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Is it the consensus consensus that Hank used his Antoria to record Jet Black? If so, what amplifier did he use? I assume he did not have the Meazzi then yet?

Yes - the Antoria for the studio versions of Jet Black and Driftin' (both recorded on 25th May 1959).

It is well-documented that the first Shadows single on which the Stratocaster was used was Lonesome Fella / Saturday Dance (recorded 13th September and 25th August 1959 respectively).

The easiest way to approach the subject of the amplifiers (and assuming that they each used the same make of amp at any given time) is to refer to the recording of Willie And The Hand Jive, which features the Fender-style amp tremolo of the Selmer range as opposed to the (later) Jennings Vibravox sound. Willie... was recorded on the 19th November 1959 and features the Selmer amps (Auditorium for Bruce, Stadium - with tremolo - for Hank). It follows that previous recordings also utilised the Selmer amps - as far as can be discerned.

Hi Jim

History isn't helped by photos like this

(from my 'The Shadows album of Guitar favourites' music book, which contains Saturday Dance, Jet Black, Driftin , Shot Gun, Midnight and FBI)
The guys are playing through VOX amps
Hank's guitar lead is not shown going to his amp, but ahead of him, implying it is plugged into something (presumably the Meazzi)

(sorry that there isn't more detail but the pic is a scan from a bigger photo and cropped to conform with the rules of this website)

Jim, is it possible to date that photograph? I bought the book at the beginning of the 1960s.The sheet music for Saturday Dance is 'copyright 1961'
Ray

The photograph cannot be earlier than about early 1960. Up to and beyond the end of 1959 - and the period under discussion is mid-1959 - The Drifters / Shadows didn't have those Vox AC15s.

The first red Strat arrived after the recordings of Jet Black and Driftin' (this straight from Hank's mouth, who reports that the clave effect on Jet Black is his hitting the Antoria's pickup cover with a plectrum). The sunburst Precision Bass and the Jazzmaster came later still. There are any number of photos of The Shadows with the Strat but with the Vega guitar for rhythm and the Framus bass wielded by Jet. That was the case in the movie "Expresso Bongo", for instance.

The audible evidence from the recording of Willie And The Hand Jive (recorded as late as 19th November 1959) is that the electronic tremolo effect is the (probably optical) type as used in Selmer amplifiers (which were, let's say, "closely modelled" on Fender amps with "vibrato" - that is, tremolo [amplitude variation]).

I've tried to get that sound from a Vox AC30, starting in 1966, without real success. It's something like it, but it isn't it. My Fender Deluxe reverb gets the sound without effort. The Vox's Vib/Trem channel produces a sound of its own (listen to Cliff's Blue Turns To Grey for instance), but not that "Bo Diddley" pulsating rhythm sound...

RayL wrote:
Jim, is it possible to date that photograph? I bought the book at the beginning of the 1960s.The sheet music for Saturday Dance is 'copyright 1961'
Ray

Another 'clue' as to the period of the picture are the glasses Hank is wearing, with the wide ('reverse' taper) temples, which was his favoured particular frame from probably early 1960 to mid-late 1961.

This image from the coffee bar scene in Expresso Bongo shows his earlier 'butterfly' style frame with the much narrower temple, from 1959...


I'll leave it at that!

Bill

I had a conversation with Hank as many will remember and I do recall him saying they had Selmer amps at the very beginning, which is documented on various photos. The big clue of course is the sound of the tremolo on the amp.

Thank you, Jim, Dave. That is very interesting information. I had always wondered.

I am encouraging a friend to revive his Guyatone (as Antorias are known here) that he’s had from the early 1960s to see how it (and a plectrum on its pick-up) sounds. It still has its original strings; surprisingly, they are flat-wound.

All the best from Manila,

Andy