Jimi Hendrix

According to a Christies auction, Jimi Hendrix used a 1966 Marshall Super Lead 100 Watt amplifier head in several concerts from 1967 to 1969.

According to the auction, here are some of the details of the amp head: "...Serial No. 7026, with black covering, front with white plastic Marshall logo, plexiglas control panel with six rotary controls, four inputs, two switches and indicator light, with white stencil lettering J.H.EXP. on the top in two places..."

"...this was likely to be one of the first Marshall amps that Hendrix ever owned and could have been one of three Marshall amps purchased by the Jimi Hendrix Experience on 11 October, 1966."

Marshall have used this amp as a template for their production of a limited edition handwired Jimi Hendrix Signature Super 100JH head.

Jimi acquired new Fender Dual Showman amps in 1968. He would typically use three of these 100 watt amps with cabinets containing two 15-inch J.B.Lansing speakers. These amps were used in the studio, and on the 1968 Experience tour, together with Marshalls and Sunn. Source Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy by Harry Shapiro.

In this photo Hendrix can be seen playing through a Sunn 100s amplifier driving four Sunn 100s 2x15" cabinets. In 1968 Hendrix had agreed to a 5 year endorsement contract with Sunn amplifiers.

Hendrix can be seen here playing his Fender Princeton Reverb (68’ Silverface) which was listed on Reverb.

In this stage photo of Jimi Hendrix during his days as a sideman you can clearly see a non-descript 1x15 cabinet with no logo or visible controls to his left, partially off camera. It is certainly the Supro Thunderbolt bass amplifier he reputedly used during his time with Little Richard and the Isely Brothers. The thunderbolt has a very distinct look from the front, like a speaker cabinet without a head on top (the amp is loaded on the bottom of the cab with all 2 controls accessible from the rear, not a great design, but since it only sounds really good for guitar with volume and tone at 10 it probably didn't matter to JH). In the January 2003 issue of Vintage Guitar, Christopher Tackett closed his article on the vintage Thunderbolt with the following statement, "Jimi Hendrix owned a S6420 Thunderbolt, and Jimmy Page used Supro amps for recording much of the early Led Zeppelin material. Whether or not he used a Thunderbolt is unclear, but his playing on “Heartbreaker” sure sounds like one."

Jimi famously used Marshall JTM 45/100 heads. The 100 watt version of the JTM45. Specially the 1966 JTM 45/100.

"In 1967 Jimi started using a Sound City stack for concert performances, it comprised one 100 watt amplifier with two 4x12" speaker cabinets."

-from "Electric Gypsy" by Shapiro and Glebeek, 1992, p. 639

Used with Curtis Knight and the Squires, as is visible in this 1966 photo of Hendrix, as found on the "Jimi Hendrix Big Muff" page of Big Muff scholar Kit Rae's website.

Shown above - Jimmy James playing with Curtis Knight and the Squires at the Cheetah Club, New York City 1966. Note the Maestro Fuzztone pedal on the floor in front of the Fender Twin amp

HENDRIX USING AN AMPEG PORTAFLEX B-15 FLIP TOP ON DICK CAVETT

This pic shows Jimi Hendrix using a Ampeg B-15 with the Ronettes

This Amp was originally purchased from the Noel Redding auction at Bonhams in 1994. It has been additionally authenticated by Ted Owens. Per Noel it was owned by Jimi and used on recordings as well as live.

Jimi Hendrix can be heard using a Leslie Speaker 145 on the guitar and vocals in "Little Wing," as well as on the guitar in "Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)," the vocals in "Burning of the Midnight Lamp," and the guitar in "House Burning Down." This is supported by the recording provided by Legacy Recordings and available on YouTube, showcasing the distinctive rotary speaker effect.