 |
If you want to nail Clapton’s tone, a crucial part of the equation is the amplifier.
With a little ingenuity, John Wiley shows you how to turn your reissue Bluesbreaker combo into the real deal. |
|
A unique distinction of early Marshall amplifiers is that none of them within the same model line sound exactly alike. Partly attributable to Founder Jim Marshall’s penchant for working with budding British musicians and working many of their suggestions into his designs, and partly due to the difficulties of locating reliable parts suppliers, Marshall’s early designs each had their own personality. For instance, Marshall’s Model 1962 combo was, itself, an ordinary amplifier; however, one particular Model 1962 used by Eric Clapton with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers had such a revolutionary tone that it created a new sound in the still-young world of rock n’ roll.
In 1965, Clapton found himself the featured guitarist in John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Armed with a 1960 Gibson Les Paul and the Marshall Model 1962 combo amplifier, he single-handedly discovered a combination of guitar and amp that produced an extraordinary howl – Clapton achieved his trademark sound by playing the amplifier at full volume. The sound was full-bodied, authoritative, but not overly distorted; it easily cut through the other band instruments. The sustain was pure, the treble notes sang and the bass registers exhibited a “throaty” bottom. At such high volumes, the amp was prone to feeding back, and this provided an awesome effect to the overall sound.
| This image, from the Beano LP, shows Clapton tuning up, with his Model 1962 in the backround |
|
The blistering tone was captured on vinyl and released to an unwitting public as
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton; also known as the “Beano” album, it quickly shot to number six on the British charts, even amongst the din of other popular British and American pop groups such as the Beatles, the Animals, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys. That LP’s impact soon spread to America and abroad, inspiring legions of new guitarists around the world – especially influencing musical rebels in the United States. Clapton’s playing style, combined with a ferocious amplified tone, seemed to inject a new and exciting dimension into the young blues-rock genre. But none of this could have happened without the small British amp company, Vox. Models like the AC30 would provide the “British Invasion” with its unique sound, and convinced Marshall to build a compact amplifier for his new company; the initial development of Marshall’s first combo took place in early 1964. In a 2003 interview with Musician’s Hotline magazine, he claimed the Model 1962 was built at the request of Eric Clapton. “Eric used to practice in my shop and he was one of the first guitarists to ask me to build a combo,” Marshall recalled. “He wanted one so it would be easy for him to put the whole thing in the boot [trunk] of his car.”
Unfortunately, that Model 1962 disappeared, with Clapton himself unsure of what became of it; years later, it would become known as the holy grail of combos. Although those early combos had great tone, no two sound exactly the same. Two decades later, the Marshall reissue would sound nothing like it at all.
The Reissue
For many of us, the year 1990 brought an answer to one of our greatest wishes: the Marshall Model 1962 2x12 combo was finally reissued. The idea had apparently been in the works for quite some time, as evidenced by this author’s correspondence to a Marshall Factory Director, Keith Carnall in the late months of 1984. Carnall’s reply stated, “We have thought many times about running a ‘vintage special,’ with valve rectification and all the other old goodies… let us just say for now that it is an idea that we will continue to work around and perhaps you will get your wish granted.” Although Clapton was not aware of the amp being reissued, Marshall christened it the “Bluesbreaker,” in his honor. When asked in a 1989 Guitar World interview he replied, “Did they really? How sweet. I didn’t even know that. How does it sound?” Marshall simultaneously introduced the Bluesbreaker and the JTM45 in 1990, along with the new JCM900 Series.
At a cursory first glance, Marshall did an outstanding job recreating the Bluesbreaker, as it externally resembled the original with the distinctive and elegant Marshall styling. Just like the original, it was rated at 45 watts and came with two Celestion speakers. The cabinet dimensions measured 29.13” wide by 23.62” high by 9.25” deep, and black vintage tolex coupled with a vintage-style Bluesbreaker grill cloth completed the package. Electronically, the 1989 reissue used two 6L6 vacuum tubes for power, three ECC83 (12AX7) preamp tubes and one GZ34 rectifier tube. In 1993, Marshall replaced the 6L6s with 5881 vacuum tubes. Tonally, the Bluesbreaker reissue had a unique and fine sound of its own. It produced varying degrees of that buttery smooth sustain, while retaining that traditional Marshall crunch.
The following is a listing of the basic differences between the original Model 1962 and the Model 1962 “Bluesbreaker,” as reissued in 1990:
|
Model 1962 Original |
Reissue Bluesbreaker |
| Cabinet Dimensions: |
32” X 23” X 10.5” |
29.13” X 23” X 9” |
| Cabinet Material: |
Birch Plywood |
Particle Board & Plywood |
| Grill Cloth: |
Horizontal strip |
Checker pattern |
| Output Tubes: |
KT66 |
6L6 / 5881 |
| Speakers: |
Celestion 20-watt Alnico |
Celestion 25-watt Ceramic |
|
But just how close was this new variant to the original Model 1962? To the true Marshall collector, and to the rare few who actually owned the genuine article, the differences were immediately apparent. In Michael Doyle’s book, The History of Marshall, he pointed out that the cabinet was too small and the grill cloth was not right. But the major disappointment was not in the appearance, but the sound the amplifier produced. While the sound was good and had plenty of Marshall crunch, it was definitely not the sound of the original. And for that reason, I began a quest to change the sound of my reissue into something more closely resembling the original.