Gibson EH-185

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Matt's Gibson EH-185

Produced by Gibson in late 1930s and early 1940s (specifically, between 1939 and 1942), the EH-185 is a small tube amplifier, with an output of approximately 20 watts RMS. It was made during the first wave of instrument electrification, and was built to amplificate Gibson's EH-185 Hawaiian lap-steel guitar. It was considered an amp of choice for pre-war Spanish electric guitars. Today, the tone of this small amp is used for a variety of genres, including indie and alternative rock, grunge, and other contemporary genres, used by Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age. Two other amps that were made by Gibson during the era include the EH-150 and the EH-125, considered as being 150s "younger brother".

The EH-185 features a treble/bass boost knob and three 1/4 inch inputs, being two instrument inputs, with one knob to control the level of them, and one microphone input, with a separate knob to control its level. It features three 6J7 and one 6N7 preamp tubes, two 6L6 output tubes, a 5U4 rectifier tube, and has one 12" inch field-coil speaker. Inputting the signal through the microphone channel sends it via the extra 6J7 gain-stage tube, going into the volume control, before merging into the second gain stage, making the signal hotter, as opposed to sending it through the instrument outputs.[1]

According to an interview in the September 2022 issue of Total Guitar, Bellamy got this amp during the recording process of Will of the People. According to Matt, it was only used "a couple of times". It is unknown exactly where and if it's used on the album itself.

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