If I had to keep just one amp this would be the one. Produced from ’39 to ’42 it was Gibson’s top of the line.  This amp has a single tone control. The earlier ones had a separate bass and treble control.

I got it on E-bay about six years ago. It was completely covered in black spray paint so figured I would have to recover it. Surprisingly all the black paint wiped off. One quart of lacquer thinner and 20 rags later this is what it looked like. All I had to do was re-stencil the Gibson logo.

Of all the amps I’ve owned, this one comes closest to my “dream guitar tone “ that I hear in my head. Probably because the majority my favorite guitar players most likely used and recorded with a Gibson EH-185 at some point in their early careers.