Gorilla TC-65 Amp Review

OK, first off, Gorilla is known as a cheap-o solid-state ‘practice amp’ Most of their products are just exactly that, too. Cheaply made, cheap sounding, pretty much cheap junk.

But I swapped an old bicycle recently for a used one, a model TC-65. I wanted some little something for my daughter to plug a microphone into and practice her singing and mic technique with. This amp turned out not to be worth a darn for that, though. In fact, it turned out not to be worth much of anything at that time, because all the pots were very dirty, scratchy, and/or simply non-functional. But after cleaning and lubing the pots, this thing turned out to be a little screamer!

Gorilla Tube Cruncher Amp

Gorilla amps are marketed by the Pignose folks, I found out, and while most of them are very simply junk, I think this one model stands out head & shoulders above the others of their line.

Its build quality is actually OK. I can’t tell if the cabinet is plywood or MDF/particle board, since it’s covered with Tolex. But in any case, it’s stout and solid. And since I’ve had the amp chassis out of the cabinet, I’ve seen that it’s also quite substantial. The electronic components are laid out well and wired neatly, and it generally gives an impression of more quality than mass-produced cheap amps usually do. It’s very compact, about 14” wide by maybe 16” tall, by about 8 or 9” deep…just big enough to contain one 10” speaker (which is quite robust, BTW), and the amp chassis itself.

Once I had cleaned and lubed the pots, and the amp began to function normally again, I was pretty amazed at what came out of it. First off, though, I have to say that it doesn’t really do ‘clean’ tones very well. It’s called a ‘Tube Cruncher’, after all, and that’s what it does best….crunch. And the little sucker’s LOUD! I can only guess at its output rating, but I’d assume that the ‘65’ in its model designation means 65 Watts…and I tend to believe that’s probably about right, judging by its loudness.

Its controls consist of gain (tube cruncher), master volume, treble, middle, bass, and reverb level. The reverb is provided by a very tiny spring tank that sounds surprisingly good, with a nice long’tail’ to it. Not really too ‘boingy’ at all, as one might expect from such a small spring tank. But the level control isn’t as effective as I’d like. Barely cracking the reverb level control gives me all the reverb I’d ever want to use, and anything over about ¼ of the way up is just way too much reverb for my taste. But it’s usable, if I set it very carefully.

The tone controls are quite effective and give a wide range of timbres. Now, the shiny aspect of this amp is its ‘tube crunch’/gain control. It really does respond somewhat like a tube amp, surprisingly well, for being a cheap little transistor amp. With the gain knob set about halfway, it provides a ‘nearly’ clean tone while picking/strumming gently, but it grits up really nicely and progressively as you dig in a little more with the pick. Great for blues. Then with the gain at about ¾ to nearly full on, the distortion just roars. And it’s not the ‘spitty’, sizzly distortion you might expect from cheap solid-state amps, either. It’s warm, fat, full, and surprisingly ‘tubey’. Yet it still retains a good top-end response, whereas a lot of tube amps seem to lose the top end when the tubes become saturated.

I love the tones from the old days of Foghat, Humble Pie, Mountain, etc., where no effects pedals were used, just wire between guitar and amp, leaving the amp to do its own distortion. And this is exactly what I get out of this little guy. When I’m playing on this amp, I almost never use any effects pedals with it. Maybe a chorus, occasionally, but that’s it. Nothing else is needed.

I actually wouldn’t hesitate to use this amp to record with (for certain tones), or even, as loud as it is, to play live with. And that, despite whatever derisive comments might be made about there being a little cheapo Gorilla amp sitting on the stage. But I really believe a lot of those potential derisive remarks would be quickly ‘eaten’ once the amp is fired up and cranking. I think it sounds pretty darn good...for what it is.

No, of course, it ain’t a Bogner, Marshall, or Mesa, or even a Fender or Vox amp. But for the price of one old ‘rehabbed’ bicycle….it really ain’t too shabby.

I don’t think they sell this model any more, and I have no idea of its age. It’s apparent that it has a few years on it, though. Again, I realize that the Gorilla line of little guitar amps isn’t at all highly regarded. But if you ever see one of this particular model, you should at least give it a few minutes’ listen. You just might be very surprised.