![]() ![]() So blokes on a pension in England could afford to buy one for their kids." -Aspen Pittman I think the whole motivation for those early Marshall amps was to copy the more expensive Fenders They even lined up the jacks the same way, and the on/off switch, the standby switch. ![]() "Marshall copied Fender's basic circuit - virtually no difference at all. Many other amplifier manufacturers create new Bassman-derived designs that themselves become the legendary instruments of a rock generation. Those that desire one give up whatever it takes to obtain their holy grail." -John Teagle 1 The 4x10 Bassman is to this day a sanctuary of tone for many. To the weekend warrior who escapes the Monday-Friday grind answering to no one but his guitar and amp, To Bruce Springsteen and Jimmie Vaughan, from recording studios that keep one as their "house" amp "From Fran Beecher with Bill Haley, and Bo Diddley with his two extra speakers (pointing backwards!), ![]() The Bassman stack and long-tailed-pair phase inverter with negative feedback become the foundation for many great rock and blues sounds. ![]() Ironically it doesn't quite make it as a bass amp, but the musical tones it creates from a guitar make history. Throughout the decade it is modified and improved, culminating in the model 5F6-A. The amp has a 15-inch speaker with a closed, ported cabinet and uses a pair of beam power tetrodes for lots of volume. “I’ve held it aloft to the audience on thousands and thousands and thousands of nights, I suppose with the idea that it says something about the power of rock and roll and the power of us.Fender designs the Bassman in 1952 to be an amplifier for its new Precision Bass. “For me, when I put it on, I don’t feel like I have a guitar on. “It still is unique amongst all my guitars the way it sounds,” Springsteen said in that Hall of Fame interview. Truly, this Esquire/Tele mutt is a one-of-a-kind piece. Of course, it does come out for special occasions, like the Super Bowl XLIII halftime show in 2009. Unfortunately, he retired the Esquire from road duty, so these days Springsteen plays clones on stage, even if he still records with the original. Springsteen has used many guitars throughout his lustrous career, but he always seems to come back to his old faithful. I was playing something that was tilting more to soul music, and so I wanted a guitar that could handle the funk and that feeling.”īoasting a Telecaster body and Esquire neck, the guitar had already undergone significant modifications by the time it landed in Springsteen’s hands (for $180!).Īs the story goes, it was originally owned by a record company and rigged with four pickups that could all be plugged into the sound board-giving session players the ability to earn four times what they typically would with four different versions of a guitar track.Īs such, there was a generous amount of wood routed out from under the pickguard, which made the guitar much lighter and perfect for “The Boss’” epic concerts.Īfter the Springsteen bought it, Petillo added hot-wound single-coil pickups and his patented Petillo Precision Frets, which were triangular, in addition to a titanium six-saddle bridge. I wasn’t playing heavy rock and roll anymore. (It was)a guitar that was a good mixture for playing soul music a la Steve Cropper and James Burton, and they were also good for rock music like Jeff Beck. “I picked one up somewhere along the way, and Jeff Beck was one of my great guitar heroes and I think Pete Townshend played one in the Who also for a while. “I wanted a Telecaster because I had played a Telecaster when I was younger,” Springsteen said in an interview with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ![]()
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