Hey Philco,
Reminds me of the recent EBay Seller of fake RIC merchandise; DICKSPAWN! He meant, Dick's Pawn, but, apparently, his subconscious mind got away from him...
The Edge throws 360/12 and kicks it across stage
Moderators: rickenbrother, ajish4
Well, The Edge seems to have "reliced" his 360/12 in that river flood that Mr. Hall mentioned. This could start a new "relicing" business where a rock band rushes to a scene of an impending natural disaster, hoping to get their instruments "reliced", due to no fault of their own, of course, except being stupid enough to store their valuable instruments near rivers known to flood, etc. DICKSPAWN could then auction them off on eBay, at a handsome profit.
Actually, I could store a lot of cheap trashed out guitars in a warehouse near a river that is about to flood, then after it was over claim they were stored there by a famous rock band in an interview with the local paper, get a copy of the story to DICKSPAWN for his eBay ad, and we could split the take he gets on eBay. Sound like a plan???
Hey! I'm just joking, OK?
Hey, Kranz, what kind of odds do you give that Guild being the guitar that Townshend actually trashed? I wouldn't buy something like that unless I got it from Townshend himself, and even then I wouldn't pay what he wanted. Buying something like that in Aspen is probably as genuine as a two dollar bill with Bill Clinton's face on the front. Not that I would mind seeing some snooty Aspenite pay for it and thinking he got a good deal.
Actually, I could store a lot of cheap trashed out guitars in a warehouse near a river that is about to flood, then after it was over claim they were stored there by a famous rock band in an interview with the local paper, get a copy of the story to DICKSPAWN for his eBay ad, and we could split the take he gets on eBay. Sound like a plan???
Hey! I'm just joking, OK?
Hey, Kranz, what kind of odds do you give that Guild being the guitar that Townshend actually trashed? I wouldn't buy something like that unless I got it from Townshend himself, and even then I wouldn't pay what he wanted. Buying something like that in Aspen is probably as genuine as a two dollar bill with Bill Clinton's face on the front. Not that I would mind seeing some snooty Aspenite pay for it and thinking he got a good deal.
By the way, for accuracy's sake.
I remember Pete saying that he smashed guitars out of frustration with one thing or another or just the energy built up by the end of a night.
I don't recall anything about his disliking Vox amps (or particualrly trashing them)
nice little (pointless) dig at Vox though.
I remember Pete saying that he smashed guitars out of frustration with one thing or another or just the energy built up by the end of a night.
I don't recall anything about his disliking Vox amps (or particualrly trashing them)
nice little (pointless) dig at Vox though.
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krishna
Legend has it that Townsend smashed his first guitar by accident - leaping about and banging the headstock against the ceiling of some club .. or a lighting fixture .. and realizing that the guitar was trashed basically decided to finish the job off .. I'm sure Pete's massive diet of amphetamines at the time helped make all of this happen ...
as a side note I ALMOST did the same thing by accident at a gig .. in some squat in Holland long ago in my "hardcore youth" days .. but with a Gibson SG .. gotta watch out for those giant iron I-beams when you jump up and down on stage .. that SG still has a nice divot out of it ....
as a side note I ALMOST did the same thing by accident at a gig .. in some squat in Holland long ago in my "hardcore youth" days .. but with a Gibson SG .. gotta watch out for those giant iron I-beams when you jump up and down on stage .. that SG still has a nice divot out of it ....
In John Entwistle's last interview in Bass Player Magazine, he admits to having smashed at least a dozen basses, and he said it was out of frustration with them, usually neck problems that prevented low action without rattling. He said the equipment destruction by The Who was largely out of frustration at first, but of course it later became a crowd pleaser that eventually had to come to a halt.
There was a time period when Vox amps were very unreliable, especially right after the transition to solid state. I got it straight off of a Vox amp website. There are many issues with vintage Vox amps, such as which output transformers the early AC-30 amps came with. Four manufacturers were used, and two of them sounded great while the other two were rather lackluster. I know a guitarist who owned several Vox amps and they all blew up on him, and says he doesn't want any more of them. He switched to Fenders and got good service.
There was a time period when Vox amps were very unreliable, especially right after the transition to solid state. I got it straight off of a Vox amp website. There are many issues with vintage Vox amps, such as which output transformers the early AC-30 amps came with. Four manufacturers were used, and two of them sounded great while the other two were rather lackluster. I know a guitarist who owned several Vox amps and they all blew up on him, and says he doesn't want any more of them. He switched to Fenders and got good service.
I own and continue to professionally use lots of Vox amplifiers.
I wouldn't take my AC-100 on the road as its cabinet design leads to overheating.
But i've never had an AC-30 problem.
People have different preferences as to the 'version' of AC-30 but that hardly qualifies as their being "lackluster" (which to my ear all Fenders made after 1962 are).
Like ANY amp you need to find the right one.
I can point to a long line of crummy sounding Fenders but that hardly proves ALL Fenders are "problems".
The Who had switched to Marshall and never used solid state Vox amps.
Calling Vox amps "auto blow" is simply silly.
And again, it's got nothing to do with Pete smashing guitars.
By that logic, I guess Rickenbackers were unreliable. (that's why he threw them around?)
I wouldn't take my AC-100 on the road as its cabinet design leads to overheating.
But i've never had an AC-30 problem.
People have different preferences as to the 'version' of AC-30 but that hardly qualifies as their being "lackluster" (which to my ear all Fenders made after 1962 are).
Like ANY amp you need to find the right one.
I can point to a long line of crummy sounding Fenders but that hardly proves ALL Fenders are "problems".
The Who had switched to Marshall and never used solid state Vox amps.
Calling Vox amps "auto blow" is simply silly.
And again, it's got nothing to do with Pete smashing guitars.
By that logic, I guess Rickenbackers were unreliable. (that's why he threw them around?)
Well, Pete felt he needed to smash an amp, and using a guitar probably seemed more reasonable than using his bare hands. He probably didn't care what brand it was.
Pete didn't need to wait until the solid state Vox amps arrived to blow up a few, I guess. Unreliability seemed to be an issue in many large amps during Rock Music's early days, and was not confined to Vox by any means. It was a common problem in Marshalls as well. Probably why Pete and John switched to Hiwatt later on. I bought my Traynor from a longtime Fender dealer and gold label service center. He said the new Mexican built Fender amps were extremely unreliable, but the ones made in California were doing well. He said the Traynors were as good as the American Fender amps in reliability.
Most old guitar amps I have looked at had many areas that could cause trouble. The quality of components was usually "state of the wallet" rather than "state of the art". Leo Fender (among others) was notorious for using any cheap part that worked OK in a guitar amp. There were no such things as "guitar amp specific" parts in those days. Many Japanese audiophiles continue to use old Western Electric audio amplifiers that entered constant commercial use as movie theater amplifiers in the 30's and 40's. They have been played for decades with little breakdown. They were made to a price/quality level that no early guitar amp manufacturer could have ever charged a working musician for. Did Leo Fender ever buy a 300B tube, a REAL audio tube of the highest sound quality (that some audiophiles get over 10 years of service from), and put it in a production guitar amp? No way! In fact, RCA and Western Electric rented their amps to the theaters as they were too valuable for most theater owners to purchase outright, and they tied the theaters to a service contract that ensured their amps were well maintained. Guitar amps were low rent from the start, and the reliability record of many amps prove that. Guitar amps are still "low rent" compared to many other electronic devices. The difference is that modern electronic components don't usually have to be expensive to be reliable. I have bought modern 9-pin miniature ceramic tube sockets with silver plated contacts for $1 each that were made in Russia for military applications that totally eclipse what came in a 60's tubed guitar amp. Part prices like that are why you can get an Epiphone Galaxy 10 single ended all-tube Class A 10-watt amp from Musician's Friend for only $200 today that will outperform an old Fender Champ.
Pete didn't need to wait until the solid state Vox amps arrived to blow up a few, I guess. Unreliability seemed to be an issue in many large amps during Rock Music's early days, and was not confined to Vox by any means. It was a common problem in Marshalls as well. Probably why Pete and John switched to Hiwatt later on. I bought my Traynor from a longtime Fender dealer and gold label service center. He said the new Mexican built Fender amps were extremely unreliable, but the ones made in California were doing well. He said the Traynors were as good as the American Fender amps in reliability.
Most old guitar amps I have looked at had many areas that could cause trouble. The quality of components was usually "state of the wallet" rather than "state of the art". Leo Fender (among others) was notorious for using any cheap part that worked OK in a guitar amp. There were no such things as "guitar amp specific" parts in those days. Many Japanese audiophiles continue to use old Western Electric audio amplifiers that entered constant commercial use as movie theater amplifiers in the 30's and 40's. They have been played for decades with little breakdown. They were made to a price/quality level that no early guitar amp manufacturer could have ever charged a working musician for. Did Leo Fender ever buy a 300B tube, a REAL audio tube of the highest sound quality (that some audiophiles get over 10 years of service from), and put it in a production guitar amp? No way! In fact, RCA and Western Electric rented their amps to the theaters as they were too valuable for most theater owners to purchase outright, and they tied the theaters to a service contract that ensured their amps were well maintained. Guitar amps were low rent from the start, and the reliability record of many amps prove that. Guitar amps are still "low rent" compared to many other electronic devices. The difference is that modern electronic components don't usually have to be expensive to be reliable. I have bought modern 9-pin miniature ceramic tube sockets with silver plated contacts for $1 each that were made in Russia for military applications that totally eclipse what came in a 60's tubed guitar amp. Part prices like that are why you can get an Epiphone Galaxy 10 single ended all-tube Class A 10-watt amp from Musician's Friend for only $200 today that will outperform an old Fender Champ.