Ritchie Blackmore

Re: Ritchie Blackmore

Ritchie was my First guitar hero.. He influenced me so much That the only guitar I wanted to play for Years was vinatge Fender Strat with vinatge tremelo... Of cousre that has changed now... But Yes for his tone in Machine heads and 30 years ago u would want to use Duncan SSL-1 or Antiquity Surfer ....and yes marshalll..
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

But there were different versions of the Blackmore signature Strat. If I remember it right; one had Duncan´s quarterpunders, and another version had 2 Lace Golds and a Roland synth-pickup. Both are discontinued now.
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

You'll find some great interviews with guys like Blackmore at the Vintage Guitar Magazine site in the archives. They always talk about gear and such I remember reading that Jim Marshall always knew when Blackmore was there at the factory because he played so loud! www.vintageguitar.com
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

Mr_X said:
thanks for the input guys, but how in the world do i use a tube tape recorder as a pickup booster? i've never heard of tube tape recorders too. pardon my ignorance.
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Hey Mr_X; A tube tape recorder could be either of (at least) two things: An old reel-to-reel tape recorder that was built before transistors and solid-state became the "norm", or one of the "audiophile" reel-to-reels built by companies like Studor, Revox, or Tandberg et al. Since these recorders were meant to record a microphone input, they had pre-amps - tube pre-amps, to be exact. And that pre-amp could be overdriven, or overloaded, just as any tube amplifier can. The "tone" one gets from overdriving a tube amplifier stage, is the quintessential guitar tone. Its a warm, smooth, distortion thats rich in overtones, or odd harmonics. I don't want to go overboard in "tech-talk" but transistors tend to generate even harmonics when overdriven, which aren't as pleasing to the ear.

So, basically, it was used as an "effect", much the same way one would use an overdrive pedal, or a tube pre-amp today.

There was one more benefit of old tape recorders. When you try to record more signal on to a tape than it can hold, (saturation), you get yet another type of over-driven distortion. Its not unlike tube distortion, yet different.
Also, old reel-to-reels had a natural "delay" that would result from having a playback head that was separate from the record head. Since there was a physical distance between the heads, if you listened to the original and recorded signal at the same time, (easy to do), you get all these benefits rolled into one.

Finding an old tube tape recorder is like finding a plethora of "soft" and delay effects in one box. Even if its solid-state, you still get 2 out of 3 of those effects. Its one of the reasons I keep an old Teac 2340S fired up on my "guitar-bench" at all times. ;)

Hope that wasn't too long-winded. ;)

Artie
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

SoCalSteve said:
You'll find some great interviews with guys like Blackmore at the Vintage Guitar Magazine site in the archives. They always talk about gear and such I remember reading that Jim Marshall always knew when Blackmore was there at the factory because he played so loud! www.vintageguitar.com
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DEF LOUD. never got to a Rainbow concert dagnabbit...but I did see him on the Perfect Strangers tour...It was incredibly loud...killed my ears loud. And I've been to some LOUD shows....Maiden on Powerslave tour..Scorpions on the LAFS tour...Oz during DOAM and BATM tours...all those stick out as really friggin loud...but Deep Purple...GAhhhhhh.....
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

JeffB said:
DEF LOUD. never got to a Rainbow concert dagnabbit...but I did see him on the Perfect Strangers tour...It was incredibly loud...killed my ears loud. And I've been to some LOUD shows....Maiden on Powerslave tour..Scorpions on the LAFS tour...Oz during DOAM and BATM tours...all those stick out as really friggin loud...but Deep Purple...GAhhhhhh.....
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I never got to see Blackmore, dammit! Reading your signature and being reminded of Michael Schenker makes me want to shoot myself. I had a chance to see him about 2 years ago I think. It was at a very small roadside bar/club in Yucaipa, Ca for like $10. I've been kicking myself for not going.
 
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Re: Ritchie Blackmore

SoCalSteve said:
I never got to see Blackmore, dammit! Reading your signature and being reminded of Michael Schenker makes me want to shoot myself. I had a chance to see him about 2 years ago I think it was at a very small roadside bar/club in Yucaipa, Ca for like $10. I've benn kicking myself for not going.
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Never seen him either. Got out of music for awhile when he finally came over here and started touring the club circuit. All of the guys in Thin Lizzy too...gorham..robertson...moore...sykes...never seen them live :( Never experienced my biggest guitar hero's live (in person). Maybe someday before they all kick the bucket...or in michael's case, gets comitted :(

Ritchie did or maybe still does live within about 20 minutes of me. Guy I know used to do some electrican work at his place.
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

I´ve seen him twice with Deep Purple. First time was before they released the album with Smoke on the Water. So the first time I heard that song was live. I really liked his tone so I tried to get close to the stage to see what kind of pedals he used. And there was...nothing. It looked like he runned his white Strat right into his Marshalls. Many years later I heard about the tape recorder thing, and yes, perhaps there was an old large tape recorder beside tha amps, kind of Revox-looking. His playing was like on the Made in Japan live album. And he looked like a real guitar hero: white Strat, black shirt, black trousers and brown boots.
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

u mean blackmore's night? haven't heard anything from that yet. But heard good stuff from rainbow and DP.
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

Mr.X, to get Ritchies tone, I use Fender CS 69s in the neck & middle (even though Ritchie doesn't use the middle pu at all), and a Van Zandt Rock pu in the bridge. I run the guitar into an Analogman Boss OD pedal w/frog mod as a clean boost (this is to make up for the tape deck), then run that into an Analogman Beano Boost treble booster (Ritchie uses a Hornby Skewes treble booster). I run the whole thing into a 70s Marshall Super Lead 100 modified with a true master volume. I run the Marshall at 7 on both channels, with the master determining the actual volume depending on my venue. The Van Zandt Rock pickup will also let you to get the hi gain stuff you want. In the 80s through early 90s, Ritchie used Duncan Quarter pounders in the neck & bridge. Around 93 to present, he went to Lace Sensor Golds in the neck & bridge. These are very similar to Fender CS 69s, but w/o the noise. I tried these pickups, and found them a bit lifeless, but definitely quiet.

I hope that helped.
 
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Re: Ritchie Blackmore

Everyone is expecting if you change your pickups you'll get his tone. Not true. His tone is stock strat pickups, a scalloped board into a cranked Marshall with a treble booster and echo unit. It's not that hard to get.

The scalloped board makes a different in tone. I'm saying this because my Malmsteen Strat with Dimarzio HS-3's nailed his tone when played through a Marshall, and I wasn't even trying, I stumbled upon it

Blackmore used stock Fender single coils, SD Quarter Pounders, Schecter pickups, and Lace Sensors. He sounded like Blackmore no matter what he used.
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

Since most of us won't be able to find an old tube recorder, try a boost pedal that is sort of dirty. Fat Boost or maybe Duncan's Boost pedal. Maybe an EQ pedal with the sliders all up. There are lots to choose from. ;)
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

This thread is five years old, if the guy hasnt managed to get his tone by now I doubt he still checks here. :lol:
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

I liked his sound the best when he was using stock strat pickups through marshall. Quarter Pounders to me don't make any sense. Too hot single coils means a lot of noise. And I've heard him a couple of times in the last 5 years playing through Engl. Didn't like it very much. Very pronounced highs (or mid highs), sounded like too much quack for that amount of gain. Would

The biggest secret of his tone is his personality I think. Nobody plays that aggressive like him (Malmsteen comes close).

edit: I just saw that this thread is old enough for 1st grade :)
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

I started to say "Holy thread resurrection, Batman!" :-)

They were Schecter pickups, not Quarter Pounders. I also think that Blackmore himself is the key ingredient, but always heard he really played with a light touch in terms of the strings and fretboard but basically tortures the rest of the guitar.

There was a bunch of info on dawksound.com - not sure if the forum is still there.
 
Re: Ritchie Blackmore

Dawk has modified the schecter pups...

Apparently, the dummy coil was active and connected to the tapped coils of the quarter pounds to make a hum cancelling solution...

But you''l find any answer about Blackmore's secret here : http://www.treblebooster.net/
 
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