Ronnie Montrose

$90.00 Garage sale find 3x10 Bandmaster for the first "MONTROSE" album. Ran "Flat out" (full Volume) with Les Paul straight in.

In the YouTube video titled "Ronnie Montrose - Town Without Pity - 4/3/1978 - New York City (Official)" by Wolfgang's Hard Rock, Ronnie Montrose is seen using a 1970s Lab Series L11 guitar amplifier head.

Auctioned in 2013 via Julien's.

Ronnie Montrose's Gallien-Krueger amplifier, model 112CL, with a Celestion G12-80 12-inch speaker. This amp was used with the 1965 red Fender stratocaster on the albums Gamma 1 and Gamma 2.

19 1/2 by 18 by 9 inches

PROVENANCE From the Collection of Ronnie Montrose

Developed in collaboration with Montrose. He mentions it in this January 1995 Vintage Guitar interview.

I’ve also been doing design and consulting work with Big Industries on an amp they’ve built. It runs on a nine-volt battery and it looks like a work of art. It weighs about ten pounds and has a six-inch speaker. It sounds really great and it’s loud. It’s called the Ronnie Montrose Signature model. So I’m keeping busy and still having a good time.

How about your amp?

My amp of choice for the past 15 years has been the Bogner Shiva—it’s my favorite amp on the planet. But if I have to fly to a gig, it’s more practical to have a rental company bring an amp to the venue. The typical choice is a Marshall JCM 900, and while I can still sound like Ronnie Montrose with that amp, it doesn’t give me that same, singing “Ronnie Tone” that I get with my Shivas. So I always take along a Foxrox Captain Coconut 2 pedal to help out the tone. It’s an absolutely amazing pedal—a 3-in-1 device with the most perfect octave driver and phaser/ flanger sounds. It also has a distortion, but I never use it—I just turn the distortion down to zero, and use that part of the pedal as a mute so I can tune my guitar. I’m also a huge fan of the Rocktron Intelliverb. It’s my favorite device ever—so intuitive and easy to use. And I’ve just discovered the Eventide TimeFactor pedal, and I absolutely love it! It’s perfect for the Gamma songs I’m doing on this tour.

Auctioned via Julien's in 2013.

Ronnie Montrose's Mesa Boogie 20/20 DynaWatt EL84 all tube stereo power amp with a black nylon case. Serial number 55-04079.

21 1/2 by 17 by 6 inches

PROVENANCE From the Collection of Ronnie Montrose

Montrose owned a 1958 tweed Champ, which he claimed was rated at fifteen watts, during the time of the first two Montrose albums. It is attested by Mark Cameron (formerly of Bogner) and Gary “Mick” Lazer, the latter having traded Montrose himself for the amp shortly after Paper Money was recorded.

Metropoulos Amplification Forum, August 21, 2008 reply by MarkCameron on “Montrose” by Mr. Beasty (February 25, 2008)

Ronnie came into Bogner sometimes..I asked him what he used on this....and Its a 3x10 Bandmaster....the thing is ..........he found it at a garage sale the day before he whent in to record :lol: ..bought it for almost nothing and used it as is.. he said. Also I think a regular Champ on 10 for some stuff..Ted Nugent did this too

WoodyTone, March 8, 2012 comment by Mick Lazer on “Ronnie Montrose’s ‘Rock Candy’ Tone…” (February 17, 2010)

The Fender combo amp, in the video recorded at the record plant for the paper money session in Sausalito; was a Fender Princeton, which I traded Ronnie some Marshall equipment for, right after those sessions. It was modified by Ronnie himself, and had a 12″ JBL D120 and a Bassman transformer, so it was pretty loud. It sounded great! this amplifier was stolen from me in 1980 and yes, I still want it back after all these years. It is stenciled #2 Montose on the back of the amplifier. I continue to offer a $500 dollar reward for information that leads to its return.

Gary “Mick” Lazer

WoodyTone, March 20, 2012 comment by Mick Lazer on “Ronnie Montrose’s ‘Rock Candy’ Tone…” (February 17, 2010)

Ronnie owned 2 small amps at the time that he recorded the first album. He owned the modified blackface Princeton that I mentioned on the earlier post, and also a mint 1958 tweed Champ with an 8″ JBL speaker. The tweed Champ was part of the trade for the Marshall equipment. I still own the 8″ JBL, but stupidly traded off the Champ for some recording equipment and a new Rockman amplifier. If he found the bandmaster, it was after our trade. He may have used either small amp or both for recording. The Champ was the small amplifier that Sammy Hagar mentioned plugging into in his book while auditioning in Ronnie’s small Sausalito living room. The Princeton would have been way too loud to sing over. Ronnie claimed that the Champ was now putting out 15 watts, so he may have modified it in some way. We didn’t get into that, at the time of the trade. I had no reason to doubt that. It was plenty loud.

In a couple of comments on the February 17, 2010 WoodyTone article “Ronnie Montrose’s ‘Rock Candy’ Tone…”, Gary “Mick” Lazer shares that he traded Montrose himself for a modified blackface Fender Princeton shortly after Paper Money was recorded. Lazer even identifies the amp in a 1974 video of Montrose performing “I Got the Fire” in the studio (it first appears at 0:22).

WoodyTone, March 8, 2012 comment by Mick Lazer on “Ronnie Montrose’s ‘Rock Candy’ Tone…” (February 17, 2010)

The Fender combo amp, in the video recorded at the record plant for the paper money session in Sausalito; was a Fender Princeton, which I traded Ronnie some Marshall equipment for, right after those sessions. It was modified by Ronnie himself, and had a 12″ JBL D120 and a Bassman transformer, so it was pretty loud. It sounded great! this amplifier was stolen from me in 1980 and yes, I still want it back after all these years. It is stenciled #2 Montose on the back of the amplifier. I continue to offer a $500 dollar reward for information that leads to its return.

Gary “Mick” Lazer

WoodyTone, March 20, 2012 comment by Mick Lazer on “Ronnie Montrose’s ‘Rock Candy’ Tone…” (February 17, 2010)

Ronnie owned 2 small amps at the time that he recorded the first album. He owned the modified blackface Princeton that I mentioned on the earlier post, and also a mint 1958 tweed Champ with an 8″ JBL speaker. The tweed Champ was part of the trade for the Marshall equipment. I still own the 8″ JBL, but stupidly traded off the Champ for some recording equipment and a new Rockman amplifier. If he found the bandmaster, it was after our trade. He may have used either small amp or both for recording. The Champ was the small amplifier that Sammy Hagar mentioned plugging into in his book while auditioning in Ronnie’s small Sausalito living room. The Princeton would have been way too loud to sing over. Ronnie claimed that the Champ was now putting out 15 watts, so he may have modified it in some way. We didn’t get into that, at the time of the trade. I had no reason to doubt that. It was plenty loud.

Montrose briefly mentions using a blackface Super Champ for his slide guitar in this August 1997 interview with John “Wedge” Wardlaw, after Wardlaw inquires about his amps at 30:14. Stray, discordant forum comments online indicate that, in a magazine interview from the 1980s, Montrose shared that he used a Super Champ when recording.

August 1997 interview with John “Wedge” Wardlaw (@ 30:14) (abridged transcription here)

Wardlaw: Is there any particular amplifier that gives you a sound that you like more than others?

Montrose: The two amps that I use the most that I keep coming back to are my Mesa Boogie Maverick and my Black-Face Fender Super Champ, I use that for slide guitar. I can't seem to get that tone anywhere else.

Testimonies indicating a source from a 1980s magazine interview:

Metropoulos Amplification Forum, February 25, 2008 reply by nitro

This was talked about before,ronnie montrose was a bandmaster nut,he liked strats and les pauls also paf pickups,ronnie likes the duncan 59 as we speak,templeman-landee produced and engineered the album,it was recorded at warner bros.studio and sunset sound,i also heard that a fender super champ was used for some of the guitar tracks(but not sure)

Metropoulos Amplification Forum, February 25, 2008 reply by Gainfreak

I thought the fender Super champ didnt come out until the 80's so I doubt it was used.

Marshall Forum, May 1, 2014 reply by pittbull (reliant on nitro)

As some of you might know Templeman/Landee also engineered the Montrose sound, Ronnie(RIP)used a cranked Fender Super champ to achieve that sound.

Hamer Fan Club, February 4, 2017 reply by Dave Scepter

Montrose... my favorite guitarist! :D Bogner Shiva and he also used a fender bandmaster 3x10 for rock candy... also Fender Champs as well... he & George Lynch was the main reason I bought my Fender Super Champ back in the early 80's

http://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/1139/ronnie-montrose/21663 [dead link, contents unknown]

Telecaster Discussion Page Reissue, June 17, 2017 reply by okgb on “Super Champ 1983 - Optimizing” by Bendyha (March 29, 2014)

Thank you for a considerate reply , I started chasing one after I read Montrose said he used one cranked on some of his later solo things

Telecaster Discussion Page Reissue, April 1, 2022 reply by okgb

Btw Another thread could be " what drew you to the Super Champ? " for me I read a Ronnie Montrose article where he said he used one and simply cranked it up [ post Gama solo albums ? ] I loved the compression & sustain he got, who knows what else was going on.

In a vintage promotional advertisement for the album "Open Fire," guitarist Ronnie Montrose is depicted using the Lab Series L5 guitar amplifier, as evidenced by the image provided.