Gibson Amps are Back! Can They Compete With Fender? Gibson Falcon 5 Review and Demo

Gibson has produced guitar amplifiers off and on since the late 1930's. While some of those amps have a huge fan base they never were able to gain the popularity of Fender. Recently Gibson acquired the famous amp company Mesa Boogie and since that purchase many have wondered if they would produce new Gibson amps with the Mesa Boogie's expertise. Well wonder no more! Gibson is unveiling two new guitar combo tube amplifiers, the Falcon 5 and the Falcon 20. They retro inspired amps have been lovingly designed and crafted by the mad scientists at Mesa Boogie. Can they now compete with Fender?! Check out our full review and demo of the Gibson Falcon 5.

0:00 Intro
1:10 What is the Falcon 5?
2:00 Mesa Boogie's involvement
3:00 Specs
9:22 Demo
11:40 Pricing and Thoughts

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[guitargrandpa]

It would be interesting to compare this to the Fender Vibro Champ Reverb, another 5 watt 6v6 amp

[dalecoffing]

Wow! This is great. Sounds great! My first amp was a Gibson, single channel no reverb, I would guess 12 watt? My second amp was a Gibson back with 2-10's two channel No reverb, reverb and tremolo. I don't remember what either model was. It's so good to see Gibson come back. Can't wait for the next demo. Betting they would be great in the studio and in the pit.

[kaidemen]

It’s such a cool and nostalgic amp, I have one of the original Falcons from the 60’s. Can’t wait to get my hands on one of the new ones and compare.

[dividedbytimestudios]

Gibson all the sudden gets sued by Gretsch and Tone King for using the name Falcon…. Irony

[alexhenley]

Does changing to a 6L6 change the tone? Maybe make it warmer?

[jimross]

Way back when my first amp was an Epiphone Pathfinder with a 12” speaker. This Gibson reminds me of that amp.

[antoonhermans]

this will sell like crazy , i would take the 12 inch version though, more output, trem / verb ( with footswitch ) and also 1 /5 / 15 watt attenuation

[Stiles]

I love the old Gibson "Space Race" amps such as the Atlas. I have a Gibson "THOR" 2x10 bass amp which is a great tube amp. The speakers were crap, but with some Emminence 10"s it sounds like an Oliver. Much cleaner than an Ampeg B15.

[LMacNeill]

I want the Falcon 20 and a Les Paul Special. I think they will sound GREAT together. Those P90s *need* an all-tube amp like this. And the look -- **chef's kiss** I love that retro vibe they've got going on. A TV Yellow Les Paul Special and one of these amps just *screams* the late 1950s to me. As soon as I can afford it, I'm buying both...

[steverolfeca]

Growing up, I had to have an old Fender, but was also drawn to old Gibson amps like the Skylark. When I built my first amp, it was a 5E3 Deluxe copy. In today's market, and with the prevalence of quieter stages, this release makes a lot of sense to me.

[barrycole]

Soon we will be back to the Epiphone Tube 10. The affordable design.

[bobdelair]

❤ Love it ! Can't wait to get my hands on one ...

[robertpurdy]

Oh, man this series is going to sell well. I'm mainly a bass player and I think the Falcon 20 with it's 1-watt low setting would work in the house I live in. I have a Katana Artist that I use with my guitars and love dearly that I use mainly as a pedal platform, but this would be so cool to have. I have no doubt my Explorer and it would sound so good!

[pietervanballaer]

So, the Falcon 20 is a 12watt amp. What justifies the price compared to a Princeton?

[donkeninitz]

With amp modeling in its ascendancy, and with Fender offering WAAAAY more value for the money on the circuits embodied in these Gibson amps, I'm curious to see how many people are going to plunk down $1, 500 for a 5-watt amp.

[mateowhitley]

Very off topic - Where did Cooper land with his Jazzmaster? Stay with the Ultra, or did he go with the more true to the time '66?

[drtm]

I have a jazz chorus amp that I love and plan to keep, but it's too damned loud, so I've been looking at low-watt tube amps to crank in my bedroom. I was looking at supro amps, but this thing just made me rethink everything.

[donaldlaury]

I have a Les Paul Standard 60's. I'd for sure like to try the 20.

[toddbonsang]

Do you guys really think that it's that much better than a comparable Supro?

[pepmasters-]

Looks very tidy, sounds right. Bit pricey, but I like it.