elie_winston_michnik's Reviews

I think John had a fawn 15 very briefly, but I'm not sure if it made it on any recordings apart from the 1st single or 2. Also, a C1 is a lot more like a little ac30 whereas john's 15 had no tone controls and was generally a dirty mofo like a tweed deluxe. But evenon the ac30 tip, the Beatles graduated to ac50s before the 50 was even in production and that is a much different amp than a 15 or a 30 having tons of stiff, clean (for the era) power in the marshall/hiwatt style and a very low gain preamp voiced to be brighter than a stock 30TB, more like the rare AC30T from the 61/62 period.... if I recall correctly the prototype 50s conclusively took over in the studio on Beatles for Sale (though I think paul had a foundation bass rig until it broke down and then he got a prototype ac100 from dick denny). On With the Beatles it sounds like ac50s to me and there's some disagreement between the vox folks like Denny and the Beatle's crew like Mal Evans as to what tour and recording session saw the switch to the ac50 head and cab setup. To my ear as a vox collector I can only hear 30s on the 1st album and singles of that period (and I cant pick out a 15 on hardly any of their recordings, certainly nothing after "I want to hold your hand") -- if you hear Beatles from your amp, great, but as the owner of a legit '62 with the rear top-boost add on just like the one given to George after the vox deal I can say that amp is not very beatles though it sounds fabuous. You would be surrised, around thetime of hard days night and help theys tarted getting free fender amps for studio use only and I can tellyou having owned an early dual showman like George and John got from fender that it did a lot of beatles sounds. I think the most recorded beatles amp for guitar is actually Paul's 6G6 blonde bassman, a really unique amp that is mediocre for bass but great for guitar just like its tweed predecessor. The blondie is miced up in every picture you find of abbey road after the for sale sessions. around this time Paul got some selmer guitar amps too and they can be ehard allover the recordings made between about 64 and 66. They have a unique sound, neither vox nor marshall. If you are a psycho beatlemaniac and haven't read them already check out andy babiuk's books on beatles gear and instruments, they are 'fab'.

I am not suggesting you dump your vox as its a fine entry level british amp with a good sound, just saying, the ebatles weren't slavishly devoted to vox amps despite the endorsement deal, and evne within vox they hardly used the 15 and 30, mainly 50s, 100s, UL hybrid amps on revolver and a little solid state for the fuzz parts on sgt pepper and mystery tour. the backbone of their recorded sound wasn't even vox after the gratis fenders started rolling in! And when it was vox it was the 50 and 100 rigs that have very little in common with a 30 and even less in common with a period correct 15. Voxes are mystery in and of themselves worthy of study! For instance, I don't think there was ever an ac15 with a full set of tone controls (top boost) until the 90s....

wow, why did I type all of this? procrastinating putting the x-mas tree up

hehe