Johnny Marr's 330s

beefandbones · Post by **beefandbones** » Mon May 24, 2004 7:19 am

Does anyone know anything about the 330s that Johnny Marr played with the Smiths?

I've seen him with a jetglo 330 (thanks to Peter's site!), but I've never seen a close enough picture to tell if it's a got hi-gains or toasters. I read that he has a '66 mapleglo 330, too, but I'm not sure when he got it. He may have had a 360, too.

If anyone has any information about the guitars or which songs they were used on, I'd love it if you'd share the info with me. Thanks!

spencer · Post by **spencer** » Mon May 24, 2004 8:21 am

Ethan -
I've seen some shots of him with the 330 and I do believe it had hi-gains. That was my first Ric and one of the first things I played on it when I got it home was The Headmaster Ritual.
That song was definately recorded with a 330 with hi-gains through a Fender Twin, I'm sure of that much. But he used alot of different guitars.
Most of Meat is Murder sounds Rickish to me.
Glad to have another Smiths fan on the forum.

360dave660 · Post by **360dave660** » Mon May 24, 2004 11:33 pm

I saw the smiths in '86, and what surprised me was how much he used a les paul in concert. Gosh I remember stumbling on to a cassette of the john peel sessions (hatfull of hollow)a year earlier and listing to that music over and over for about six years. The smiths, echo & the bunnymen & joy division are the three UK bands that really stick out for me from the '80s.

beefandbones · Post by **beefandbones** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:06 am

So I rented the Smiths' "Complete Picture" last night for kicks, and in the video of "This Charming Man" he uses a jetglo 330 with high gains. Course, I read somewhere that it was actually recorded with a T*l*c*st*r.

rkbsound · Post by **rkbsound** » Wed May 26, 2004 3:01 pm

I can see how Charming Man could have been a Tele. I had "Singles" and "Hateful of Hollow" in the car today, as a matter of fact! I heard that Morrissey has a new album out, so I guess I got the Smith's bug.

The Headmaster Ritual isn't on either, but I love that song!

beefandbones · Post by **beefandbones** » Thu May 27, 2004 7:33 am

Seems like he spent a lot of the 90s trying to distance himself from his signature sound, but I read recently that he picked up a Rick in a guitar store, and had to admit that it just sounded like HIM. I hear that he's been playing Ricks in concert recently, too. A 370 I think.

It's funny to me that you see him with Les Pauls, 335s, Stratocasters, and the like during his time with the Smiths. Aside from the highlife style guitar on "Ask" his guitar sound is remarkably uniform. It's amazing how he can get all those other guitars to sound like Rickenbackers!

360dave660 · Post by **360dave660** » Fri May 28, 2004 3:08 am

In '86, for the queen is dead tour, the smiths opened with "how soon in now" and I was floored by the fact that he got that sound from a les paul ! There is an interesting early '03 article in GP where Johnny Marr is on the cover with an SG. Reading that article, you would think that his favorite ax is really a Gibson SG. Effectively, his work with Electronic in the early '90s sounds far more new order / electronica than the smiths.

donthaveawittyname · Post by **donthaveawittyname** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:15 am

Greetings fellow smiths/ricky fans- David i was at 4-5 London gigs on that queen is dead tour in 86, a pleasure to meet you- what a tour, what an era- i got on the tube after the london palladium gig and decided i wanted to play the guitar (i was 14 at the time) Most of the gig craig gannon played johnnys main black 330 ricky, he was changing every song, Les pauls (with bigsbys), his 63 white strat, sunburt 65 strat, a grestch, but mainly those les pauls through roland jazz chorus's and fender twins, boy i could go on all night- i salute all of you

red_rob · Post by **red_rob** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:34 am

Thank god there's some more Smiths fans here! The main reason I got into Rics was Johnny in the This Charming Man video!

It seems, from my studies, that he started out using telecasters and his 330s in 1983. Apparently he used the telecasters a lot in the recording of the first album. Then in 84 around the hatful period, he was still using his JG 330 but started using his red Gibson 355 a lot. I saw a gig they did in Hamburg in 84 on the tv the other week and he alternated between the 2 for the whole concert. Lots of stuff was played from meat is murder with his 330 and it sounded just like the record.

Most of 85 appears to have been dominated by his white strat (look out for performances of Shakespears sister). By 1986, the Queen is Dead period, he was using les pauls almost exclusively. This coincided with a prolonged period of stadium touring and a considerable amount of flak from the music press, who accused him of going too 'rocky' and thinking he was Keith Richards. By 87 he was playing all sorts and getting mightly bored...

Sadly, I can't find many pictures of him sporting a ric (and there's no way anyone will persuade me that this charming man is played on a telecaster)

donthaveawittyname · Post by **donthaveawittyname** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:22 pm

Hiya Robert, the early teles (including the this charming man one) were borrowed off of John Porter the smith producer then. There are rickys on this charming man- its just the main riff is a tele. Johnny later got a quilted green john Griffin custom telecaster- great looking guitar, played on totp a lot, around meat is murder that is- the white strat is a 63 and he got it a little later- during the queen is dead sessions-the first track a strat appeared on was the boy with the thorn in his side-i love the sound of this guitar, i remember hearing it live and how individual the tone is,not like astrat at all. You can hear it on Draize train and i know its over on Rank- the live and last smiths LP. The rest of your info was spot on, ill have a look through my stuff for some 330 pics

red_rob · Post by **red_rob** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 10:49 pm

Nice one Neil! I've seen that green tele - kind of a black to green burst with a gold plated scratch plate right?

I was just too young to see them before they spilt...

murmur · Post by **murmur** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 11:09 pm

Theres a couple of great bootleg live dvds with Johnny on the jetglo 330.Look out for the Rockpalast show '84 and the Derby Assembly rooms show from the Old Grey Whistle test that same year.He's on the ric for nearly the whole set on both shows and they're tuned up to F#.They're both usually available on ebay and are great fun to play along with.I suggest waiting til your partner has retired for the evening, scatter all the flowers you can get your hands on across the living room floor, tune up, and join the smiths for a couple of hours. Its tough trying to keep up with Johnny on stuff like Girl Afraid, though.I'm 40 yrs old.

red_rob · Post by **red_rob** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 11:31 pm

"but she....doesn't even like me - and I know because she said so!"

Good call Joe - I have a date with ebay....

red_rob · Post by **red_rob** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 4:04 am

This is a recent one - looks like a 360 to me

admin · Post by **admin** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 4:24 am

Red Rob: Seeing as you have the eye of an eagle, is his switch in the treble position?