Above: The Gibson Victory MV-X model guitar c. 1982

Gibson Guitars had a tough time in the 1980s; starting the decade, quality was indifferent at best, competition from Japan was intense, and Gibson’s strength as a ‘heritage’ brand was out-of-sync with the NEW NEW NEW vibe of hair metal, slick RnB, and new wave.  The turnaround of this brand at the hands of Henry E. Juszkiewicz, David H. Berryman, and Gary A. Zebrowski was one of the most dramatic in the history of instrument-manufacture, and maybe even American industry in general.  From a near-zero valuation in 1986, they grew the brand into a massive enterprise and improved quality significantly.  I am perhaps a bit biased because Gibson was a generous and helpful benefactor of my brief career as a performer; and as I have noted before on these pages, I recently bought a shiny new (yup) J-45 and the I think the thing is just fantastic.  But anyhow. Here are a few images from Gibson’s darkest decade.

Above: The Victory Bass (1982), The Les Paul Custom (avec ‘Ferrari’) (1986), The Les Paul (1981), and the introduction of the ‘BB KING’ ES-355 variant (1981).

Nothing too heavy today, just some oddball 80’s amps that crossed my plane of perception. Above: “Vibration Technology” (catchy!) of Ontario announces their Nova, Deci Mate (nice), Phasor Twin, and Beta Amps in 1981.  Best offering, tho, is the “6 Mice Mixer,” which sounds like a real fucking mess if you ask me.

Above: The “Tusc,” an obscure tube-amp from 1982.  I feel like I may have seen one of these things, once.  Jesus how much money did this guy lose on this operation?

Above: JMF’s “Spectra” line of solid-state amps c. 1981.  I actually did own their 1×15 half-stack (or was it a big combo….??) with reverb and phase shift, and in all honesty, it was a really good-sounding solid-state amp.  I traded it for (believe-it-or-not) a mint blackface Fender Bassman with a Standel 2×15 cab.  Aaaaaaaaand then traded those on for the worst $300 LDC that AKG ever made.  What comes around…

Above: the Seymour-Duncan 84-40: 4x EL84 combo amp c. 1989.  Looks promising?

….well, that and your circa 1968 graphic design.  The EMC B221 amp of 1981.  Anyone?

There’s nothing inherently weird about VOX amps, they are rather a staple, but this 1981 advert serves as a good reminder that those things have been re-issued and re-launched countless times by countless entities, so if you are ever offered a VOX amp for sale, be very careful to determine exactly what you are buying.  ‘Cos it probably ain’t “what John and George used.”