Gibson amp Falcon RVT19

[hmx1]

Hi Everyone,
I thought I posted this early this morning but it hasn't showed up so I will try again.
I have a Gibson Falcon RVT 19, and I feel like it doesn't have the volume it used to have. I re-tubed it, had a tech go thru it and all voltages are right, it did only show 12 watt's of power at the speaker, not sure what it could be. Oh yeah new filter caps as well.
My real question is how many watt's are they supposed to have? And what else can be done to tweak more power out of one of these little jems.
I appreaciate any and all comments,
Thanks,
DR

[Gene Machine]

I have a ga-20-rvt from about '65. i have all new tubes, and it has been recapped.

i find that there is a HUGE drop in volume when i set thhe bass and treble controls below 10. u was setting the bass at 8 and treble at 6 for my tele, and revers for the les paul. much quieter than when they are both on 10.

also, what i do for added UMPH! is jumper the trem and non-trem channels together, and use the two of them at the same time. i get a little more kick because the two signals add up in the final stage. probably will wear out the power tubes quicker, but that's why they still make tubes....

good luck .

[hmx1]

Well thanks for the reply,
My amp only has one bass/ trem knob, so you either have more bass or more trem.
I guess I am only hoping for more juice, I would have to step up to a gold tone for the power I wish I had.
Thanks,
DR

[Mr. Sparkle]

These are not loud amps. The RMS rating is 12 watts, so yours is running just fine. You'll have to move to a different rig if you want more power.

I love my Falcon...let me know if you want to get rid of yours! :wink:

[hmx1]

Mr. Sparkle,
Thanks for the reply, to tell you the truth I forgot I posted it until they just sent me a watch reminder.
Do you play your's out? If you do , do you mike it?
I used to play mine out but it was always challenged at jam night which can get loud. I used pedals with it to push it a little more but I found it saturated the speaker and the tone was lost. I have been playing a peavey 30 which I re-tubed and added a new gold tone speaker.
The other night someone came up to me and asked where the Falcon was and they said it had a more clear and clean tone than the peavey. Interesting comment form the spectator.
Thanks for the reply,
DR

[Mr. Sparkle]

Mr. Sparkle,
Thanks for the reply, to tell you the truth I forgot I posted it until they just sent me a watch reminder.
Do you play your's out? If you do , do you mike it?
I used to play mine out but it was always challenged at jam night which can get loud. I used pedals with it to push it a little more but I found it saturated the speaker and the tone was lost. I have been playing a peavey 30 which I re-tubed and added a new gold tone speaker.
The other night someone came up to me and asked where the Falcon was and they said it had a more clear and clean tone than the peavey. Interesting comment form the spectator.
Thanks for the reply,
DR

no problem

I haven't played out with mine. I might take it to practice. If I were to gig with it, I'd get it miked and have it run through the mains and the monitors. I try to keep pedals off of it. I play with the volume all the way up, reverb off and I work volume/tone on my guitars for different sound and overdrive.

I'm re-tubing soon. Have you re-tubed or replced speakers?

[hmx1]

Hi,
Yes I did re-tube mine and I went with the best the tube store had to offer, sorry I can't remember the names but they were top of the line. Same speaker still.
I played out Sunday and used it and I had a wierd thing happen for the first time, I had a loss of power, it didn't shut off but kind of volume dip and it keep happining.
I thought I was pushing it too hard with my Sd-1 so I shut it off, and then it seemed fine. LAter that night I tried the pedal and it was fine. What do you make of that?

You know the tone we must both like, if you had to go up to a louder gibson amp with lot's of tone but not allot of weight, what would you go for?
I have always thought about a gold tone but I have a fender twin and don't like packin it around so why spend more money to have it sit? What else is like a Falcon Big Brother?
DR

[Wally]

Have the filter caps been replaced? If you are operating that amp with old electrolytics, you are not getting what the amp should be doing and you are also jeopardizing the health and welfare of the amp's components.... ...especially the transformers. Retubing with old electrolytics is a bit like pi**ing in the wind, imho.
New electrolytics won't get you any more wattage, but it will result in a firmer sound with better harmonics and also will lessen the possibility of major component failure.
If it has new caps, good.... and ignore all preceeding comments. :D
As for bigger Gibson amps, I understand your desire. I find that the larger amps from the mid-'60's do not give me what I want, and the 6L6 amps from the '50's and early '60's are rare. I tend to favor Gibson's from '62 or earlier. Just this morning I had a Fender reverb unit running into a '61 Explorer. That rig took me to Link Wray world.