Beatles Amp History

[phantomman]

Apologies if this has been posted before but I stumbled across it this evening and found it quite enlightening......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-gVhacZWTE

Enjoy!

[ch willie]

I'll check this out, Beatles freak that I am.

I just watched a vid of "Don't Let Me Down" on the rooftop. I've played that song in a band, at least 100 times. But I listened to and watched that video, and the song just awed me. Tensions or not during Let it Be, these guys were locked in with each other.

I was thinking about their switch from Vox to Fender amps. It wasn't really a rejection of the Vox. They wanted to get a different, more modern sound. Of course other amps are thrown into the mix, including at least one Selmer that McCartney used on Sgt. Pepper, playing his flipped, right handed Fender Esquire.

I wonder if when people go for 'Beatles amps', they will go for a Vox when what they want is the more modern sounds.

[DanTheBluesMan]

there was a Beatle Super 100 in my GC a couple of weeks ago. I've never tried one. Probably afraid I'll be disappointed

[OldStrummer]

there was a Beatle Super 100 in my GC a couple of weeks ago. I've never tried one. Probably afraid I'll be disappointed

I'm generally disappointed in Guitar Center, anyway.

[DanTheBluesMan]

LOL

[phantomman]

Back in the day (when bands like ? And The Mysterions, Max Frost And The Troopers, and The Sound Machine ruled the AM airwaves) I traded off my drip-edge silverface Dual Showman for a Vox Super Beatle, not because it was tone machine but because it was a status symbol to guitarists of the Clearasil crowd. Sonically it was a turd, much like Fender's equally mediocre first-generation solid-state models. And it was a PITFA to load, pack, and set up -- a van was mandatory for transport. After five or six months of wrestlemania getting the rig to and from gigs I tossed in the towel and traded it away for an AA270 Twin Reverb. I never missed it in the least though I must confess an affinity for an AC30TB even now.

[ch willie]

Back in the day (when bands like ? And The Mysterions, Max Frost And The Troopers, and The Sound Machine ruled the AM airwaves) I traded off my drip-edge silverface Dual Showman for a Vox Super Beatle, not because it was tone machine but because it was a status symbol to guitarists of the Clearasil crowd. Sonically it was a turd, much like Fender's equally mediocre first-generation solid-state models. And it was a PITFA to load, pack, and set up -- a van was mandatory for transport. After five or six months of wrestlemania getting the rig to and from gigs I tossed in the towel and traded it away for an AA270 Twin Reverb. I never missed it in the least though I must confess an affinity for an AC30TB even now.

Ha ha. Your description is just great!

I have no interest in a Super Beatle. I get great sounds from my Ric 330 through my Deluxe, but I still want an AC30TB for the sounds that only a Vox ad Ric have together.

[phantomman]

......but I still want an AC30TB for the sounds that only a Vox ad Ric have together.

I believe there are certain guitar-and-amp combinations that were simply meant to be and that is one of them.

[ch willie]

I believe there are certain guitar-and-amp combinations that were simply meant to be and that is one of them.

I got real close to McGuinn's sound with the Deluxe. But I agree, the Ric demands a good Vox.

[phantomman]

Both times I saw The Byrds (Monterey Pop, Whiskey-A-Go-Go), McGuinn was playing a '67 blackface Dual Showman so coupling a Ric with a Fender is not an altogether unpleasant or unlikely prospect. The 12-string platform is well served by a 4 x 6L6GC output stage driving a pair of JBL D130F's.

[ch willie]

Both times I saw The Byrds (Monterey Pop, Whiskey-A-Go-Go), McGuinn was playing a '67 blackface Dual Showman so coupling a Ric with a Fender is not an altogether unpleasant or unlikely prospect. The 12-string platform is well served by a 4 x 6L6GC output stage driving a pair of JBL D130F's.

I've heard that recent Vox amps are are poorly made, and with poor parts. I know that people feel that way about recent Fenders, including my 2008 DRRI (which I love and which sounds better than ever). What's your opinion on the tube ACs being made today?

[phantomman]

I've heard that recent Vox amps are are poorly made, and with poor parts.

ALL mass-produced amps are "poorly made, and with poor parts" IMO.

Doesn't matter if the "hood ornament" says Vox, Fender, Marshall, or whomever. They're good for maybe a couple of years then PFFFFT -- they'll be ready for their new home in a landfill. That's why the originals are in such high demand and command premium prices on the secondary market.

[DanTheBluesMan]

ALL mass-produced amps are "poorly made, and with poor parts" IMO.

Doesn't matter if the "hood ornament" says Vox, Fender, Marshall, or whomever. They're good for maybe a couple of years then PFFFFT -- they'll be ready for their new home in a landfill. That's why the originals are in such high demand and command premium prices on the secondary market.

if my Princeton Reverb I bought in Fall 2019 only lasts a couple of years I'll be pretty damn pissed off

[phantomman]

You won't be alone, Dan. But unlike a lot of the junk being purveyed these days, it's likely your PRRI will be repairable. But many lines of gear are routinely abandoned by their manufacturers once the production cycle has run its course. Fender does it all the time -- look what happened to their Cyber and Vintage Modified line. The supply of repair parts has evaporated since production ceased so if/when they break (and break they surely will, just as with any complex piece of gear) it's impossible to get it fixed. The customer gets tossed under the bus right along with the orphaned amp, even though it's only a few years old. OTOH you can still find every part required to build (or restore) a 5E3 tweed Deluxe. With math like that it doesn't take an astrophysicist from NASA to figure out what's going on.