Gibson Atlas Medalist Amp

[MattyX1969]

Hello! I found this forum after attempting to do some research for my latest acquisition, a mid-sixties Gibson Atlas Medalist combo amp. I purchased this amp and will be restoring it. I have successfully restored a few other vintage Fender amps, but noticed immediately there is significantly less information available on the internet for vintage Gibson amps, especially for this specific model.

If any members on this forum own (or have owned) this amp, can you let me know if your amp had this additional rectangular cut-out on the speaker baffle? It is to the right of the 15 inch speaker. It almost looks like someone decided to add a tweeter horn at some time. I guess it could also be a port, as these were originally sold as bass amps and it is a closed back cabinet. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Note - I wanted to include a picture, but since I just joined the forum it doesn't look like I have been granted permission to attach pictures yet.

Thanks,
Matt

[MattyX1969]

I can't figure out how to attach pictures

[DrGonz78]

There is a certain quota of posts to be made then after that you'll be granted permission to post attachments.

[MattyX1969]

Thanks DrGonz78! I appreciate the info.

[g1]

Do you have sufficient privileges yet?

[DrGonz78]

MattyX1969 I sent an email for you to send me the picture and I would post it. Either that or you can post it with a 3rd party host and provide the link for us to view. I am running to work now. I am sure other's here can help get that picture uploaded to the site.

[MattyX1969]

Pictures...... finally!

OK, I am trying this again. It looks like it is letting me attach pics. Thanks for the offer DrGonz78!

[Rhodesplyr]

Reading photos can be tricky, but that kind of looks to me like someone made a new speaker baffle for this cabinet. Also, I just googled it again and saw one photo of this cabinet with the back off where the baffle is clearly plywood.

I'm a little leery of mounting a 15" speaker like this in particle board. The weight of the magnet is going to put a constant torque on the fasteners, and they could eventually pull through the particle board. . I hope that there are at least t-nuts on the other side. I also wish I could help, but you need someone with an original who'll take the back off and verify.

[DrGonz78]

It almost appears like they to the front baffle from a PA speaker and turned it sideways. Hence the cutout for a horn but yet it is sideways. Weird

[MattyX1969]

Update - I recently discovered that the speaker baffle is original. I finally got my hands on a speaker picture from an identical amp. It has the exact same baffle - same color, same size of wood particles in the particle board, same overspray pattern with black spray paint (ha ha), etc. It also has the exact same speaker mounting hardware and grill cloth frame mounting hardware. The speaker was not the same. The only thing I could not see in the new pics was the other side of the baffle, where mine has the rectangular cut-out. So....... I now know that the baffle is original, but I am still not sure if that cut-out is original. I need to keep searching.

As the tolex is original on this amp, I looked at it for quite some time today and could not figure out how anyone could have replaced the baffle without taking this cabinet completely apart. So, I was leaning towards the baffle being original.

Rhodesplyr - I think I saw the same picture from a google search, the one with the plywood baffle, but that was a pic of the Atlas IV, which is the same amp but the head and cabinet are separate. Not sure why they would make the baffle from plywood in the Atlas IV (speaker cab) and from particle board in the Atlas Medalist (combo version). Maybe it was just a matter of what material they had in the shop when they were making them.

Anyway, this is all part of the fun of trying to research and restore old amps!

[Rhodesplyr]

Are you sure it isn't the same amp? ;-) Two Gibsons exactly the same is actually suspicious.

[MattyX1969]

The pics I got my hands on were just taken per my request from someone currently selling one. It has a different speaker. I might have exaggerated a bit about the overspray being 100% identical. They both have similiar overspray of black spray paint on some parts of the baffle perimeter.

[Resonator Guy]

According to Wallace Marx's Gibson amp book, that amp came with a single 15" speaker only, no horn.

[MattyX1969]

Thanks to everyone who chimed in! I think I finally made a decision. As the tolex is in very rough shape on one side of this amp, I am planning on eventually recovering the amp with new tolex and will plan on replacing the speaker baffle with plywood - for better construction and to eliminate that cut-out.

[g1]

Suggest you save it anyway, for vintage value in case you find out it was stock.