Gibson produced a considerable amount of publicity material for the Les Paul Triumph bass, both in the US and worldwide. Most of this was towards the end of 1971 and into 1972, although catalogue appearances continued right through to 1978. Below are 1970s pricing, reproductions of advertisements, catalogues featuring the Triumph bass, and original reviews.
Les Paul Triumph pricing
The Les Paul Triumph was listed in price lists from late 1971 until 1979. As can be seen, it was the most expensive bass in the Gibson line.
|
November 1971 |
$535.00 |
November 1975 |
$679.00 |
Comparison of prices from the March 1976 Gibson price list
|
Grabber |
$329-379 |
EB3 |
$469 |
Les Paul Triumph advertising
The sounds of tomorrow for today's music
1972 double page Gibson advert for the newly designed Les Paul Bass - now dubbed the Triumph. It appeared in the April 1972 edition of Guitar Player and uses the same picture and text as used previously in the 1971 Gibson Low Impedance catalogue. The text refers to the free flexi disc that came with the '71 catalogue, and this was also included with the magazine
March and April are Les Paul months
1972 letter sent to Gibson dealers underlining the promotional efforts undertaken by Gibson in early 1972, in order to secure more orders of both the Les Paul Triumph bass, and the Les Paul Recording guitar
Show us a man who's too good for a Gibson Les Paul
UK ad for the Triumph bass and Les Paul Recording guitar. The add was produced by Selmer who were the British distributors of Gibson Instruments.
...he's flipped. Because the world's greatest can't fault the perfection of a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar. So if you're serious about the sounds you're making try out the amazing new Les Paul Triumph bass.
Les Paul Triumph catalogue appearances
The Gibson Les Paul Triumph appeared in several Gibson catalogues, the first, the 1971 low impedance catalog also came with a flexi disk demonstrating both it, and the Les Paul Recording guitar. An owners manual was also available in 1971, which interestingly had a series of suggested settings for typical country, rock and solo bass tonalites.
1971 Gibson low impedance catalog
1971 Italian Gibson/Monzino catalog
1975 bass catalog
1975 Les Paul catalog
1978 Gibson catalogLes Paul Triumph owners manual
1971 Gibson Triumph Bass brochure / owners manualReviews
Guitar Review - Les Paul Triumph Bass
1973 Gibson Les Paul Triumph review from the British magazine Beat Instrumental.
In the past few years. Fender have had the bass market pretty well sewn up, both on stage and in the studio. Although Gibson marketed a number of well-made guitars, they were found to have too much 'boom' for most uses, and the cutting treble sound of the Fender was preferred. Gibson have now got wise to this and have produced their first real contender to the Fender supremacy. It is called the Les Paul Triumph Bass. It has two low impedance humbuckers and enough controls to produce virtually any effect required, except the famous 'boom'
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