In the last 18 months or so I've done a lot of research on the amplifiers, echoes and guitars used by the Shads from 1959 to 1961 and I've learned a lot. I also believe that there is no publication that can be truely accurate, as the gear the Shads were seen to use for performances was not necessarily the gear they were using for recording at the time.
David Martin wrote:Wonderful Land to just before Shindig: AC30/6
Wonderful Land was almost definitely recorded on a circuit three amp, making it an AC30/4 that was used in the studio. It has the warm depth of the EF86 valve and not the brightness of slightly later recordings. I'm not sure of the the individual tune dates (I don't have Malcolm and Rob's excellent book), but I'm pretty positive that anything recorded between
Apache and
Wonderful Land would have been an amp using the EF86 valve, most likely to have been excusively the AC30/4 (seeing as all prototype Vox amps were made for the Shads before going to production).
AlanMcKillop wrote:Bruce made a comment at Shadowmania a few years back, that Apache was recorded using AC30's and that it was easier to transport the AC15's to the studios for TV recordings. However, even if that was the case, why would they use the AC15's at gigs if they had AC30's?
Alan, that was probably because on TV appearances the amps were have been back-miked and the volume and balance in the studio was not important. I have a friend who performed on live TV once in the seventies and he said it was an awful playing experience, sound-wise. The mix in the room is/was not important to the TV crews, it's the mix that comes across to the viewer that matters. The extra volume the AC30s provided would have only been necessary on larger gigs, such as theatres, where the only people hearing the music were those present at the venue. Also, the Top-Boost's purpose was only to make sure Hank's guitar could be heard clearly above the rest of the band. In the studio/on record he could be heard clearly without having to sacrifice tone.
I've maintained for quite a while now, after conversations with various people "in the know", that the guitars and amps used on recordings were most likely not the ones that the Shads were seen using on stage. Jim Elyea's recent book
Vox Amplifiers - The JMI Years has a picture showing Hank in the studio (possibly the
Flingel Bunt session) using a Vox "Long Tom" Echo, believe it or not! There we have proof that Hank experimented in the studio with different gear. But he would have had only a basic set up for performances, as the photos of gigs prove.
I'm not sure about the music recorded after
Wonderful Land as I've never been that enamoured with the sounds made from the other amps so have not studied them nearly so extensively as I have the early EF86 Voxes, but here's the list I believe to be accurate:
Selmer TruevoiceVox AC15 (TV front, two tone finish, likely the earlier circuit two model)
Vox AC30/4 (TV front, cream diamond finish, single speaker - these were the first AC30s, before the twin speaker version was developed)
Vox AC30/4 (TV front, cream diamond finish, two speaker version - only 12 were made for the Shadows, one of which is now owned by Phil Kelly)
Vox AC30/6 (though AC30/4s and AC15s had been made with the now classic split front design by this time, these were the first Vox amps the Shadows used that featured that look - they were also the first Vox amps to be made that did not include the EF86 valve: the start of the decline in sound, in my opinon!)
Vox AC30/6 Treble (Roger, I have not heard a Vox AC30/6 (non Treble version) since I started studying this, so cannot speak from experience, although there would naturally be a noticeable increase in brightness, but I can say for definite that there is a vast difference in sound between the Treble and Top-Boost models)
... and finally...
Vox AC30/6 Top-BoostI am unsure if Hank's first use of the Top-Boost pre-amp was in conjuction with the first AC30/6s or the AC30/6 Treble models. I'm certain he did not use it with the AC30/4, although his use of the AC30/4 in the studio may well have overlapped with the use of the Top-Boost unit on his performance amps, which wouyld have been AC30/6s, possibly the Treble model.
Anyway, HTH...
J