Blackmore tone?

[Apula Mawanga]

I've always liked Ritchie Blackmore's tone. I have a Fender American Series Tele and a Dynacord echocord mini tape echo in my rig at the moment. Which amp will give me a circa-1972 Blackmore tone at low volumes? I don't need ultra-high gain levels, but I also want good cleans.

 

[crossroadsnyc]

Vintage Modern

 

[MajorNut1967]

If you are looking for the true Blackmore 70's tone, you are going need a Marshall Major with the preamp tube cascaded along with a hornby skewes treble booster and thats not including the sound on sound reel to reel.

 

[HOT TUBES 70]

i was just going to say a marshall major played real fuckin loud !!!
man he's a great player !!!

 

[Australian]

"Real F*****G Loud" is probably the best advice you'll get.

 

[LesBalls]

Vintage Modern

100% agree. I even remember reading that Marshall designed the VM around Blackmore's tone. It can do other things of course, it's a great amp! But Blackmore is what they were basing it on.

 

[Mike B]

I read somewhere that Blackmore never used Hornby Skewes Treble Booster with Majors btw. Only with AC30. May be true, may be not. I think that it's impossible to get exactly the same tone as Ritchie had due to modified Majors, that are expensive, his Aiwa tape deck, that may be even more expensive than amp and other stuff that he used. I think that you can imitate it with some BSM Boosters and Superleads, but I don't know how it sounds in real life.

 

[wkcchampion]

To get the classic tone from Smoke on the water, Highway star and Burn (to give some examples), you'll need:

- VOX AC30 with Blue alnico Speakers, normal channel, high volume (a least half - so an attenuator is strongly recommended)
- Germanium Treble Booster
- Strat (even if the Smoke on thw water riff was recorded on a semi-hollow 335 playign with fingers)
- Mike the amp with an SM57, far and inline with the speaker

Hope it helps

 

[HOT TUBES 70]

really !! .......a VOX ?

 

[MajorNut1967]

I read somewhere that Blackmore never used Hornby Skewes Treble Booster with Majors btw. Only with AC30. May be true, may be not. I think that it's impossible to get exactly the same tone as Ritchie had due to modified Majors, that are expensive, his Aiwa tape deck, that may be even more expensive than amp and other stuff that he used. I think that you can imitate it with some BSM Boosters and Superleads, but I don't know how it sounds in real life.

The only thing modded on Ritchie's early 70's Majors was the cascading of the preamp tube and some mods to the tone stack. Since the Major is a very clean amp Ritchie still used the HS Treble Booster to drive the Major. That was the root of the 70's live sound. And a BSM & a Superlead will never sound like Ritchie the Major & the SL's are not even of the same design.

 

[MajorNut1967]

100% agree. I even remember reading that Marshall designed the VM around Blackmore's tone. It can do other things of course, it's a great amp! But Blackmore is what they were basing it on.

So the VM has KT88 power tubes and the output section is Ultra-linear?

 

[MajorNut1967]

really !! .......a VOX ?

Hey HT,

Yes Ritchie used a vox amp in the early days, you can see it on you tube during the concerto performances. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLyqdzu-F4k]YouTube - Deep Purple - Ritchie Blackmore Solo - Concerto... (1969)[/ame] about 5:00 in to the vid you can see it on the floor to Rithchie's right.

 

[wkcchampion]

Blackmore used Vox AC30s in the studio, 'cos they were his favourite amp for recording.
But in the 70s there was no PA system, so he needed louder amps for live shows - that's why he used big Marshalls
In fact you can hear a certain similarity to Blackmore and May's early 70s tone... with the difference that Brian always used his own guitar

 

[jcmjmp]

Vox amps are great rock amps. A lot of people dismiss them though. That's too bad.

For the typical Blackmore tone, I've been able to get pretty close with a DSL on the green channel and just a regular strat.

 

[prolife]

well forgive me for saying i have both a vox ac30 and brit major on my pod! gotta say though i like the california jam tone best but i do prefer a plexi out of the pod tones. the pod seems a bit week, even with full gain, next to the jam tone so what else was in there?

wow that 335 sounds like a strat! is it scalloped???

 

[wkcchampion]

Forget about the POD man =D
Tones are made will valve amps. Yes you can get close with it, but for particular/unique tones like you need the same gear. And also, DON'T UNDERRATE the mic placing! He almost surely used an SM57, FAR from the speaker.

 

[wkcchampion]

Vox are excellent amps, I own one and I love it.
Its defect is being a "two-trick pony". You only get a clean and a crunchy sound, and they are not footswitchable. They are fantastic, sure, but for live applications, or if I want some modern tone, I feed in the preamps from the GT-10. I often use the "MS Higain" or the "Boss Drive" (one is jcm800/900 like, the other one is a boss original, perhaps more laney like)...
The Rectifiers are too much for me though =P

Anyway, most vintage amps are "one" or "two-trick ponies". Think to the Plexi or JCM800, they have one or two sounds as well. They surely sound great but it's a similar problem

Vox amps are great rock amps. A lot of people dismiss them though. That's too bad.

For the typical Blackmore tone, I've been able to get pretty close with a DSL on the green channel and just a regular strat.

 

[jcmjmp]

well forgive me for saying i have both a vox ac30 and brit major on my pod! gotta say though i like the california jam tone best but i do prefer a plexi out of the pod tones. the pod seems a bit week, even with full gain, next to the jam tone so what else was in there?

wow that 335 sounds like a strat! is it scalloped???

A POD sounds nothing like a Vox or Marshall Major, no matter what emulation you select.

 

[wkcchampion]

Modellers can sound credible if properly tweaked, but will never capture the nuances of a real, fully cranked amp like those. They're excellent to play/record at home or if u have a coverband thou - i.e. u need many different sounds, like I do

 

[crossroadsnyc]

Interestingly enough, the Vox AC30 simulation on the POD (well, the X3 Live at least) is probably the most accurate one they have. That said, it's still a good several steps away from the real deal. And yes, they are very underrated rock amps and a great deal more versatile than many give them credit for.

Still, if the question revolves around acquiring a Marshall for early Blackmore tones, I'd still fully recommend the VM unless you plan on purchasing/modifying a Major (which you can forget about at low volumes).

@ LesBalls ... is this the article you were referencing?

http://www.marshallamps.com/downloads/files/vmguitarist.pdf

If you scroll down to the bottom, there is a quote by Steve Dawson (VM designer) where he specifically mentions the Blackmore tone in the VM (it's in bold type).