“I’m probably gonna buy this. So there you go. Sold already”: Watch the Pretenders’ James Walbourne get to grips with a vintage Gibson Explorer – and no, not the guitar

The Pretenders’ James Walbourne recently sat down with Barrie Cadogan of Little Barry for a video segment with Guitarist magazine in which he got up close and personal with a truly rare beast – a 1959 Gibson Explorer. And we don’t mean the guitar.

This 1959 Explorer was one from the Gibson archives, a tweed covered combo rated at 14-watts, with no shortage of vintage tube amp mojo. The video was shot at Sweet Amps, in east London, who presently have this Explorer on sale. 

Walbourne admitted he was tempted. “I’m probably gonna buy this. So there you go. Sold already,” he joked, before the asking price made him think twice (it’s presently listed at £2,175.25).

This was something of an excursion for Walbourne. His tastes in electric guitar tone might skew old-school, towards foundational rock ’n’ roll, but as he explains, he already found his thrill a long time ago and has found no good reason to switch things up, at least not for live performances.

“I am a Deluxe Reverb guy,” says Walbourne. “That’s what I have been using for a long time now, just like off-the-shelf, bang! Playing these [vintage amps] is just incredible, because the sounds you get out of them are incredible. But I am very simple in my approach! [Laughs] You know what I mean? I plug in and play, and you can them everywhere, and that’s me. But in the studio it’s a lot different. I’ll use what’s in the studio. I’ve got an old ‘60s Deluxe and that tends to be good for me. I use it all the time.”

Vintage valve amp shootout with Barrie Cadogan (Little Barrie) and James Walbourne (The Pretenders) - YouTube

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The Explorer is described by Sweet Amps as an amp that breaks up a little easier than a Deluxe, but one that’s louder than a Fender Princeton. “It’s the ultimate beast of the small stage,” reads the listing. You might think a modestly powered small tube combo like this, with a simple control layout of Volume, Tone, Depth and Frequency, and a Jensen 10” speaker, would have been a home run for Gibson. Who couldn’t use an amp like this for the studio or small gigs?

But these tweed-covered models were short lived, before being revised in the ‘60s with black vinyl coverings and a front-mounted control panel. True Vintage Guitars says the later models are a completely different proposition, and were made in a separate facility. This one, however, is the real deal.

Like Walbourne’s go-to Fender Deluxe, this Explorer was equipped with onboard tremolo. “It goes from slow to fast very quickly,” says Walbourne. “Nought to 88-miles-an-hour.”

And while we are here, we can’t let it pass without noting noting that the Harmony H-7208 Roy Smeck Walbourne is playing is pretty cool, too. There are some very nice old amps on show, including an old Silvertone 1482 Combo, a ’62 Fender Bandmaster, and a 1963 Ampeg Super Echo Twin – the latter a veritable unicorn, a very rare example of Ampeg’s stereo guitar amps from the ‘60s. 

Check out the clip above, and subscribe to the Guitarist YouTube channel here. And if, unlike Walbourne, you can spring for £2,175.25 for an amp from Gibson’s golden era, head over to Sweet Amps.