Ritchie Blackmore

Yet we also know that Blackmore was fond of Vox AC30 amps for their warm, natural, and dirty tone. In some interviews he alludes to using Vox guts hidden in a Marshall housing then slaving it to the big Marshall head, in effect using a AC30 to preamp the Major.

In this photo, Ritchie Blackmore can be seen playing through a Marshall Major Amp Head.

"I use Picato strings. I’ve always used them. They’re the best – Eric Clapton turned me on to them. He’s now using Fender – I don’t know why. Why Ernie Ball has the monopoly on strings I’ll never know. The gauges I use are .010, .011, .014, .026, .036 and .042." - Ritchie Blackmore.

Effects he used from 1970 to 1997, besides his usual tape echo, included a Hornby Skewes treble booster in the early days. Around late-1973, he experimented with an EMS Synthi Hi Fli guitar synthesizer. He sometimes used a wah-wah pedal and a variable control treble-booster for sustain, and Moog Taurus bass pedals were used in solo parts during concerts. He also had a modified Aiwa TP-1011 tape machine built to supply echo and delay effects; the tape deck was also used as a pre-amp. Other effects that Blackmore used were a Uni-Vibe, a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face and an Octave Divider.

In this video at 0:38s Blackmore can be seen in his sound room as he shows us his signature Stratocaster.

In this source, you can see a picture and a video of him using it during a jam and a little bit of early rainbow.

Ritchie can be seen playing a Gibson ES-335 in this live performance of Deep Purple.

Ritchie Blackmore utilized the Schulte Compact Phaser extensively on the "Live Rock 'n' Roll" album, showcasing his mastery of the Stratocaster. This is detailed in the Ritchie Blackmore Zone on Treblebooster.

As you can see at musicicansfriend.com the Engl R. Blackmore Signature E650 is his official singature amplifier.

In a promotional photo for Fender, Ritchie Blackmore is pictured with a Fender Lead I Electric Guitar.

Ritchie Blackmore played a 1970 Fender Stratocaster in Sunburst with a Maple fretboard during Deep Purple's 1973 concert in New York, as seen in the full concert video on YouTube. He also used this model in 1977 with Rainbow in München. Known for its beautiful clean tone, this guitar pairs exceptionally well with the distortion from Marshall amps.

This information is from "The Guitar Man featuring RB's Guitars" published by Shinko Music in Japan. This book contains pictures of guitars equipped with the F500T. Introduced as a comment by John “Dawk” Stillwell, who has been in charge of Ritchie's equipment maintenance since around 1975. The F500T was installed in the 1974 Stratocaster, and seems to have been used from around 1979 (Rainbow "DOWN TO EARTH") to 1985 (Deep Purple "PERFECT STRANGERS"). Also, in the "Source", the F500T was introduced in the 1979 article.

In this live footage of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow on the "Shadow of the Moon" tour in Yokohama Japan '97, Blackmore can be seen playing a Black Single Pickup Custom Jazz Telecaster.

In this photo, you can see Ritchie Blackmore with this guitar.

Fairly early in the article Ritchie Blackmore gets the question What kind of guitar were you playing once you began playing in bands?. Blackmore explains that he together with a Höfner Club 50 he also got an Watkins Dominator amplifier.

and I also got a Watkins Dominator amplifier.

"...In fact this Strat changed electrics a couple of times but followed Ritchie into the 3rd Millennium. In 1990 the axe gets a Roland GK-1 guitar synthesizer build in, the Velvet Hammer pickups stayed until 1995. The bridge and neck position were swapped for white Lace sensor “Gold”, which were recoated black. In 1999 the guitar got white Lace Sensors and white knobs. ..."

Ritchie Blackmore is shown with the Fender Ritchie Blackmore Signature Set-Neck Stratocaster in a user-uploaded photo on Schidakov.

Fairly early in the article Ritchie Blackmore starts to talk about the guitars he owned in his earlier days.

Under the heading What kind of guitar were you playing once you began playing in bands?, Blackmore says:

...and then I got a Höfner Club 50 when I was about 15 or 16

https://www.google.se/search?biw=1920&bih=938&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=R_mpW9uFL4L7swHB24mAAQ&q=Ritchie+Blackmore+H%C3%B6fner+Club+50&oq=Ritchie+Blackmore+H%C3%B6fner+Club+50&gs_l=img.3...1373873.1376380.0.1376833.4.4.0.0.0.0.44.158.4.4.0....0...1c.1.64.img..0.0.0....0.M_NjX5WjC9E#imgrc=KV3uaQyNtcV_fM:

These pickups are found in Blackmore's signature model of Fender Stratocaster with one in the neck, a reverse-wound version in the bridge and a non-functioning dummy-pickup in the middle (as Blackmore would only use the neck or bridge positions and would disconnect the middle position).

He still used his old and trusty AIWA, but because of mechanical problems in 1992 only as a booster. Since 1992 the typical Blackmore 2/3 sec. echo came from a big Yamaha digital delay. He used this 19" rack-mounted Yamaha delay for his last Deep Purple studio recordings (“The Battle rages on ...” from early 1993) as well as for the last live album “Come hell or high water” from late 1993 and on all his later recordings

In this advertisment for Fender, Blackmore can be seen holding a Fender 25th Anniversary Stratocaster.

Blackmore can be seen in this photo playing a Fylde Touchstone Mandola.

Blackmore can be seen playing a red Fender Musicmaster Bass.

In this video we can see Ritchie Blackmore using his Gibson ES-335 in a cherry finish.

Blackmore has been widely noted as one of the early users of the scalloped fretboard, eventually inspiring guitarists like Yngwie Malmsteen to pick up the same idea, further popularizing it in the 1980's.

At the beginning of 1971 a new 71´s sunburst Strat showed up, sporting a four-bolt maple neck with skunk stripe, two-piece steel tremolo, stock pickups and electrics. Like on his old black Strat the tremolo was as well customized to his specification: a heavy custom-made tremolo arm made of steel was fitted and a bigger hole had to be drilled into the steel block to hold the fatter arm. The lacquer of the fretboard was peeled off right from the start. This is the reason why the fretboard looked darkened after only a short time, but the frets stayed untouched. It is possible that Ritchie already tried a rudimentary type of scalloping here. The legendary “Beat Club” session from September 1971 was recorded with this sunburst Strat. The new 71 Strat had a more airy and pearly attack, something that Ritchie really liked and fell in love with more and more. It was used in parallel to his old black one during 1971. In late 1972, this sunburst axe was rather damaged at its headstock. He played this sunburst Strat until early 1973 than smashed it. Blackmore himself said that he played scalloped fretboards since about 1971.

''Blackmore used the Sola Sound Tone Bender pedal for recording and touring during his first couple of years in Deep Purple. You can hear this pedal throughout the first three Deep Purple albums. Sola Sound Professional MK II Tone Bender was first designed in 1964 and it was based on the Gibson Maestro Fuzz-Tone.''

In this 40 Second clip from January 31, 2023, Ritchie can be seen playing a Gretch D.E. signature hollowbody guitar, gifted to him from childhood hero Duane Eddy. Ritchie states:

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Duane! my all-time first-hero, when I was eleven, twelve, thirteen, I would often go to see him play, and everytime I did, I would miss him. So as I missed him, as a present he gave me this guitar. This is his model, fantstic, Duane Eddy Gretsch guitar, and thank you, thank you, thank you, Duane for this fantastic present."

Since the 1970's, Blackmore has used an unusually Squared shape of plectrum, originally cutting Fender Tortoiseshell Extra Heavies into the Rectangle shape he uses today, claiming he didn't like the standard, rounded-off shape, later he had picks custom-made by brands such as PickBoy, with some models interestingly being branded with his name on one side, and "This Is My F***ing Pick" on the other side.

It was even said that he & his guitar-tech actually smuggled in sheets of (now illegal) Genuine Tortoiseshell to make plectrums with after touring India and other parts of Asia, though most of his picks were made of Celluloid.

Ritchie Blackmore can be seen playing guitar next to a set of Moog Taurus I pedals on this Instagram post.

Ritchie used this "Machine Head" Strat as his main guitar between early 1971 and early 1973. This axe was used at the Beatclub show (Sept 71) and the Machine Head recording session (Dec 71) until summer or autumn 1972. Then during a heavy showcase, this fine guitar was rather damaged by Ritchie at the headstock. Nevertheless, Ritchie played this guitar until early 1973. Than the axe was finally destroyed by Ritchie and was replaced by a newer 1972s sunburst Strat with a scalloped, lacquered fretboard. This guitar carries all specs of a standard 72s Fender Strat like a bullet truss-rod at the nut and 3-bold tilt-neck.