Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey everyone, this is my first post and I believe I've found the right place to ask this. I'm a huge fan of Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Page and have been looking to nail some of those guitar tones for quite awhile now. The one that really eludes me the most is the 'Heartbreaker' tone from Led Zeppelin II. I've done some research on the subject and was told that Page probably used a Transonic on this recording. Does anyone have any thoughts on this or possibly verify it?

Another huge question of course becomes, what amp that I could buy today comes relatively close to the tone of the Transonic? I'd love to get my hands on the real deal, but of course, they're extremely rare and quite expensive. Any help you guys could offer me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I was under the impression the Jimmy Page only used Transonics on Led Zep's 1st North American tour. He left them here and Tom Petersson bought them.

I don't know what would sound like a Transonic amp, but I imagine your safest bet would be to locate an old Risson solid state amp. They were designed by the same man that designed the Transonic amps, Bob Rissi.

I thought he only used the cabinets?

Not according to the pictures on this page: http://rissonamplifiers.com/_wsn/page2.html

It would sorta make sense that he used the Transonic, for a few reasons.

1. He recorded Heartbreaker in America during that specific tour.
2. He didn't bring the Transonics back to England, which would explain why that Heartbreaker tone never makes a comeback.

But then again I've been reading the gear page, so it's all just hear-say from me.

tennis_nick wrote:It would sorta make sense that he used the Transonic, for a few reasons.

1. He recorded Heartbreaker in America during that specific tour.
2. He didn't bring the Transonics back to England, which would explain why that Heartbreaker tone never makes a comeback.

But then again I've been reading the gear page, so it's all just hear-say from me.

That's funny because I'm the guy who wrote that on the Gear Page just the other day! Haha.

It makes sense though, doesn't it?

blueflamerick wrote:I was under the impression the Jimmy Page only used Transonics on Led Zep's 1st North American tour. He left them here and Tom Petersson bought them.

I don't know what would sound like a Transonic amp, but I imagine your safest bet would be to locate an old Risson solid state amp. They were designed by the same man that designed the Transonic amps, Bob Rissi.

Thank you! I'm actually in contact right now with Bob about this issue and he said he could still build one of his old solid state Risson amps if I wanted one. Believe it or not, he still has enough parts to build a dozen or so more of them per special request.

Welcome, Jake! Go for it!

I can't believe Bob has a photo of himself proudly showing off those aweful Fender solidstate amps!

jps wrote:Welcome, Jake! Go for it!

Thank you, I just might! Still waiting for him to write me back though.

jps wrote: I can't believe Bob has a photo of himself proudly showing off those aweful Fender solidstate amps!

Were they really that bad? I heard that Bob took everything that went right and corrected everything that went wrong with those and put that into building the Transonics. Then he even perfected it further when he started building Rissons.

Do a Google search on those Fender amps from the '60s. Not well recieved by most.