...a new kind of tube amplifier based on patented Space-age technologies, GAGA is made to constantly thrill and inspire, accept any tubes or combinations thereof, and reliably provide limitless, intense tonal flavors in a solid yet light-weight package that's American-made with fresh ideas, craftsmanship, pride, and top-quality everything.
To sound musically rich...
GAGA is a clean-slate in guitar amplification: It does not attempt to clone or mimic but instead provides a musically advantageous, solid and pure foundation for consistent richness and ecstasy: Start with purity and then color to taste — your taste.
"To sound musically rich, go for wide range, low distortion at high volume, and desirable tone qualities." — Howard Davis, EHX »
A better way forward
GAGA presents true innovation in tube amplification that is not hybrid, digital, "class D", modelling or some other such method. Uniquely, it amplifies with purest possible tube tone and feel and eliminates long-standing problems, including bulk, weight, and audible, technical limitations. There has never been a guitar amp like GAGA.
"...totally fascinating. i've not seen ANYTHING like this before...there's nothing...even remotely connected to this." »
"All the guitar amps I have ever owned, worked on or built were nothing like this...ever!!!" — Billy Penn, 300 Guitars »
"Without deviation from the normal, progress is not possible." — Frank Zappa »
"I'm excited to see some truly new technology." — Tom Lees, Tech Editor, Bass Gear Magazine, Jan 2011
Unmatched, broadest available palette of tone
GAGA unmasks surprising variety amongst tubes, so truly changing 'the sound' no longer requires changing the amp. Easily mix tubes for unique tone, from classically nuanced to outrageously lopsided — push with a 6V6 and pull with a 6550 and EL34. No settings or bias to adjust, just plug and play.
Vanishing weight, whoppingly powerful
Pedigreed — Related technologies used in our high-end home and mobile audio products have received decades of glowing reviews. Most recently, David Berning's ZH-230 (a 30-watt amplifier that shares technologies with GAGA) was named "the anointed new king" and awarded Editors Choice Award 2011 by The Absolute Sound Magazine. Previously, Berning's Quadrature Z (also sharing technologies with GAGA) was named Product of the Year by HiFi+ Magazine. GAGA offers something genuinely fresh and sonically special, and it's not just us saying so.
Three-dimensional, rich warmth, clarity of tone
A small crowd gathered as Dick Dale delighted us with a bit of surf style guitar. The bright attack and gutteral impact of heavy gauge strings carried through a Vintage 12-inch in an open-back box, and it was immediately apparent GAGA did something that everyone liked. With no blurring and homogenizing audio output transformer in the way, pure tube tone shines through GAGA unfiltered. One manifestation is pristine, three-dimensional tube amplification having incredible speed, power and detail. The tube complement in this case was two 6AC7's and two 6L6's turned down to GAGA's third Headroom, or only a few watts before the smooth onset of rich, harmonically complex output tube overload distortion. Jason described it as adding "a little bit of hair" to the stronger notes. Dick Dale remarked: "That sounds great. Very interesting. Very very. I always like the birth of cool new stuff." Notice the rubber FlapJack diffuser hanging on the speaker grill, effectively diffusing the sound beam from the center of the cone. » NAMM Jan 2011
Function over form - utility, beauty, no fluff
GAGA's custom machined controls are huge, straightforward and offer radical adjustment. Headroom is on the left, then (master) Volume, Treble, Bass and (not on this prototype) Gain. Far left switches are (universal) mains power and P3 power; flip and loop switches are above the input jack, far right. P3 Technology built into GAGA effortlessly powered six pedals (via the standard stereo signal cable) and also the active EMG pickups installed in the AXL guitar. The setup process was literally 'plug guitar cable into GAGA, activate P3, and the entire pedal rig and guitar powered right up.' It doesn't get any simpler. And if that doesn't bring smiley gladness to any guitarist, the pure and powerful tube tone sure will. »
With years of development behind them, the last two prototypes of GAGA performed flawlessly at the NY Amp Show, June 2011. It was at this show that a fifth knob was requested, to control pre gain and allow overloading of the pre-amp stages. This became the "G" knob in production model GAGA amplifiers.
Ditch bulk. Unleash fury.
GAGA presents a way forward that is not digital, hybrid, modeling, or class-D. Unveiling and empowering, GAGA doesn't have a characteristic tone in the traditional sense; instead, by faithfully amplifying what's played precisely how and when it's played, GAGA provides a reliable foundation of dynamic purity upon which to create unique tone and sonic signature. GAGA gets closer to the tubes, true tone and musical ecstasy.
Lets you sound like you, only louder.
GAGA provides a rock-solid, ultra-tight, extremely responsive instrument extension, with voicing that you choose by tube mix and via big, clearly marked, single-function knobs, and with expression you control by your playing and the volume knob on your guitar.
Change "the sound" - without changing the amp
"Tone now depends on what mix of tubes you plug in, and it is no longer limited by the transformer. Changing 'the sound' no longer means changing the amp."
A limitless and broad palette of tones, from one amp
Want progressively darker, smoother tone? Plug in an EL34, or two, or three, or four. Want more jangle? Switch out for a 6L6, or two, or three, or four. Same for 6V6s, 6550s, 6CA7s, and about 20 other common power tubes — by combining various power tubes, the palette of available tone and feel approaches infinity. GAGA is an amp that lets you sound like you want, without making you sound like the amp. When you want a whole new soundscape, change up the tube mix.
First "proof-of-concept" prototype GAGA (in an hand-bent chassis that weighed 3 pounds) demonstrated changeable tubes and flawless performance, Nashville NAMM, July 2009. Note the variety of power tubes: 6L6, EL34, 6CA7, 6550. GAGA accepts over 30 other types of power tubes. Automatic bias means no settings are required, and the tubes in whatever combination always operate properly.
Plug in and Play, anywhere - Variable output power
World Power Ready and super-light "pinky weight" means you can actually carry your best tone with you anywhere, all the time. Power may be stepped from full power down to around 1 Watt: The final output power depends on tubes used, and tubes can be pulled to go down even lower while maintaining full power tube overdrive.
Auto Everything - No sag, hangover, or collapse
Enabling automatic bias, standby and output impedance, GAGA's advanced power conversion supersonically maintains proper operation and arc-welding energy reserves, prevents arcing and blow-outs, ensures instantaneous, per-note recovery from overdrive that never mires in bias collapse or overload hangover, and delivers unflappable power for ultra-dynamic, extremely nuanced, wide-band, phase-accurate yet rock-solid "wall of note" slams and sustains that sustain without droop or fade.
Bass on GAGA
A tube amp that can reproduce flatly and cleanly below human hearing is very unusual. GAGA does so without introducing any magnetic munge to rob power and muddy the sound. Even when fully overloaded, GAGA does not "collapse and fold back over on itself." With roots in high-end audio GAGA also performs well as a keyboard, vocal or other instrument amplifier and would be at ease among the very finest components and performers.
"The bass was tight, far more so than I have ever heard on any tube amplifier. Acoustic bass was woody, resonant, and full of life. The extra harmonic richness in electric bass came through in spades...the bass never became tubby or boomy. .. The sound never became confused... This amplifier was absolutely unperturbed at even the highest volume." — Charles Hansen (Glass Audio Magazine, vol. 12, issue 1-2 / 2000) on Berning's ZH-270, GAGA's 70 Watt cousin.
Powers pedals and pickups thru the guitar cable
GAGA is the first guitar amplifier to include patented P3Technology® as a standard feature. Designed to work with existing gear for maximum flexibility, P3 remotely powers effects pedals and active pickups. This means no more batteries, no more D.O.A., no more signal drooping or dying during performance, no more AC power for "DC" bricks or wall-warts, no more ground-loops, no more power cables — P3 is the end to pedal and pickup power issues. P3 provides up to 13 Watts (1,500 mA, 2 A) of 9-volt power via the ring of any standard "stereo" (TRS) cable to any P3-Ready™ pedal or break-out box (a P3 PowerSplitter is supplied), which then powers stock pedals. Plug in one cable, push one button, and play.
Hearing is believing, measuring is proof
The left photo shows response curves of 6L6 tubes played through a superb audio output transformer. Characteristic magnetic bloat manifests audibly as lost power, muffled attack, skewed timbre, or "munge", "flub", "smear". This measurement shows a single, simple test frequency, not the chaos during music.
The right photo shows how response curves of the same 6L6 tubes in GAGA match their ideals shown in original tube data sheets and technical literature. The resulting faithful amplification gives clarity of tone, leaping dynamics, immediacy, impact, body, warmth, and three-dimensional naturalness. Toward the goal of maximizing musical ecstasy, GAGA audibly and measurably provides the purest possible tube tone.
Michael lifts one of the last prototypes of the GAGA amplifier at the NY Amp Show, June 2011.
"Your greatest, most delicately nuanced and musical tone incubates inside vacuum tubes. And then what? Cram it through a big filtering hunk of steel transformer, among the most oaffish and bulky things available?? Until now, the traditional problem has always been how to translate the high-voltage realm of tubes to the high-current demands of loudspeakers, and vice-versa. GAGA performs this two-way translation in a totally fresh and unconventional way that is essentially ideal, providing what is presently and by far the purest possible tube tone. It completely wipes away the need for an audio-frequency output transformer and in so doing opens up 'tubiness' in ways literally never before heard or played. The resulting power, impact, speed and nuance is astonishing, inspiring and highly addictive. Differences among tubes blossom. Tone blooms without munge or flub. Previously muted intricacies absolutely sparkle. New levels of naturalness are unveiled. Organic texture and dimensionality intensify. And the dynamics just leap out... That's the stuff that can't be scientifically measured, while what can be measured is pretty dramatic and eye-opening. GAGA melds into a louder extension of your instrument, of your playing style, of your music, and of you. It works with you, almost knowing what you want and 'presponding' accordingly, instantly, intimately...a sixth-finger, a musical soul-mate. To say GAGA is a new kind of amp almost isn't enough because it lets you hear and express yourself in truly new and exciting ways, bringing you ever closer to your music, and we think that's a worthwhile advancement." — Michael Milbert
If you're looking for a solid guitar amplifier that will sound great over a lifetime, let you literally plug-and-play almost any tube or combination thereof (and carefully operate them conservatively), and reliably provide an uncommonly pure and exceptionally wide variety of intense tonal flavors in a solid, almost weightless package that's made with craftsmanship, care, pride and quality everything, please consider GAGA.
