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Marshall Major
| 1 votes | | Vox AC30
| 7 votes | | MM Freedom
| 0 votes | | | Total: 8 voters. Total votes: 8. Max items per vote allowed: 1. |
Rezi
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Blackmore's Primary Amp on Machine Head
There's been an interesting debate on the Music Makers Forum on which amp Blackmore actually used on Machine Head album. The link here goes to page six of the topic, because that's where the debate really begins. If you're really interested in the context of the topic, begin reading from page one. Otherwise, you'll find the key arguments presented so far starting from page six.
The stereotypical (but not necessarily wrong at all) answer is Marshall Major. Blackmore himself gave the image in the 1970s that he didn't use anything but Marshall, as well. However, apart from being absent from the session photos, there's another key problem concerning this view (read on).
The second option is his trusty Vox AC30, seen in several of the Didi Zill photos (in which the Marshalls are not seen at all). The people who support this view typically argue that the Marshall's would have simply been too loud to use in the Swiss hotel. RB has also said his goal was to make his Marshall's sound similar to his Vox, only bigger. Hence he had his Marshall's modified to stunning 250+ watts.
The third and perhaps most interesting possibility is a Mike Matthews Freedom amp, which was a tiny practice amp. This one is also seen in the Zill Machine Head sessions photos and Blackmore's close friend Stuart Smith has told how RB said he recorded MH on that amp. Smith was adamant the claim was not another RB wind-up.
So, what do you think? What was the primary amp for the sessions?
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25/3/2008, 15:05
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Al Erikson
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Re: Blackmore's Primary Amp on Machine Head
What happened to the old customized magnetophone Ritchie used on stage and in the studio to get his own strato sound?
edit: I thought Ritchie got his Marshall modified to reach 400W...?
Last edited by Al Erikson, 25/3/2008, 16:00
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25/3/2008, 15:41
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MrEd45
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Re: Blackmore's Primary Amp on Machine Head
quote:
Al Erikson wrote:
I thought Ritchie got his Marshall modified to reach 400W...?
GP: How loud is your amp setting?
RB: "Full up, I've always played every amp I've ever had full up, because rock and roll is supposed to be played loud. Also keeping the amp up is how you get your sustain. I turn down on the guitar for dynamics. I've also got my amps boosted. I know Jim Marshall personally, and he boosted them for me. It's pushing out about 500 watts. I guess that's maybe 1000 watts in American ratings, but it's all distortion. The people at Marshall said it's the loudest amp they'd ever heard. I had an extra stage built onto it, and a couple more valves. That's why every two weeks things just to disintegrate. The speakers really get pushed out. I usually go trough two, sometimes more, every two weeks. I only use one of my stacks. The other's just a spare in case I blow the other up."
GP: Does that happen often?
RB: "Sometimes we have a run of bad luck where something blows up every gig. I've had it happen about six times continous. You feel like giving it all up when that happens. Learning to play the guitar is one thing, but learning to play with a big amplifier is a different thing altogether. It's trying to control an elephant."
GP; But you can't get that power rumble without big amps.
RB: "Yes, but that's about all. I'd rather play a little amp anyway. I used to do the circuit with a little amp and played ten times better than I do now. I was fast clean, but nobody took any notice except other musicians. Normal people didn't know what the hell I was doing."
GP: What's that thing on the drum case behind your amplifier?
RB: "A treble-booster with a variable control which gives me sustain. Hornby Skues made it, but I had it slightly modified, because I found that on some nights I had too much sustain, and on others I didn't have enough. So I had a variable control put on. Actually, using a Stratocaster, I don't really need any treble boost. I use the unit mostly for sustain."
GP: Does the band use all of your stage gear in the studio's?
RB: "The full whack."
- Ritchie Blackmore to Martin K. Webb in Guitar Player, 1973
Q: Did you use a Marshall amp in the early days of Purple?
RB: "No, I was still using the Vox miked. It used to buzz like mad. I changed to Marshalls about eight years ago. I knew Jim Marshall [see GP, Feb. '77]. He was a drum teacher, and I saw the Marshall setup and liked the way they looked. The design I liked, but the sound was awful. So I went back to the factory because I knew Jim and I said, "Look, I want this changed and I want that changed." And I used to play in front of all the people that were there working; there would be women there assembling things, and I had the amp boosted to 400 watts. So I would be playing away right in front of all these people and they'd be trying to work. I'd go, "That's not right, more treble," and they'd take out a resistor. I had to play full blast or otherwise I couldn't know what it was going to sound like. The people hated me."
Q: So it was the Stratocaster and Marshall for the duration of Deep Purple?
RB: "Yeah. It was really hard at first, because they didn't match. It just looked right, espccially the Marshall, so I thought I've got to make that amplifier sound right if it's the last thing I do. The standard ones are awful."
Q: What did you do to change your Marshalls?
RB: "I had an extra output stage built on. I have no bass at all on the amp. There're an extra two valves [tubes] built into the output stage so there's more output. It's boosted to about 250 or 300 watts. I use the old 200- watt amps, which you can't get anymore because thcy don't make them."
Q; Do you use 200-watt heads?
RB: "Yeah, which are boosted. They're the loudest amplifier in the world on their own. I'm not saying I play the loudest – it depends on how many you use. But one on its own is the loudest. I don't like to use a lot of cabinets, I think just two cabinets is enough; otherwise the sound is all around you. l like to keep away from the sound, and that's why onstage I play to the left of it and point it the other way. Then I can get a perspective of what's going on; otherwise all you can hear is yourself. And you tend to get feedback and overtones you don't want."
Q: Did you initially use one stack and later add the second?
RB: "Yeah, I just have the other one as a reserve. It's on, but I'm not using it. It's just if I blow the first one."
Q; Do you blow them very often onstage?
RB; "Yeah, all the time lately. I don't know why. It's the output transformer that blows up. It's like a finely tuned car, you can't expect it not to break down. I really push it."
Q: You use the same guitar/amplifier setup in the studio?
RB: "Yeah. Actually I don't play in the studio, I have someone else who takes my place. Jim Page comes in." - Ritchie Blackmore to Steve Rosen in Guitar Player, 1978
Last edited by MrEd45, 25/3/2008, 16:38
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25/3/2008, 16:37
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Rezi
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Re: Blackmore's Primary Amp on Machine Head
Thanks Ed, he was indeed very consistent with his argument in the 1970s.
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26/3/2008, 7:40
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Al Erikson
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Re: Blackmore's Primary Amp on Machine Head
Thanks indeed MrEd for the argumented reply. Ritchie is often quoted as mentioning his boosted Marshall amps up to 300W (Ritchie Blackmore - Rock Profile vol. 2. See also Roy Davies "Rainbow Rising" p. 178).
Now in his answer to a question from a Belgian guy (see special booklet included in Ritchie Blackmore - Rock Profile vol. 1), Ritchie mentions "two 100W Marshall amps which have been boosted to 400W each. I had extra valves and output stages built into the Standard 200W models and I've got six 4x12 speakers, but only use four of them except in very loud passages. I have three Hornby Skewes treble boosters (which overload) the input side and (produce) distorsion, which gives the sustain of notes".
Now my confusion might come from the fact he's actually describing his stage gear.
Last edited by Al Erikson, 26/3/2008, 9:07
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"You and me Baby
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So let's do what they do
On the Discovery channel"
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26/3/2008, 9:05
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Rezi
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Re: Blackmore's Primary Amp on Machine Head
Al, I think the tape deck overdrive & echo unit you mentioned earlier came to use in Mk3 days, replacing the treble boosters, at least live. I don't know about studio.
The treble booster(s) are also visible in the Didi Zill photos.
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26/3/2008, 10:59
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KillerBananas
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Re: Blackmore's Primary Amp on Machine Head
It's hard to tell what amp(s) he used, but I have a strong feeling that he used the VoxAC30 quite a lot. Why would he bring his Marshalls when there was no need for them?
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"It can't be hemorrhoids! Everybody knows he's a perfect asshole!" Ian Gillan commenting on Blackmore's mystery illness causing show cancelations...a long time ago... Taken from Metal Hammer's "Motormouth"!
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30/3/2008, 8:06
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RBGuitarPlayer
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Re: Blackmore's Primary Amp on Machine Head
RB used the VOX AC30 and the 335 on most of the MachineHead Album, in some places he doubled up with a strat. Anyone with ears can hear them both quite clearly. There's no Marshall sound in there at all.
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15/5/2008, 18:39
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Dartagnan
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Re: Blackmore's Primary Amp on Machine Head
Maybe he was using a prototype RBTC unit? That would throw everyone, eh! 
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Fair enough, whatever.
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15/5/2008, 23:23
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KillerBananas
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Re: Blackmore's Primary Amp on Machine Head
quote:
Dartagnan wrote:
Maybe he was using a prototype RBTC unit? That would throw everyone, eh!
Or maybe he used the MTC prototype???
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"It can't be hemorrhoids! Everybody knows he's a perfect asshole!" Ian Gillan commenting on Blackmore's mystery illness causing show cancelations...a long time ago... Taken from Metal Hammer's "Motormouth"!
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26/5/2008, 16:42
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