyrinthine and Byzantine though it may be...

The sound of the amp in that video reminds me a little of a cool old MusicMan that I encountered in a guitar shop once years ago, a 2xEL34 head and 1x15 cab that was intended to be a bass amp. I thought it (the MM) had a great classic Blues tone that B.B. would have enjoyed....

See if you can snag that SG Sys amp for $75 or $50 and fix it up, picker!

p90junior- thanks for that cool Nels Cline link!

You know, I want to say that GAIN section is Solid State, the Power amp section-tube, and the Reverb is that one 12AX7.
Just guessing.
YES...just googled and the gain section is SS.

Also....it could be like an older Peavey I had back then where you could play both the Clean and Gain channels separately or together and could blend any amount of both together.

QUESTION:
Have you been able to go through the knobs more to see if there is a BLEND channel knob and if so, have you tried to adjust it?

Just curious and cool amp find!

Randy

I asked Myles about it, and he advised me to pass on it. So, I let it it go...

I have one. It's a 4x10 combo with huge-ass power tubes, maybe KT88's or bigger(not here now, so can't check) SS pre-amp, phase shifter, wave form, dishwasher size knobs, same layout as the one in the vid, just with more speakers, plus it has casters. Righteous old tank, sounds really cool, but hasn't been on a gig in years, due to being huge and heavy. Gibson DNA is in there somewhere, evinced by the Maestro footswitch. Very loud, at 125 watts, I believe, and harks back to the era of roadies and forklifts.

Wow, Reif, I've gotta see and play through that one day! Now I've GOT to brave the moose and bears and beavers and beer and apes and make it up there some day... !


Hmmmnn; a match made in Mad Scientist-Guitarist Gizmo Heaven? (At least visually?)

It's still for sale on the Kansas City Craigs List, if anyone is interested.