Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

Andrew Lamprecht

Andrew Lamprecht

Minion of One
I'm watching these old Greenie clips and he is getting (and Kirwan) a good amount of dirt with no pedals. Most likely they were using Dual Showmans with 2x15 cabs which Green liked. Essentially a 215 Twin Reverb. How do you get that to break up? Just really loud sure but would old places just let you play at volumes like that... I know thats not a small club but would he just play clean at small places and the louder he could be, the more dirt he had available?



And one of my favorite tones of all time. :D

2:07
 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

Check this out! 6:45 Dual Showmans....


 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

I like how Danny loses his high E string at 1:50 and just keeps trucking.

EDIT: In the OP's first video.
 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

ParameterMan said:
I like how Danny loses his high E string at 1:50 and just keeps trucking.

EDIT: In the OP's first video.
Click to expand...

I had to watch that a few times, but yeah you're right. I didn't really notice it until I saw flashed of light reflecting off the string. It takes talent to be able to do that.
 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

Back in the "day" we didn't have nice PA's with headroom and power so we ran just the vocals through the system and had to crank the amp to fill a room many times. In the old days you ether got your head taken off in the amps hot spot or couldn't hear the guitar over the rest of the band depending on where you were in the room.
 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

I've always laughed at the videos of Hendrix where is yelling out to the people to protect their ears when he plays.
 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

I see it as being the other way round ... back then, 100 watts with 8 twelves was normal for anyone, cranked of course ... now, you turn your little amp on and people want you to turn down before you've even played anything.

A few years ago, I auditioned for a '70s band, the members were about 10-15 years younger than me. I turned up with a 30 watt amp and 2 x 12 cab. Amp was set at low volume, but they went white with fear. I guess they wanted a pretender rather than the real thing ...and my rig would have been the backstage tuneup amp from back in the day. Pathetic.

People these days wouldn't know rock'n'roll if it bit 'em on the arse.
 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

FWIW, Peter and crew used Bandmaster Reverbs during that era more than Dual Showmans...John used Dual Showmans (most often the non reverb models) but the guitar players most often used smaller amp but yes...just plug in, turn up and rock out...
 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

I've played at festivals with two Dual Showmans daisy-chained together. Ditto for Vox Super Beatles. Ampeg V-4s used to be common in the clubs in the early Seventies, along with Twins, Music Man 130s, SUNN 1200S, Acoustic 270s and 156s, Kustom 400s, etc. The Fender Super Six and Quad Reverbs were popular with a lot of players in horn bands. A lot of guys doing single acts used Twins...great for clean chording.

I can remember doing one band gig with a boost pedal into my SUNN Solos II 212 combo, running the amp on 8, and the management telling us to turn it up! That was 140-watt amp. Sounded damn good, too!

Ann Wilson of Heart went to a nearby highschool and I used to book her band to play at our school's dances. I graduated in 1968. Her guitarist at the time used a new SF Fender Pro Reverb with two JBL D-120s sitting on top of a large Fender Dual Showman 215 cab with JBL D-130s. On eight. Sounded great!

And my all-time favorite is my 200-watt Mesa Mark III Coliseum half-stack with my Mesa 412 C90/EVM cab. It starts sounding good at about 2.5 on the master. I've never used it above four...ever. I mostly use the half-power setting for a bit of sponginess...on full power it is devastatingly dynamic...the notes EXPLODE out of the amp. It's a delicious sounding amp, but I rarely get to play it out anymore...I just hate it when the sound man starts crying....blood oozing from ears, nose, mouth and eyes....LOL!

Yeah, we played louder AND cleaner back in the day. And then it seemed like every kid on the block had an MXR Distortion +.

Bill
 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

In the Ballrooms and at outdoor gigs, we could turn our amps up. In the clubs we usually kept the volume down.
 
Last edited:
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

crusty philtrum said:
I see it as being the other way round ... back then, 100 watts with 8 twelves was normal for anyone, cranked of course ... now, you turn your little amp on and people want you to turn down before you've even played anything.

A few years ago, I auditioned for a '70s band, the members were about 10-15 years younger than me. I turned up with a 30 watt amp and 2 x 12 cab. Amp was set at low volume, but they went white with fear. I guess they wanted a pretender rather than the real thing ...and my rig would have been the backstage tuneup amp from back in the day. Pathetic.

People these days wouldn't know rock'n'roll if it bit 'em on the arse.
Click to expand...

Yeah, funny innit?? Back late 60's early 70's guys were cranking those 200 watt marshall majors and running multi stacks wide open for the gain.. and thru the 80's they had as many stacks as possible. Im sure mostly for visual effect then as that was the "more" decade. The big change now is to run every thing thru to PA and have a balance.. (Im guessing as I dont gig)

this always makes me think of the pic of the Metal band with the one head behind the wall of marshall cab fronts.. haha
I remember going to see Living color when they were coming up. Wife and I saw them in a little club here in town.. We stood in front of Vernons amp stacks.. My wife honestly was deaf for nearly a week..
 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

Just got done cranking my Mesa, man, I wish I could do that all the time. I like how little overdrive I feel I have to use for my dirt sounds. I went from about 8 on the gain knob what I usually use to practice to 4 with the volume going up a few notches. Nice tones..... I remember cranking my Bassman for the first time and just being blown away how good it sounded....
 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

BloodRose said:
Yeah, funny innit?? Back late 60's early 70's guys were cranking those 200 watt marshall majors and running multi stacks wide open for the gain.. and thru the 80's they had as many stacks as possible. Im sure mostly for visual effect then as that was the "more" decade. The big change now is to run every thing thru to PA and have a balance.. (Im guessing as I dont gig)

this always makes me think of the pic of the Metal band with the one head behind the wall of marshall cab fronts.. haha
I remember going to see Living color when they were coming up. Wife and I saw them in a little club here in town.. We stood in front of Vernons amp stacks.. My wife honestly was deaf for nearly a week..
Click to expand...

I know that feeling I went to see The Damned Things awhile back and one of the opening acts was Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster and the guitar player had a full stack playing with a tele my ears were ringing for two days and it didnt help that I was right in front.

As for cranking amps now a days it depends on the venue and how big and loud your amp is? My 40W Combo will usually get the job done if I push the pre amp vol and keep the Master round 5 or 6. The smaller the wattage the more you can get away with cranking it but I usually never run through the house most of the time and even when they do Mic me its not the sound guy telling me to turn down but the keyboard player on stage. Really If you get the right sound guy you can crank the amp and he will still be able to work with your sound
 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

I saw these dudes with more or less this same rig in a living room.
0511_coliseum.jpg


It was awesome.
 
Re: Did they just let you crank amps back in the day?

There was a sea change from the 80's by the mid 90's in how loud you could gig. By the 90's if you were in a big enough place to turn up the amps a bit, they had a sound guy who wanted your amp at bedroom level and he would mix it in the PA. By the late 90's things were getting rediculous with 15 watt amps on 3 being run through attenuators and with people still whining.

To be fair in the 80's most people gigged with master vol amps on maybe 4 (usually no more than 50 watt amps and often less) and with some built in gain. It was loud by todays standards, but in most cases we were just balancing with the drums on stage. But pre amp over drive doesn't sound quite like power tube overdrive, as the clips show. Nothing like 6L6 or EL34 tubes being pushed.

I remember the first time I got to play a non master vol 100 watt Marshall. It was in a rehearsal studio, but a guy had come up to me after a gig and said he had an amp I could use. He brought just the head the next day so we ran it through a bass cab. I played Foxy Lady but without the proper speakers it wasn't happening as much as I hoped. It wasn't too bad though.
 
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