Hendrix' amp settings
Carlginger
Can any of you Plexi Marshall fanatics take a guess at the way
Hendrix set his Marshalls?
Carl
Duncan Markley
carlg...@aol.com (Carlginger) wrote:
>Can any of you Plexi Marshall fanatics take a guess at the way
>Hendrix set his Marshalls?
Just a guess on my part, but I'd say he have to run them relatively flat.
I have a '67 Plexi 100 watt, and if you fiddle around with the treble
and presence, it's relatively easy to get a Strat to start squealing if
the head is cranked. (Not to mention that it tears your ears off with
high end)
Brian DenUyl
Carlginger wrote:
>
> Can any of you Plexi Marshall fanatics take a guess at the way
> Hendrix set his Marshalls?
>
I have always read that Jimi ran his amps full throttle and controled
his volume and tone from his guitar. I have a few pictures of Hendrix
playing live and indeed it does look like he has every knob set to 10.
-Brian
Carlginger
>Subject: Re: Hendrix' amp settings
>From: Brian DenUyl <den...@gvsu.edu>
>Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 09:02:17 -0400
>Message-id: <3417EB...@gvsu.edu>
I read that too, everything on 10, but with a fuzz face thru a dimed
Marshall, you'd probably get decapitated!
Carl
Jeff Vineburg
>I have always read that Jimi ran his amps full throttle and controled
>his volume and tone from his guitar. I have a few pictures of Hendrix
>playing live and indeed it does look like he has every knob set to 10.
Yeah, but those are right-handed knobs, and the Mexican women who were
doing the wiring at the time set them up backwards.
No, ok, it's not true, but it IS true on the new ones. Every new
lefty Fender I've tried has the pots wired so that ccw is full up.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff Vineburg !je...@op.net! Nuclear Fish !je...@nuclearfish.com!
http://www.op.net/~jeffv http://www.nuclearfish.com
lefty guitar info, musical humor song parodies, as heard on Stern show
Joe Cocker Spaniel's page
TheoSofia
If anyone can tell you then there full of shit. Hendrix rarly played the
same equipment twice . It wasn't till later in his carer that he actuely
owned a strat , he was always borrowing amps and gutars from people because
he couldn't afford any. 90% of the tone is in your hands, granted the right
tools help emencly. He did use a few pedals he modified himself too.
good luck,
Todd
kalen martin rodriguez
what exactly counts as "later in his career?" it would seem he owned the
strat he played at montery (which, especially for we americans, would
certainly seem to be early in his career) or else i seriously doubt he
would have burned and smashed it. i've seen plenty of stuff on film from
all stages of his "career" and they're always with a marshall, usually
with a strat (though i've seen him with V's, paul's, SG's, yadda yadda).
if you mean to say that he didn't own a strat till he got big, well shit,
sure he didn't, but does anyone know what the hell he sounded like before
he got "big?" hendrix was a huge star with plenty of money in his
day...saying that he borrowed stuff because he couldn't afford it is
ridiculous, unless again you're referring to that period before he got
"are you experienced" together, and really, before that, no one cares
what he sounded like or what amp settings he was using anyhows. (though
i've heard an old LP of him playing "land of 1000 dances" and cover stuff
that was just HORRIBLE, tone wise and musically in general). and roger
mayer modded jimi's pedals, not jimi. i'm sorry
to come off as an ass, it's just that what you're asserting makes no
sense at all. i do agree, though, most of the tone is in your hands, and
turning a plexi to ten playing a strat through a fuzzface still ain't
gonna get you there if ya can't get there on yer own. enough of me
kalen
Danny Russell
I've never met Hendrix, but from the massive amount written about his
playing career, I glean at least this much: His amplifier settings
tended to be of a "maximized" nature, meaning that while not having
everything dimed to 10, he did tend to set the amp controls so that with
the guitar volume rolled fully on, he could "blister", and by throttling
the guitar volume back he could "trot".
The high-frequency response and/or gain boost of the various effects he
attempted to incorporate into his live performance apparently played
havoc with his ability to decide where "normal" was, as evidenced by the
uncontrolable noise/feedback and occasional washed-out tone that
permeates a fair amount of the raw live-concert recorded material.
Sometimes he could "trip" with it, other times It is certain that it
totally pissed him off as it would anyone else.
Anyone that has ever tried to use a strat in conjunction with a 4 input
non-master Marshall has invariably come to the conclusion that the plexi
Superbass amps with only moderate brightness on the #1 channel, and lots
of negative feedback available at the presence control are the most
forgiving. Still, one would have to stand far enough ahead and a little
off to the side of the main blast in order to maintain control of string
and pickup feedback.
This was the magic of Hendrix. He did not seek out the combination that
was easy to use. He assembled the equipment that fought him back.
-Danny
John Q. Public
I heard he really cranked it up dudes!
deaco...@evangelical.com
Danny Russell wrote:
>
> I've never met Hendrix, but from the massive amount written about his
> playing career, I glean at least this much: His amplifier settings
> tended to be of a "maximized" nature, meaning that while not having
> everything dimed to 10, he did tend to set the amp controls so that with
> the guitar volume rolled fully on, he could "blister", and by throttling
> the guitar volume back he could "trot".
I *did* meet him (if you can call 5 seconds of small talk
"meeting") and I'm fairly sure his amps were always
maxed. In my opinion, much of his sound was predicated
on having a very loud and therefor live instrument in
order to create incredibly controlled feedback. With it, he
was able to play chords and lead lines simultaneously and
achieve a very full sound in live performance.
> This was the magic of Hendrix. He did not seek out the combination that
> was easy to use. He assembled the equipment that fought him back.
I think you're over-romanticizing here. He would have
loved to have had no hassle equipment, but he couldn't
find any that was roadworthy. In those days, tours often
traveled via commercial flights, including all of the gear
(without *any* flight cases!). They'd often get to a
destination and pick up their stuff at the luggage area only
to find amps with the insides hanging out and speaker
cabs with massive puncture damage. Probably 75% of the
poor performances you hear on the live bootlegs are due
to problems related to things that a proper guitar tech
(there weren't any in those days) would've sorted right
out. The magic of Hendrix was (IMHO) that he was able
to produce a gigantic new lexicon for the guitar in spite of
these problems.
Regards,
The Deacon
Danny Russell
deaco...@evangelical.com wrote:
>
> > This was the magic of Hendrix. He did not seek out the combination that
> > was easy to use. He assembled the equipment that fought him back.
>
> I think you're over-romanticizing here. He would have
> loved to have had no hassle equipment, but he couldn't
> find any that was roadworthy. In those days, tours often
> traveled via commercial flights, including all of the gear
> (without *any* flight cases!). They'd often get to a
> destination and pick up their stuff at the luggage area only
> to find amps with the insides hanging out and speaker
> cabs with massive puncture damage. Probably 75% of the
> poor performances you hear on the live bootlegs are due
> to problems related to things that a proper guitar tech
> (there weren't any in those days) would've sorted right
> out. The magic of Hendrix was (IMHO) that he was able
> to produce a gigantic new lexicon for the guitar in spite of
> these problems.
>
> Regards,
>
> The Deacon
I really hate when those damn airline baggage handlers take your guitar
out of it's case and thrust the headstock through the speakers! At
Value-Jet they knock your full-stack completely over, then light your
guitar on fire! The Bastards. Perhaps my statement is easily misread.
Allow me to expound: The combination of a strat and Marshall is a
difficult but rewarding one. It takes effort to play, and it wrestles
you back fiercely. The character (or lack of) of the player is more
greatly highlighted under this condition. It would have been possible
for Hendrix to assemble a "safer" combination as lots of bands had no
problem finding any roadworthyness in their gibson guitars or Fender
amps. Hendrix did not want, nor did he need training wheels. -Danny
PATG...@valise.com
In article
<19970914171...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
theo...@aol.com (TheoSofia) wrote:
>
> If anyone can tell you then there full of shit.
Hendrix rarly played the
> same equipment twice . It wasn't till later in his
carer that he actuely
> owned a strat , he was always borrowing amps and
gutars from people because
> he couldn't afford any. 90% of the tone is in your
hands, granted the right
> tools help emencly. He did use a few pedals he
modified himself too.
> good luck,
> Todd
the hendrix who we are all interested began his
career as we know it when he
was approached by Chas chandler .. flown to england
and made a star (sorry for
the simplification) from the beginning of this
period hendrix bought and paid
for much of his gear personally .. jim marshall and
others state categorically
that hendrix NEVER asked for or expected free gear..
hendrix was probably one
of the first guitar collectors .. a habit which was
probabably a reaction to
the intense poverty he experience in new york before
he was famous. "HENDRIX"
did not exist at that period he called himself jimmy
james. hendrix did not
create his own effects pedals .. he surrounded
himself with talented and
creative people (roger mayer ect) who took care of
details ..
amp settings? while hendrix is infamous for playing
at loud stage volumes it is
not nescessary that he play that loud in the
studio... let me put this in
perspective .. in the late 60's anyone who allowed
their amp to distort was
considered too loud .. yet in reality hendrix played
massive stadiums and
arenas with one or two 100 watt stacks .. the guitar
did not go thru the pa
for the most part back then while the sound would
have been deafaning up
close that is still not a lot of power compared to
todays massive p a setups
while it is clear that hendrix set new precedents
for use of volume by a guitar
player it is not clear that the amp on ten bit is
the way he always did it .
conversely i have video of hendrix playing berkley?
where he clearly steps back
to his amps and runs his hand along the controls
putting them all on 10. acts
like this brought howls of feedback from the amps
and were part of his then
showmanship Jimi reveled in any kind onstage of
behavior which would shock
people .. hendrix had no need to borrow gear
hendrix was almost emmediately a
wealthy man .. the early portions of his carreer in
england were well financed
by chas chandler who knew he had stellar raw tallent
on his hands and had the
connections and seed money from the band the animals
to make it all happen .
while there is no doubt that hendrix may have
borrowed others guitars at jams
or other informal occaisions.. it was also reported
that the white strat used
on the early singles was stolen by linda keith from
keith richards and gifted
to hendrix . these isolated instances of borrowing
guitars do not make a
carrer of borrowing.. all one needs to do to refute
the B S spouted by this ill
informed clown is to flip into a current issue of
guitar player and read the
advert showing a Manny's bill signed by hendrix
showing that he purchased
several guitars including an eppiphone and ernie
ball strings .. while hendrix
was no doubt one fo the most monstrous musicians
ever to pick up a guitar it is
silly to drool over his "tone secrets" and
mythylogical semi godlike status ..
hendrix had a great ear and was easily able to
master the most trivial or
complex pieces of gear to achieve a great tone. many
of the primative effects
boxes and amps he used sound like ka ka in the less
talented hands of his
contemporaries listen to many of the pathetic
attemps by bands to use fuzz to
sound hip .. hendrix used fuzz to create orchestral
soundscapes .. hendrix
also was a master of the pop song as many of his
compositions are now fully
appreciated for their compositional and lyrical
brilliance ..
I never met hendrix as indeed most have not .. lets
not go off spouting at the
mouth uninformed .. mitch mitchel eddie kramer and
others closely involved in
the stories have written the best books on the
subject and i refer all those
who want to turn their 2 cents worth of opinion into
blind hero worship to
those books ..
pleese stop making up CRAP CRAP CRAP about hendrix
he was after all
a human
who happend to play pretty good guitar
who happended to die before he had made a bad or
boring album.
and used gear that anyone else in his circle could
have used
and gear such as strats and marshall amps which have
been used ever since to
make great albums
pat gtrfrk
todd pleese let us know where you obtain your
folklore
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PATG...@valise.com
In article
<19970910174...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
carlg...@aol.com (Carlginger) wrote:
>
> Can any of you Plexi Marshall fanatics take a
guess at the way
> Hendrix set his Marshalls?
>
> Carl
hendrix carrer spanned 66-70 during this time
marshalls changed considerably ..
anyone who has looked at a lot of plexi's will note
that they were in a
constant stae of development. they went from early
versions which were most
like jtm 45's ( apparently on his first tours
/recordings he used 50 watt heads
) then super leads till the end .hendrix' roadgear
was in a constant stae of
evolution as newer stacks replaced those which blew
up with common frequency.
marshall was apparently constantly pushing their amp
development to withstand
his abuse. the earliest recordings sound like jtm
45's and are either that amps
or the closely related 45/100 as used by cream ..
this is a rare marshall
closer to jtm 45 spec's than later marshalls..
hendrix was far too practical a
guitar player to set his amp one particular way...
although i have a video of
JH at brekley walking up to his amps and running his
hand across the controls
to create visual and sonic impact of amp on 10 he
was famous for .. when dimed
and pumped with a fuzz face or better distortion
pedal(octaivia comes to mind )
the amp achieves that highly desirable exploding amp
tone hendrix did best .
please don't think that hendrix had a magic setting
as he explored the outer
limits too regularly to be accused of treating his
gear uncreatively. hendrix
also is reputed to have not relied exclusively on
marshalls in the studio
though what he actually used is not well published
.. apparently he owned a
supro single 15? amp that is related to the one
coveted bt jimmy page and
eddie kramer states that hendrix recorded with a
"twin" in new york city ..
also in hendrix' later live set ups you can clearly
see showmans and other amps
serving some purpose ??
most likely hendrix was not bound by convention and
varied his set ups
accordingly
pat
Carlginger
>although i have a video of
>JH at brekley walking up to his amps and running his
>hand across the controls
>to create visual and sonic impact of amp on 10 he
>was famous for ..
I must have watched "Berkeley" a million times, I never saw that.
I'll have to give a close look.
Carl
TimTube
>all one needs to do to refute
>the B S spouted by this ill
>informed clown is to flip into a current issue of
>guitar player and read the
>advert showing a Manny's bill signed by hendrix
>showing that he purchased
>several guitars including an eppiphone and ernie
>ball strings ..
An incredibly huge amount snipped.>>>>>
I found it interesting on that ad that there is a very expensive Les Paul
amp, which at that time was probably a solid state amp... Also on some
earlier ramblings you suggest that Hendrix used Showman setups later in his
career...I would consider Monterey to be early in his career.
Tim
A great amp can make a lousy guitar sound great.
A lousy amp will make a great guitar sound lousy.
Highcoyote
"...Hendrix, he was after all a human, who happened to play pretty good
guitar..."
is like saying...
Liszt was human and happened to play pretty good piano...
Ravel was human and happened to play pretty good piano...
Louis Armstrong was human and happened to play pretty good trumpet...
Duke Ellington was human and happened to play pretty good piano...
Charlie Parker was human and happened to play pretty good sax...
Coltrane was human and happened...
Miles was...
etc...
Hendrix was human (we think ;)) but he was a seminal musical figure.
While I agree with most of your post, I think it doesn't do any good not to
acknowledge that the guitar and indeed popular music (including Jazz, rock,
blues, etc.) was never the same after Hendrix.
deaco...@evangelical.com
> Hendrix was human (we think ;)) but he was a seminal musical figure.
> While I agree with most of your post, I think it doesn't do any good not to
> acknowledge that the guitar and indeed popular music (including Jazz, rock,
> blues, etc.) was never the same after Hendrix.
That's for sure. I doubt that anyone under 45 or so can really appreciate the
transition that was made from pre to post Hendrix. Literally *every* hot shot
guitarist who caught his act was cast into a deep depression and more than one of
them put their axe in its case and never opened it again. I personally introduced
dozens of players to his first album and the same profound shock overcame all of
them. When they were finally able to speak, it would invariably be to say "That's
not possible.....it's just not possible!".
Hendrix single-handedly moved the boundaries of music, but that perspective is
being lost somewhat. After all, guitarists today can do a slow speed analysis of
his riffs or try to copy his control of feedback, virtually adopting the musical
language that he developed. However it'll take a hellova virtuoso to push the
level of playing by an order of magnitude like he did. Anybody out there willing to
step up to the plate and give it a try?............Anybody?
The Deacon
PATG...@valise.com
In article
<19970918001...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
tim...@aol.com (TimTube) wrote:
>
> In article <8744736...@dejanews.com>,
PATG...@VALISE.COM writes:
>
> >all one needs to do to refute
> >the B S spouted by this ill
> >informed clown is to flip into a current issue of
> >guitar player and read the
> >advert showing a Manny's bill signed by hendrix
> >showing that he purchased
> >several guitars including an eppiphone and ernie
> >ball strings ..
>
> An incredibly huge amount snipped.>>>>>
>
> I found it interesting on that ad that there is a
very expensive Les Paul
> amp, which at that time was probably a solid state
amp... Also on some
> earlier ramblings you suggest that Hendrix used
Showman setups later in his
> career...I would consider Monterey to be early in
his career.
>
> Tim
a quick look at a couple of photos demonstrates
that hendrix had showman
amps present at many of his US gigs.
photos from "inside the experience" Mitch mitchell
p121 hollywood bowl sep 68(side view 4 heads on drum
riser)
p139 newport cal. june 69
p 117 hollywood bowl sep 68 (front angle 2 heads )
p 52,56 monterey june 67
what purpose these units served is unknown to me
at the bowl hendrix had total 6 showman heads
turned on and plugged in!!
James Andrews
deaco...@evangelical.com wrote:
: That's for sure. I doubt that anyone under 45 or so can really appreciate the
Not to totally disagree with you, but I think that it sure is possible
that those of us under 45 can appreciate it.
: Hendrix single-handedly moved the boundaries of music, but that perspective is
: being lost somewhat. After all, guitarists today can do a slow speed analysis of
: his riffs or try to copy his control of feedback, virtually adopting the musical
: language that he developed. However it'll take a hellova virtuoso to push the
: level of playing by an order of magnitude like he did. Anybody out there willing to
: step up to the plate and give it a try?............Anybody?
Not a hack like me, thank you very much.
Jas.
----------------------
James Andrews
Philadelphia, PA
Remove the XX
Harvey Gerst
PATG...@VALISE.COM wrote:
>In article
><19970914171...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
> theo...@aol.com (TheoSofia) wrote:
>>
>> If anyone can tell you then there full of shit.
>Hendrix rarly played the
>> same equipment twice . It wasn't till later in his
>carer that he actuely
>> owned a strat , he was always borrowing amps and
>gutars from people because
>> he couldn't afford any. 90% of the tone is in your
>hands, granted the right
>> tools help emencly. He did use a few pedals he
>modified himself too.
>> Todd
>todd does not have a clue or a half clue
<snip>
>amp settings? while hendrix is infamous for playing
>at loud stage volumes, it is not nescessary that
>he play that loud in the studio...
The one time I was in the studio with Jimi, he wasn't *that* loud, and I don't
remember him maxing out any controls on the amp. He was, in fact, constantly
adjusting his settings till he found what worked for the song.
Harvey Gerst
Indian Trail Recording Studio
http://ITRstudio.com/