Many amplifiers have come and gone in my music room through the years, and a small handful have been genuinely missed. One in particular that I was always interested in having back in the fold was an original 1968 Marshall model 1959 Super Lead with the serial number range in the 12,000s. I owned just one many years ago but had needed to sell it, along with many other pieces, during a more challenging time in life. The memory of that amp remained with me through the years that followed as it had that perfect blend of creaminess and crunch in its tone as well as a feel that delivered the perfect amount of compression. Indeed, it was truly one of the good ones. And no doubt the best Marshall I’ve ever had.
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Tag Archives: Van Halen
David Szabados Interview on GEARCAST Show
Check out the recent GEARCAST show on Kyle Bull’s YouTube channel where I had a great discussion about all things related to guitar tone and music.
George Lynch’s 1973 EP-3 Echoplex Tape Echo Previously Owned by Eddie Van Halen
I wanted to share an interesting story and historical piece for you, our dear readers. First some background on the Echoplex tape echo. If you haven’t played through an Echoplex, they are truly legendary tape echo units and should be experienced. In the 1960s and 1970s, when you wanted echo, tape echo was the way to do it. When smaller solid state echo pedals emerged during the mid ‘70s using Bucket Brigade Device (BBD) technology, they were convenient, but lacked the ability to produce long repeat times versus what a tape delay could offer (most analog solid state delay pedals were limited to just 300ms. of delay time). They also sounded different.
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A/DA Flanger
I loved the sound of the flanger from the first time I heard it used on recordings. I thought the jet-sweeping flanging sound used on recorded drums was simply awesome. Then I listened to Eddie Van Halen’s guitar on “Unchained” and thought it was cool having the up and down sweeps of the flanger move along in time with the dropped D pedal tone riff. After hearing that, I just had to have one for myself.
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Mojave AmpWorks PeaceMaker and Plexi 45 amp heads
Most readers at this site understand I’m a big time “amp nut” – with a special love for old Marshalls in particular. Some readers have even complained, “Too much Marshall!” in terms of content and asked me to pay attention to some other amps out there.
Well, o.k., I’m going to move away from the Marshalls, but not too far for the moment as the Mojave AmpWorks Peacemaker and Plexi 45 certainly share the Marshall heritage – in the case of the Plexi 45, its circuit is as dead-on of a true JTM 45 clone as you’ll find in any new amp built today. The Peacemaker however, adds some twists to the legendary Marshall tone, which we’ll dig into shortly.
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