Wilko Johnson

Harrison and Heald IC100

What do T. Rex, Dr. Feelgood, The Clash, The Buzzcocks, X-Ray Spex and The Undertones all have in common besides being some of Britain’s most vital seventies bands? They all had a strange, tubeless glowing Perspex paneled pile driver of an amp sitting atop their knackered speaker cabinets. The Harrison and Heald IC100 was the original solid-state amp that didn’t suck. It was capable of near endless headroom and could be used as a guitar, bass and keyboard amp, or even vocal PA depending on what channel was used. Perhaps the first time the HH IC100 spoke to a mass audience was on T. Rex’s The Slider. With a little kick in the teeth from a treble booster and the sustain switch engaged on the amp, Marc Bolan achieved a hefty crunching wallop that captivated a generation of soon-to-be-Punks and new wavers. Soon after, a new champion of the solid-state sound emerged in the form of a speed-freak-gangster-guitar-slinger named Wilko Johnson. He and his band of leering Canvey Island cohorts, Dr. Feelgood, wrote a prescription for a lethal dose of dirty R&B. Wilko’s deconstructed, dry stabbing sound was achieved with his unique itching-and-scratching up-and-down strokes and aided by the immediate attack and decay that only solid-state amps could deliver. His hitman-precision percussion cut like a knife into the heart of a generation and was equal parts coke-shot blues and primal reggae-rock ruckus. Check out Dr. Feelgood’s classic album Down by the Jetty for HH tones that will scratch their way through the skin right to the bone.

Though the successful IC100 range was strangely discontinued in 1977, more hits recorded with HH amps were soon to come. The first wave of British punk rockers needed an amp that was reliable, loud and cheap-as-chips that could double as a PA in a small sweaty pub. The IC100 legacy continued into the early ‘80s with Daniel Ash of Bauhaus creating a sound akin to a skull full of nails rolling down a metal slide via his green glowing undead heads. He still uses them to this day. Spacemen 3’s Jason Pierce is yet another HH champion of the visceral vanguard of droning tonal tonnage. You won’t see many if any HH IC100s in the USA, but if you come to England for a visit and poke around enough guitar shops, you can find them for reasonable prices.

Although for many years Wilko used a Fender Twin, and before that an HH combo customised with PA speakers, he recently started using a boutique amp made by Dennis Cornell. ‘He lives around the corner, actually,’ Wilko explains. ‘He’s got a kind of cottage industry making amps. A couple of years ago someone in the support band came up to me and said “What do you think of this amp?” I thought it was very good so I went round the corner and got one. It’s just got one speaker, but it’s very powerful.’ - The Guitar Magazine, September 2011.

Wilko can be seen in this image playing his Fender Wilko Johnson Signature Telecaster. Wilko says in the official Fender release "I have been working closely with Fender on the details of my signature Tele," said Johnson. "It's great to know people will be able to play an instrument just like the one that has served me so well throughout my career." - Music Radar.

Fender will issue a Wilko Johnson signature Fender Telecaster based on his customised 1962 model.

Rare to see Wiko Johnson without his signature black and red Telecaster...holding an even rarer Custom lime green Wilson Ranger II with tremelo. Almost all Wilson Rangers were Red and White with no tremelo.

In this picture you can see Wilko playing a fender Stratocaster with a red pickguard

Wilko can be seen on several YouTube videos doing personal appearances with the compact ZT Lunchbox amp. It also features in the Julian Temple documentary the Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson. I assume he uses it for practice and informal appearances but not gigs or recording.