# Blackmore's tone on Machine Head.......AC30?



## faracaster

Hey All
I have always wondered about Ritchie's tone on Machine Head. It sounds like a non-top boost AC30 to me. I know, I know he is known as a Marshall Major user. But it just does not sound like a Marshall to me. I've always thought that since the album was released. Of course back then, I didn't know what an AC30 sounded like, but I had a Strat and a Marshall and it just didn't ever add up to me. The sound is soooo smooth and compressed. with that (IMHO) high mid tone of a Vox.
I was just looking at a remastered CD jacket and for the first time I noticed John Lord sitting on an AC30!!!!. 
Whadda ya think. Anyone know for sure?
__________________


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## Mooh

God, I don't know, but the tone on Lazy and Space Truckin' is otherworldly. Plus those 2 songs are among my all time favourite rock songs.

Good question. 

Peace, Mooh.


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## mario

I seem to recall a thread about this on TGP awhile back. I do remember reading a Blackmore interview many years ago in Guitar Player were he mentioned he played a AC30 on a number of session gigs before Deep Purple. It is certainly possible he played one on some of the Machine Head tracks. Great album!


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## fraser

i remember hearing that marshall had modified his majors- to sound more like ac30's.

his wiki page states-
"His amplifers were originally 200W Marshall Major stacks which were modified by Marshall with an additional output stage (generated approximately 278W) to make them sound more like Blackmore's favourite Vox AC-30 amp"

so perhaps thats it?

he also used that old reel to reel as a pre-amp pretty much since the beginning with purple-


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## Starbuck

Mooh said:


> God, I don't know, but the tone on Lazy and Space Truckin' is otherworldly. Plus those 2 songs are among my all time favourite rock songs.
> 
> Good question.
> 
> Peace, Mooh.


Great thanks, I had Lazy stuck in my head all day yesterday , now it's back....


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## mario

fraser said:


> he also used that old reel to reel as a pre-amp pretty much since the beginning with purple-


Good point fraser. I recall in a interview he went on how important that reel to reel was to his sound. In his words it somehow made the sound a little warmer. I have seen a few pics of him playing in concert and that reel to reel is in the background.


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## Spikezone

Man, one of my ALL TIME favourite albums!
-Mikey


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## Mooh

fraser said:


> he also used that old reel to reel as a pre-amp pretty much since the beginning with purple-


My first real amp (pun intended) was a Seabreeze tube reel-to-reel. That thing was amazing. (I actually had 2, one had been my Dad's and the other was my grandfathers, both from sometime in the '50s. They were in good shape last I saw them, in the late '70s.) I simply used the integral speaker and the extension speaker we had. I never had a guitar amp that could handle its output. In those days, we didn't really know what we were doing, we simply started wiring things up and plugging things in. Thank goodness for 1/4" jacks on everything. It's a wonder we didn't electrocute ourselves or burn the house down.

Peace, Mooh.


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## zontar

I heard Pictures of Home for the first time in a long time today.

I used to play a lot of Purple--especially from In Rock & Machine Head.

I loved Jon Lord's tone as well.
His playing has been an influence on mine.


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## mhammer

In the late 60's I was also using the mic pre-amp from a tube open-reel deck as my booster, and ran it into this amp ( http://www.fenderbronco.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/eel.jpg.w300h222.jpg ) which was one of the Pine or Lifco amps sold under the "Symphonic" name. The pre-amp to amp tone was amazing. My bandmates nicknamed it "the monster", largely because the tape deck was almost as big as the combo amp.

Much like Blackmore, my tone was highly compressed, with super long sustain and very warm tone. I didn't find out he was doing it too until several decades later. Th secret is not so much the tubes, but rather the fact that the mic pre-amp is expecting an input signal somewhere under 20mv or so, and the gain structure anticipates that. A guitar pickup will easily overload that.


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## AlcolmX

This is awesome! I'd never heard of using a reel-to-reel as a pre-amp before this thread. I've got an old Fujiya reel-to-reel that I'm gonna mess around with... unfortunately it's only got an 1/8" external speaker out and is missing the AC cord, so I'll have to sort that out first.


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## mhammer

It,s not the fact that it is a reel-to-reel. It's the tube-based mic preamp that the deck may or may not contain.


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## nonreverb

Being possibly one of the more fanatical Blackmore heads, I've done considerable investigating regarding his gear. He did indeed use an AC30 in his early Deep Purple years and I've read that he actually kept using his favorite AC30 well into the '70's. Apparently one of those 4X12 cabs was hollowed out and his AC30 was installed instead! If you look at any early Deep Purple live stuff on Youtube, you can spot his AC30 in a couple of them.


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## Nemo

I was (and still am) a big fan of the tone he got in DP Mk I. I couldn't figure out how he got that tone using a Strat into Marshalls. Then I saw this video and it became clear(er):

[video=youtube;qOrUR54HKwA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOrUR54HKwA[/video]

(Groovy threads, eh? :rockon2

He still used a 335 live in Mk II playing Wring That Neck.


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## bolero

here's the original version of that tune....written by Joe South & recorded by Billy Joe Royal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoJP65nAMGA&feature=fvw


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## bolero

wow...and here's the REAL original version lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPKxVUA0JR0


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## mc2NY

A number of year ago (80s,) Blackmore sent his guitar tech over to audition for my band when we were looking for a new guitar player (our guy had left and replaced Steve Morse when he went solo...the remaining Dixie Dregs rhythm section formed a new band.)

Anyway, Ritchie was living on Long Island at the time and used to stop into a club where we played on occasion and were friends with the owner. Apparently, he thought enough of us to send over his guitar tech, who was a decent player himself. This was also the saem club where Deep Purple first met to discuss the reunion in the 80s. Billy Joel would also show up to jam on occasion, etc. Cool club.

So...Richie's tech comes over our place to audition with a guitar Richie loaned him AND.....a small black amp about the size of one of thse portable Pignose Amps that had purple wax melted all over the top and down the front from candles that had been burned on top of it. The guitar player said "Richie said this is the amp that he recorded all of Machine Head with."

I though it was incredibly cool at the time that Blackmore thought enough of us to personally send over this guy to audition and loan him his own gear to do it with. Somewhere I have an old recording of the audition because we taped everyone to listen to them later to decide who we wanted. We didn't take this guy only because his high harmony vocal abilities were not strong enough for what we needed. He was a good guitarist though.

Wish I could recall the name or model of that iittle amp. I remember being blow away at how great that little thing sounded.


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## jimihendrix

here's a quote from a richie blackmore interview...

"- I wanted a sound like a Vox, my AC30, which was perfect. But it wasn't politically correct, it wasn't a Marshall, so they tried everything. And you know what they did in the end, after six weeks of trying to copy it? They put the Vox in a Marshall cabinet... And I used to use that on stage, in the combo amp - it looked like a Marshall, but it was a Vox."

the interview is found here...

Ritchie Blackmore interview

so there you have it...he used a vox ac30 hidden in a marshall cab...


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## torndownunit

There are very few Strat tones I dig, but his is one of them. I have never been able to wring that kinda tone out of a Strat. It is the definitions of 'ballsy'.



> This is awesome! I'd never heard of using a reel-to-reel as a pre-amp before this thread. I've got an old Fujiya reel-to-reel that I'm gonna mess around with... unfortunately it's only got an 1/8" external speaker out and is missing the AC cord, so I'll have to sort that out first.


You should read the current article on Them Crooked Vultures in Guitar World and read some of the crazy stuff Josh Homme uses.


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## bluesmostly

Interesting stuff guys, I Really love Ritchie's playing and I always thought his tone was unique and very cool. One of my fav guitar tones of all time is the one he had on Live in Japan. 
Anyone know what he was using for that gig?

cool story mc2NY!


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## 6silvermoonbeams

mc2NY said:


> A number of year ago (80s,) Blackmore sent his guitar tech over to audition for my band when we were looking for a new guitar player (our guy had left and replaced Steve Morse when he went solo...the remaining Dixie Dregs rhythm section formed a new band.)
> 
> Anyway, Ritchie was living on Long Island at the time and used to stop into a club where we played on occasion and were friends with the owner. Apparently, he thought enough of us to send over his guitar tech, who was a decent player himself. This was also the saem club where Deep Purple first met to discuss the reunion in the 80s. Billy Joel would also show up to jam on occasion, etc. Cool club.
> 
> So...Richie's tech comes over our place to audition with a guitar Richie loaned him AND.....a small black amp about the size of one of thse portable Pignose Amps that had purple wax melted all over the top and down the front from candles that had been burned on top of it. The guitar player said "Richie said this is the amp that he recorded all of Machine Head with."
> 
> I though it was incredibly cool at the time that Blackmore thought enough of us to personally send over this guy to audition and loan him his own gear to do it with. Somewhere I have an old recording of the audition because we taped everyone to listen to them later to decide who we wanted. We didn't take this guy only because his high harmony vocal abilities were not strong enough for what we needed. He was a good guitarist though.
> 
> Wish I could recall the name or model of that iittle amp. I remember being blow away at how great that little thing sounded.


I have it on very good authority (a friend of Ritchie Blackmore's, Stuart Smith, who has a youtube channel - see Heaven & Earth) that Blackmore used a Mike Matthews Freedom amp on Machine Head (battery operated) but no idea if he's just being mischievous (like his good friend, Mr B). Reading your post now, it's entirely plausible!


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## knight_yyz

Isn;t he the one that took something out of reel to reel tape recorder and turned it into a boost? Pretty sure that's a major part of his sound regardless of the amp


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## 6silvermoonbeams

knight_yyz said:


> Isn;t he the one that took something out of reel to reel tape recorder and turned it into a boost? Pretty sure that's a major part of his sound regardless of the amp


Not back in Machine Head days, I don't think. If you listen to that album, it's amazing to think that his 'fat' Strat sound is coming from a little solid state Mike Matthews Freedom amp. 1971: Mike Matthews Freedom Amp - Electro-Harmonix


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