Althouse: "Hendrix used three 100-watt amps and three stacks."

April 6, 2012

"Hendrix used three 100-watt amps and three stacks."

"KISS go a lot further, but most of the cabinets and amps you see on stage are dummies. We once built 80 dummy cabinets for Bon Jovi. They all do it — it's just backdrop. It would be stupid to use more than three 100-watt amps, wherever and whoever you are."

29 comments:

traditionalguy said...: What did you say? I can't hear you.; 4/6/12, 8:21 AM
chickelit said...: RIP Jim Marshall

I used two videos of the same song "Hideaway" to compare the sound Marshall create:. link; 4/6/12, 8:22 AM
Scott M said...: It would be stupid to use more than three 100-watt amps, wherever and whoever you are."

Unless you plan on making them all go to eleven. Or you're Uriah Heep.; 4/6/12, 8:22 AM
KCFleming said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/6/12, 8:22 AM
KCFleming said...: Dang. Too late.

Damn you, Scott M.!!!; 4/6/12, 8:28 AM
rhhardin said...: As a kid, I used a 1000 watt final amp for ham radio.

The lights in the house dimmed and the tv picture shrank in time to morse for a few years.; 4/6/12, 8:37 AM
purplepenquin said...: Lots of rock shows will use empty amps and cabinets. It is kinda funny when you wheel the first one down off the truck, expecting it to be a lot heavier than what it is.

This is my favorite picture of a Marshall Amp/Head. Makes me giggle every time...; 4/6/12, 9:20 AM
Patrick said...: Thanks for those videos chickenlittle. I always enjoy comparisons like that, showing the effects of one rig over another. In those videos, I would also think that some of the sound difference is due to Clapton's solid body Les Paul vs. King's semi hollow body. But there is a strong difference in the amps.

Great playing, though.; 4/6/12, 9:21 AM
Anonymous said...: Last year when we saw the Subdudes they didn't even use amps. They modelled it all through a computer in 1's and 0's and balanced it on the board. No amps. Wish I still had my vintage stack of Mrashalls. I did keep my Fenders, not that I have any use for them now. Sigh....; 4/6/12, 9:44 AM
The Drill SGT said...: rhhardin said...
As a kid, I used a 1000 watt final amp for ham radio.

The lights in the house dimmed and the tv picture shrank in time to morse for a few years.

bit overpowered? My license was at 75 watts.; 4/6/12, 9:53 AM
MarkD said...: The kid on my street has more in his car.; 4/6/12, 9:53 AM
Scott M said...: bit overpowered? My license was at 75 watts.

He was trying to hit Barsoom.; 4/6/12, 9:57 AM
Kirk Parker said...: "airplane vacuum tubes"

?????; 4/6/12, 10:07 AM
sonicfrog said...: My main outdoor bass rig is 600 watts bridged. But, half the time, that isn't needed. Since most professional set-up have all the instruments being pumped out of the PA, the only reason you use your amp on stage is for you to be able to hear yourself playing over the drummer and the guitarist, who usually has no idea just how loud he is btw, and to get the initial tone you want to fed into the PA. All the other stuff is eye candy!

PS. I recently found myself in the odd position of having to tell my guitarist to turn up.... It was really weird and unsettling!; 4/6/12, 10:17 AM
Wince said...: I always thought this is the coolest rock photo of all time. (Notice the cop watching.)

Heck, his middle name was Marshall!

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix; 4/6/12, 10:19 AM
Scott M said...: My main outdoor bass rig is 600 watts bridged.

Easily refuted as everyone that's been in a band knows bass players aren't smart enough to do that in the first place.; 4/6/12, 10:20 AM
edutcher said...: I'm sure he was a genius in his own way, but his work was a big reason I parted company with pop music around '65.; 4/6/12, 10:22 AM
Tarzan said...: my favorite picture of a Marshall Amp/Head. Makes me giggle every time...

:)

I love the iconic Hendrix stack, but the classic wall-o-Vox ain't nothin' to be sneezed at!

http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/brian_may.jpg; 4/6/12, 10:36 AM
Cog said...: Here’s what I remember from when Jimi played Robertson Gym at UCSB in spring 1969: he opened with Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band and then spoke into the mic, “I don’t know about you but I can’t hear nothing yet.” For the next couple of minutes he fiddled with the Marshall amp knobs with his back to the audience, testing the sound levels with guitar chords, etc., and when he was finished got a big hand as he went into the next song.; 4/6/12, 10:46 AM
rhhardin said...: bit overpowered? My license was at 75 watts.

That's novice class. General class got a kilowatt.; 4/6/12, 11:20 AM
Carol said...: The one time I saw Jimi Hendrix, he played through 10 Sunn amps. Or seemed to anyway.

I was kinda disappointed because I was expected Marshall stacks.; 4/6/12, 11:43 AM
Anthony said...: Oddly, I was just wondering that the other day, watching some concert on Palladia. I noticed the musicians were all wearing the ubiquitous ear pieces -- they used to have some amps and speakers at the front of the stage pointing back at them to get feedback -- but they still had a whole bunch of Marshalls behind them. Most arenas, I think, have their own sound system, don't they? I recall (from my concert-going days) that most arenas would have a bunch of speakers suspended from the ceiling point down and out at the crowd and a few around the stage, and often no other amps and junk on the stage. So I kind of wondered if the ones I was seeing were actually doing anything. I guess maybe not.; 4/6/12, 12:00 PM
purplepenquin said...: I noticed the musicians were all wearing the ubiquitous ear pieces -- they used to have some amps and speakers at the front of the stage pointing back at them to get feedback -- but they still had a whole bunch of Marshalls behind them. Most arenas, I think, have their own sound system, don't they?

A lot of musicians are going with in-ear monitors instead of what used to be on stage facing them. (The "mixes" in those monitors is different than what is set to the main speakers...for instance, the drummer needs to hear more of the bass and less of the lead guiter than what the crowd gets to hear) Those monitors aren't supposed to have feedback, tho it does happen sometimes.

Most venues, especially arenas, don't have a sound system/speakers permanently installed that capable of handling a concert, so it comes in on semi-trucks & it all gets set up before the show and then taken down afterwards. Smallest number of semis I've seen for a "big show" is two with some acts coming in with more than a dozen trucks full o' equipment. Set-up for most evening shows start around 8-9am, taking anywhere from 5-10 hours to complete, and we usually get it torn down and loaded back into the trucks about 2-3 hours after the show is finished.

Next time you're in the Dane County Coliseum (assuming you're in the area) take a look up...workers have to actually climb out off of the catwalk and go over/up those rafters in order to hang the steel cables that hold the motors that lift the speakers and trusses. I'll walk the catwalk to get to a spot-booth, but you sure ain't getting ME out on a rafter! The riggers that do that are a special kind of crazy...; 4/6/12, 12:28 PM
Wince said...: take a look up...workers have to actually climb out off of the catwalk and go over/up those rafters in order to hang the steel cables that hold the motors that lift the speakers and trusses.

And while looking up notice they still use burlap sacks to prevent the sharp edges of the steel rafters from fraying the cables that are wrapped around those rafters and holding tons of equipment.; 4/6/12, 1:14 PM
chickelit said...: EDH said...
Heck, his middle name was Marshall!

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix

Somewhere out there is a photo by Jim Marshall of James Marshall standing in front of a Jim Marshall amp.

Now all three have passed. :(; 4/6/12, 1:36 PM
Jason said...: "Haul them cases and lift them amps. Haul those trusses down and get'em up them ramps. 'Cause when it comes to moving me, you know you guys are the champs!

But when that last guitar's been packed away, you know that I still wanna play.

So just be sure you got it all set to go. Before you come for my piano.

People, stay."; 4/6/12, 2:23 PM
Jason said...: I propose we remember Mr. Marshall with a brief moment of loudness.; 4/6/12, 2:24 PM
XRay said...: Not Marshall's, JBL's, but this... was 26,400 watts of the cleanest most brilliant sound I ever experienced at a concert. Official debut March 23, 1974, at the Cow Palace in Daly City. I helped fill some of the thousands of helium balloons that were used during the finale of the show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound_(Grateful_Dead)

http://dozin.com/wallofsound/index.html; 4/6/12, 2:28 PM
SGT Ted said...: You could plug a dead cat into a Marshall and it would sound good.; 4/7/12, 10:33 AM