JMguitars
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After +30 years, you can't argue with success, and Randall Smith is one of the most successful and creative pioneers in the history of guitar amplification. His enthusiasm, passion and creativity have not diminished one bit, and they are clearly shared by everyone at Mesa Engineering. "Boogie people" are so upbeat and obviously into what they do for a living that it seems almost uncanny to have assembled so many like-minded people in one place who clearly enjoy pulling in the same direction. In that respect and many others, the pure intention of Randall Smith's amplifiers is a beautiful thing...
Our interview is followed by reviews of two amps — the reissue of the classic Mark I and the newest 1x12 model from Mesa — the Lone Star.
TQR: After years of ignoring the hand-wired, vintage reissue 'boutique' market, companies like Fender, Vox and Marshall are now building expensive, handwired point-to-point versions of the AC30, Plexi 100W, 18W and 20W Marshalls and the '57 Twin and blackface Vibroverb. Is there another reissue of the Mark I in our future?
Great question, and a great jumping-off point for this discussion. Not only is that future already here, it's in our past and present as well! We've been offering a reissue of our Mark I for something like ten years now, so that's how the future has already come to pass. Or the past is still available in the present... And although there are similarities between the Mark I and the Lone Star, there are enough differences that we will continue into the future to offer both — at least for the present time.
You hit so many buzzwords in that one question that I think we can launch into this conversation from that single vantage point. Or should I say, vintage point? As far as the word 'boutique' and the mini-industry that term implies, it's often been said that the Mark I was the world's first boutique amp. That's certainly not something I was aware of at the time, though, and the fact that we still make it more than 30 years later is a testament to its musical abilities, never mind its having originated the concept of high-gain. In that respect, the Mark I is the transitional piece connecting the 'pre-gain' amps we now call vintage with the 'modern' (or 'post-vintage') amps that start with the Mark II, which was the world's first channel switching, dual mode design. And yes, the Mark I reissue is built just like the originals were, on printed circuit boards! No need for what we think is that "overly expensive and tonally inconsistent" point-to-point wiring; we only use that when it serves a demonstrable purpose, such as adding to the amp's life by making it easily serviceable. As you know, some parts on an amp wear out from use. We just had an amp in for service 23 years to the exact day after it was built. All it needed were some tubes, a couple of pots and some capacitors replaced, which was easily done, and now it's back to its original owner for more 4-night a week gigging. It made Mike Bendinelli (our chief technician for 30 years and first employee!) and me happy to see that old warrior still going strong and we're not about to sacrifice that kind of built-in longevity and the satisfaction it gave us. Where we use point-to-point in our construction we call it "flying leads," as wires coming from the pc boards are hand soldered to the pots, some of the jacks, transformers, etc.
But there's no 'point-to-point' in our past that was abandoned for printed circuitry — just a relentless dedication to honing the craft (and artistry) of circuit-plus-circuit-board design as integral and inseparable parts of the whole amplifier. Over the years, many people have suggested we build some super expensive point-to-point, extra-custom models. We won't, because that would falsely imply one of two things: either that we think there is something better about point-to-point(we don't) or that we think our customers deserve to be charged extra for something we don't think is better, like the Emperor's New Clothes (and we don't think that either.)
Now please don't think I'm just trying to slam the point-to-point boutique industry, because p-t-p has its place. And making small numbers of simple(r) amps is that place. Believe me, I could personally hand-wire a couple hundred simple amps in less time than I spend on a major printed circuit board design!
But once it's done, we can offer consistent tone from amp to amp and offer more useable features at a price more players can afford, and that's the route we've chosen from the start. Bear in mind — we've always been completely unwilling to sacrifice tone for any reason, least of all economy. And just like there are no super-expensive minimalist amps we make, neither do we offer any really cheap ones either! We just can't do that. We have our standards of construction and they're the same for all models.
It's probably easier to illustrate the consistency of our approach (compared to the Biggies you mentioned) by discussing chassis design. We still form and weld up a fortress like boxed chassis for every amp, because it's solid, reliable and of visually superior quality. Powder coat or chrome the whole thing... hand screen the label nomenclature... use threaded mounting hardware instead of wood screws into particle board... You get the idea. Most amps built today eliminate much of the forming, all of the welding, the plating, painting and screening. That's OK for a beginner amp because it can get someone playing for cheap, but again, that's not what we do.
TQR: We love the Lone Star for what it can do, but it's a heavy rig. Older players working clubs seem to gravitate toward lightweight, more portable amps... Have you considered building a light weight 1x12 version of the Lone Star?
Another great question we seem to have anticipated. Let me lay it out this way: Aluminum costs five times as much as steel, but aluminum is what we've used for the Lone Star chassis. The grain-oriented silicon steel we use in the transformers costs way more than the usual magnetic iron, but it sheds weight from the transformers. We still use our marine grade Baltic Birch ply in the Lone Star's cabinetry, but a thinner dimension with added shear bracing in the back and speaker baffle.
And the bottom line is that the big Lone Star weighs less than all its tube competitors, including the Trem Cat, Bogner Shiva or Fender Pro Verb, even though they offer 40% to70% less power. Again, I don't mean to sound like I'm picking on them — we're happy there is enough interest in amplifiers that there's plenty of room for all of us. I merely want to point out that, despite the Lone Star's reasonable price, we've used many of the most expensive materials in order to make the weight absolutely minimal for the power and oversized cabinetry. And since those are qualities that don't show, I appreciate being allowed to point them out. If combo weight is a real issue for a player, we offer the Lone Star 1x12 in the compact cab (similar to the original Mark I dimensions) that weighs just 58 lbs. The others mentioned above are in the mid 70 pound range.
At 100 Watts, the Lone Star is a manly amplifier with enough clean headroom to play anywhere — maybe more than some players need. So, let me preview the Lone Star Special due out around the end of the year. Featuring four EL-84 power tubes instead of four 6L6's, the Special also weighs much less because its transformers are smaller. Like its big brother, the Special offers channel assignable power levels (patent pending) but instead of 50 or 100 watts, the Special lets you assign 30, 15 or 5 pure Class A watts per channel. That five watt position is especially cool because the amp switches from push-pull to single-ended operation (patent also applied for). That's a little trickier than just turning off three of the'84s.
Unlike push-pull, where even-order harmonics cancel each other and disappear in the output transformer, single-ended provides a sound rich in second harmonics — the warmest, juiciest of them all. This is an amp with incredible low wattage nuance for individual playing or recording that can also kick up to formidable gigging power. In the push-pull 15 and 30 watt positions, the odd order harmonics tend to prevail (as always in push-pull) and these improve the amp's ability to punch and sting its way through a live mix. And by switching the impedance, a full 38 clean watts is available, although the lower power sounds aren't quite as good. This is one exciting amp and I can't wait to get my hands on the next prototype circuit boards so we can build four or five more of them before finalizing the whole design. By the way, I've been working on a technical article that tries to explain Class A, push-pull and all that technical stuff in simple language that musicians can understand. It may be on our web site by the time your readers get this issue. Just trying to write it has helped me understand these things better myself...
TQR: What was your inspiration for the Lone Star? What did you want to do differently with this amp in particular?
There were really three things that got the Lone Star started: We wanted to offer a clean sound that could serve on stage with our Rectifiers; we wanted to show our traditional customers that we hadn't abandoned our original roots since the popularity of those Rectifiers has somewhat re-cast our image as amp builders; and last, I wanted to offer an updated version of the Mark I — not a faithful recreation of the original as the Reissue is — but start with a clean sheet of paper and add all I've learned over 30 years. One thing those years have taught me is a growing ability to make the complex become simpler. The Lone Star cops all the virtues of the Mark I, but it works better as a true two channel amp. It's simpler to understand and operate, it footswitches well, and so on.
You ask what I did differently and I believe two things: one, lots of it is just evolutionary improvement, like the effects loop. Each new model seems to have a slightly better loop. They're still hard-bypassable, meaning both send and return tubes plus the controls and other elements are completely eliminated for instant comparison with the direct signal path, but each one gets a little more transparent and pure. Some things, like the channel-assignable power switching arebreak-through good ideas. But the other big difference from the Mark I is my pal Doug West (a.k.a. Tone Boy and our R&D specialist for 20 years). He wasn't around for the Mark I design, although he bought one when he was only 11 years old! We just push each other day after week after month running down the subtleties of precious tonal nuance, like the reverb. Other than the obvious, like the Bright/Warm Reverb switch, I really can't tell you why it sounds so much better in the Lone Star, other than it just got noodled to death and we got lucky. We just use our ears.
TQR: From your perspective, what trends and preferences seem to be emerging among players today? How has the market changed during the past few years and how are you serving those changing needs, specifically?"
The best thing is the guitar players themselves. I love 'em! They've given me a purpose in life and the opportunity to do something I love. That pretty much goes for all the major fellas at the shop — Jim, Doug, Steve and Tien, to name just four. We live to serve musicians and work real hard to meet(or exceed) their expectations. Since I don't play guitar myself, I don't have an axe to grind stylistically. Doug and I were laughing about the contrasts... Here we are working back to back on the 5 watt Lone Star Special and the monster Stiletto Trident — 150 watts of moshing EL-34 madness — sometimes both on the same day (Lone Star first, of course).
You couldn't get two more divergent styles or sounds, or circuits. And as I joked, who would guess they come from a guy who really wants to sound like Bill Evans playing a great Steinway! But without Doug, it wouldn't be possible. He plays any style guitar with burning conviction, incredible patience and no ego — he's totally devoted to the tones. He and I have worked together so long that we've developed a language and a technique for developing tone and circuitry. Some days are frustrating, others rewarding, some totally inspirational. I'd say it's like most artistic undertakings.
TQR: Where is your imagination going to take us in the next few years?
Besides working on the Lone Star Special, we're just starting to build the first Stiletto Deuces. They'll be followed in a couple of months by the Tridents. These are our version of the British classics and our spin on the legendary EL-34. We're trying to deliver the classic 'Eddie' tones, among others. But the only pattern here is to keep doing what we've always been doing and that's trying to make more players happy by coming up with amplifiers dedicated to different musical styles. Each new design borrows from all the past ones, teaches us more and propels the whole thing forward by suggesting more new possibilities. We're not even close to running out of ideas or enthusiasm. We see it as serving all the different musical styles. It seems to me that most styles of playing exist simultaneously and the trends have more to do with which ones get more popular attention at any given time. The styles themselves are all equally valid as far as I'm concerned. Some can be seen to evolve, while others, like the Blues, are pretty well established as classics.
I think most people (and musicians especially), undergo a musical awakening at some point in their lives. They hear some piece of music and it really resonates with them, they really hear for the first time, it makes a connection and it somehow imprints into their psyche and becomes an important part of their identity. Then, throughout the rest of their lives, that particular style is likely to remain their favorite for all time, never mind if it's no longer trendy. What's so hip about guitar is the number and breadth of different styles available from one instrument. And it's largely the amplifier that sets apart the individual sounds and styles and makes them possible. You can play a lot of different musical styles on an acoustic piano, but the instrument always sounds the same. Compare that to electric guitar where the amplifier is at least half of the total instrument, because it's what you actually hear — not the plucked strings. Amplifiers and styles emerge and evolve hand in hand. Blues and rock sounds came from 'turning up too loud' — especially an amp like the4x10 Bassman, which was touted for its lack of distortion. Ever heard anyone use one for bass? Me neither.
But we've moved on past the unexpected and unintended uses of amplification to the point where the amp is literally a serious musical instrument all by itself. Specs and 'scopes and all that don't matter one bit. You go for a sound, or several sounds. And there is such a great interest in guitars and amps by such a great number of people that it stays fun and exciting. As far as the future, those young guys who were imprinted by a Recto sound at an early age will be wanting to get one of their own as they grow older. The Lone Star pays tribute to the sounds that first hooked us and so many other guys, some middle age now and older, who are still interested in possessing those classic sounds that first seduced them. This is the Tone Quest.
TQR: We've read the usual lore about the development of the original Mark I — that you "gutted a Princeton Reverb and turned it into a 100W amp by hanging huge transformers on it, etc..." Lately we have even heard people speculating on which came first... the Dumble Overdrive Special or the Mark I, and is one amp derivative of the other? Can you set the record straight on your inspiration for the Mk?
Wow. Big Question. Let me try to keep the answer short. The first Princeton Boogies were hot-rodded 4x10 Bassman and Twin type amps built to look totally stock inside the Princeton cabs, including a 12-inch JBL or Altec speaker. Santana's was probably the most famous of the hundred plus I made, although the first was for Barry Melton (of Country Joe and the Fish) and it was built as a practical joke! Even with the increase in power and gain, Carlos still asked for an amp that would sustain a note even better and longer. He hated it when he tried to hold a note and it died out. As he said, in some halls, some nights some notes would sustain but what a drag when they didn't.
Around this time I was asked by Lee Michaels if I could come up with a musical sounding pre-amp for his new Crown DC-300 power amps. Lee was always a dreamer and a wild man — always exploring wacky new projects. Matter of fact, he had just built a go kart you laid down in with two chain saw motors strapped to a solid rear axle right between your ears. He took it out to Sears Point (our Sonoma road race track now more famous for NASCAR) and passed a Ferrari that had just won at Daytona! When his record company heard about that, their insurance forbade him from ever driving it again! Anyway, he told me how all these other companies he listed had made pre-amps for the Crowns that just couldn't drive it right. Luckily, I wasn't hampered by knowing anything about the specs or having any formal engineering, so I started with a trusty Fender-based pre-amp but added another tube for an additional gain stage because I didn't know what it took to drive the Crown. Then, to hedge my bets and make this pre-amp controllable, I put in three gain controls at various points along the circuit.
When I finally took the thing over to Lee's big home studio, he accidentally plugged the preamp output right into this 4x12 cab. Well, we kept turning it up and up because we could hear a little faint sound — but no more. With my tail severely between my legs, I started to unplug it and head for home when I noticed it wasn't plugged in right. I switched the cords around, got it right, and asked Lee to hit a chord. Now picture the two of our bodies being blown across the studio floor and right into the back wall! We still had the preamp jacked waaaay up and when all that signal hit the 600 watt Crown, it was like an explosion! But the amazing thing was, it had TONE! We got to adjusting those three gain controls and found there were amazing things you could do by altering the settings. You could go from the loudest, cleanest Fender sound ever heard into these new realms of overdrive performance that were never heard before. Single notes could be made to sustain forever, even at soft volumes, and power chords were just ridiculous. Lee wasn't a great guitarist —remember, he was really a keyboard guy, but he played with a great rock and roll attitude and that amp delivered the shit in spades!
That, I believe, was the birth of high-gain. Here's what I mean: You can take a typical Fender-style preamp and hot rod it, increasing the gain among other things. But while you can get a 50% or 100% increase in gain, that's about all that configuration can support, and meanwhile, you're compromising the original tonal characteristics to get that additional gain. With this new circuit, you could retain the original characteristics and instead of one hundred percent more gain, you could dial up almost one hundred times more gain. And that was the key to this new realm of sonic performance. Balancing those three controls shifted the emphasis on various parts of the circuit and provided gain and saturation in any amount, anywhere you wanted, and could do so independent of playing loudness.
The next day I realized that this kind of circuit should solve Santana's problem with sustain, so I built one up in a Princeton-sized 1x12 combo package with four 6L6's and covered it with Snakeskin. It still had the Level control, which was the final output and all of the gain stages were online all the time. Later, to make it easier to operate and understand, I put the last stage first with two tricky switching jacks so a player could access either a pretty traditional Fender preamp or, by plugging into Input 1, get the added performance of that first Gain stage. That became the Mark I. I still remember the moment that solution popped into my mind: my hair stood on end and I had a little shiver. I still live for those break-through moments when something clicks in your brain. It's like a mini orgasm of the visionary type and suddenly you see something in a new and different way.
As far as Dumble, I don't know much. I've never been inside of one of his amps, although I hear they're all gooped up to prevent copying and that they are built on printed circuit boards. I did run across a hand-drawn block diagram somewhere — I don't know — Gerald Weber's book or Aspen's — of an Overdrive Special and it looked to me like the functional equivalent of a Mark II. The configuration was the same, deriving the overdrive the same way, had the controls and internal switches in the same locations and so on. Howard no doubt has his own ways of doing things and makes great amps, so many of the parts values and such could be different, or the whole thing could be different for all I know. Really, my only exposure to his amps is that one block diagram, although I did meet him briefly in 1973 or'74 when we were both trying to straighten out Neil Young's stage rig of six tweed Fenders all turned to ten which picked up horrendous buzzing from the light dimmers. Howard said he had a solution, but he wouldn't show Neil until he was paid $1000 up front. He had this huge resistor box — I mean there were a couple of wire-wound ceramic resistors about two feet long. I was pretty intimidated and I wanted to see what it would do, but Neil wouldn't pay first and Howard wouldn't try it without first getting paid. After he left, I was up next. I tried putting some ground-lift plug adaptors like you get at the hardware store on five of Neil's six amps and disconnected all but one of the ground switches. That seemed to cure the buzz. Then one night when I was sound asleep, Neil's road manager, an ex-Green Beret named Leo Makota, called and told me to pack my tools and drive to SF airport where they had a first class ticket for a red-eye to Chicago, then on to Madison. When I started to protest, he said firmly,"You WILL be there. I'm hanging up now." At dawn on a snowy morning, bleary eyed in Madison, a chauffeur in uniform snatched my tool box off the luggage conveyor just as I started to reach for it, then led me toward a block long limo parked in front. As we approached, the rear door swung open and when I got there, Leo held out this huge buck knife with a giant line of coke running its entire length. "Here," he said."You're going to need this!" That was the Harvest Tour and baby, it was big time rock and roll!
Our interview is followed by reviews of two amps — the reissue of the classic Mark I and the newest 1x12 model from Mesa — the Lone Star.
TQR: After years of ignoring the hand-wired, vintage reissue 'boutique' market, companies like Fender, Vox and Marshall are now building expensive, handwired point-to-point versions of the AC30, Plexi 100W, 18W and 20W Marshalls and the '57 Twin and blackface Vibroverb. Is there another reissue of the Mark I in our future?
Great question, and a great jumping-off point for this discussion. Not only is that future already here, it's in our past and present as well! We've been offering a reissue of our Mark I for something like ten years now, so that's how the future has already come to pass. Or the past is still available in the present... And although there are similarities between the Mark I and the Lone Star, there are enough differences that we will continue into the future to offer both — at least for the present time.
You hit so many buzzwords in that one question that I think we can launch into this conversation from that single vantage point. Or should I say, vintage point? As far as the word 'boutique' and the mini-industry that term implies, it's often been said that the Mark I was the world's first boutique amp. That's certainly not something I was aware of at the time, though, and the fact that we still make it more than 30 years later is a testament to its musical abilities, never mind its having originated the concept of high-gain. In that respect, the Mark I is the transitional piece connecting the 'pre-gain' amps we now call vintage with the 'modern' (or 'post-vintage') amps that start with the Mark II, which was the world's first channel switching, dual mode design. And yes, the Mark I reissue is built just like the originals were, on printed circuit boards! No need for what we think is that "overly expensive and tonally inconsistent" point-to-point wiring; we only use that when it serves a demonstrable purpose, such as adding to the amp's life by making it easily serviceable. As you know, some parts on an amp wear out from use. We just had an amp in for service 23 years to the exact day after it was built. All it needed were some tubes, a couple of pots and some capacitors replaced, which was easily done, and now it's back to its original owner for more 4-night a week gigging. It made Mike Bendinelli (our chief technician for 30 years and first employee!) and me happy to see that old warrior still going strong and we're not about to sacrifice that kind of built-in longevity and the satisfaction it gave us. Where we use point-to-point in our construction we call it "flying leads," as wires coming from the pc boards are hand soldered to the pots, some of the jacks, transformers, etc.
But there's no 'point-to-point' in our past that was abandoned for printed circuitry — just a relentless dedication to honing the craft (and artistry) of circuit-plus-circuit-board design as integral and inseparable parts of the whole amplifier. Over the years, many people have suggested we build some super expensive point-to-point, extra-custom models. We won't, because that would falsely imply one of two things: either that we think there is something better about point-to-point(we don't) or that we think our customers deserve to be charged extra for something we don't think is better, like the Emperor's New Clothes (and we don't think that either.)
Now please don't think I'm just trying to slam the point-to-point boutique industry, because p-t-p has its place. And making small numbers of simple(r) amps is that place. Believe me, I could personally hand-wire a couple hundred simple amps in less time than I spend on a major printed circuit board design!
But once it's done, we can offer consistent tone from amp to amp and offer more useable features at a price more players can afford, and that's the route we've chosen from the start. Bear in mind — we've always been completely unwilling to sacrifice tone for any reason, least of all economy. And just like there are no super-expensive minimalist amps we make, neither do we offer any really cheap ones either! We just can't do that. We have our standards of construction and they're the same for all models.
It's probably easier to illustrate the consistency of our approach (compared to the Biggies you mentioned) by discussing chassis design. We still form and weld up a fortress like boxed chassis for every amp, because it's solid, reliable and of visually superior quality. Powder coat or chrome the whole thing... hand screen the label nomenclature... use threaded mounting hardware instead of wood screws into particle board... You get the idea. Most amps built today eliminate much of the forming, all of the welding, the plating, painting and screening. That's OK for a beginner amp because it can get someone playing for cheap, but again, that's not what we do.
TQR: We love the Lone Star for what it can do, but it's a heavy rig. Older players working clubs seem to gravitate toward lightweight, more portable amps... Have you considered building a light weight 1x12 version of the Lone Star?
Another great question we seem to have anticipated. Let me lay it out this way: Aluminum costs five times as much as steel, but aluminum is what we've used for the Lone Star chassis. The grain-oriented silicon steel we use in the transformers costs way more than the usual magnetic iron, but it sheds weight from the transformers. We still use our marine grade Baltic Birch ply in the Lone Star's cabinetry, but a thinner dimension with added shear bracing in the back and speaker baffle.
And the bottom line is that the big Lone Star weighs less than all its tube competitors, including the Trem Cat, Bogner Shiva or Fender Pro Verb, even though they offer 40% to70% less power. Again, I don't mean to sound like I'm picking on them — we're happy there is enough interest in amplifiers that there's plenty of room for all of us. I merely want to point out that, despite the Lone Star's reasonable price, we've used many of the most expensive materials in order to make the weight absolutely minimal for the power and oversized cabinetry. And since those are qualities that don't show, I appreciate being allowed to point them out. If combo weight is a real issue for a player, we offer the Lone Star 1x12 in the compact cab (similar to the original Mark I dimensions) that weighs just 58 lbs. The others mentioned above are in the mid 70 pound range.
At 100 Watts, the Lone Star is a manly amplifier with enough clean headroom to play anywhere — maybe more than some players need. So, let me preview the Lone Star Special due out around the end of the year. Featuring four EL-84 power tubes instead of four 6L6's, the Special also weighs much less because its transformers are smaller. Like its big brother, the Special offers channel assignable power levels (patent pending) but instead of 50 or 100 watts, the Special lets you assign 30, 15 or 5 pure Class A watts per channel. That five watt position is especially cool because the amp switches from push-pull to single-ended operation (patent also applied for). That's a little trickier than just turning off three of the'84s.
Unlike push-pull, where even-order harmonics cancel each other and disappear in the output transformer, single-ended provides a sound rich in second harmonics — the warmest, juiciest of them all. This is an amp with incredible low wattage nuance for individual playing or recording that can also kick up to formidable gigging power. In the push-pull 15 and 30 watt positions, the odd order harmonics tend to prevail (as always in push-pull) and these improve the amp's ability to punch and sting its way through a live mix. And by switching the impedance, a full 38 clean watts is available, although the lower power sounds aren't quite as good. This is one exciting amp and I can't wait to get my hands on the next prototype circuit boards so we can build four or five more of them before finalizing the whole design. By the way, I've been working on a technical article that tries to explain Class A, push-pull and all that technical stuff in simple language that musicians can understand. It may be on our web site by the time your readers get this issue. Just trying to write it has helped me understand these things better myself...
TQR: What was your inspiration for the Lone Star? What did you want to do differently with this amp in particular?
There were really three things that got the Lone Star started: We wanted to offer a clean sound that could serve on stage with our Rectifiers; we wanted to show our traditional customers that we hadn't abandoned our original roots since the popularity of those Rectifiers has somewhat re-cast our image as amp builders; and last, I wanted to offer an updated version of the Mark I — not a faithful recreation of the original as the Reissue is — but start with a clean sheet of paper and add all I've learned over 30 years. One thing those years have taught me is a growing ability to make the complex become simpler. The Lone Star cops all the virtues of the Mark I, but it works better as a true two channel amp. It's simpler to understand and operate, it footswitches well, and so on.
You ask what I did differently and I believe two things: one, lots of it is just evolutionary improvement, like the effects loop. Each new model seems to have a slightly better loop. They're still hard-bypassable, meaning both send and return tubes plus the controls and other elements are completely eliminated for instant comparison with the direct signal path, but each one gets a little more transparent and pure. Some things, like the channel-assignable power switching arebreak-through good ideas. But the other big difference from the Mark I is my pal Doug West (a.k.a. Tone Boy and our R&D specialist for 20 years). He wasn't around for the Mark I design, although he bought one when he was only 11 years old! We just push each other day after week after month running down the subtleties of precious tonal nuance, like the reverb. Other than the obvious, like the Bright/Warm Reverb switch, I really can't tell you why it sounds so much better in the Lone Star, other than it just got noodled to death and we got lucky. We just use our ears.
TQR: From your perspective, what trends and preferences seem to be emerging among players today? How has the market changed during the past few years and how are you serving those changing needs, specifically?"
The best thing is the guitar players themselves. I love 'em! They've given me a purpose in life and the opportunity to do something I love. That pretty much goes for all the major fellas at the shop — Jim, Doug, Steve and Tien, to name just four. We live to serve musicians and work real hard to meet(or exceed) their expectations. Since I don't play guitar myself, I don't have an axe to grind stylistically. Doug and I were laughing about the contrasts... Here we are working back to back on the 5 watt Lone Star Special and the monster Stiletto Trident — 150 watts of moshing EL-34 madness — sometimes both on the same day (Lone Star first, of course).
You couldn't get two more divergent styles or sounds, or circuits. And as I joked, who would guess they come from a guy who really wants to sound like Bill Evans playing a great Steinway! But without Doug, it wouldn't be possible. He plays any style guitar with burning conviction, incredible patience and no ego — he's totally devoted to the tones. He and I have worked together so long that we've developed a language and a technique for developing tone and circuitry. Some days are frustrating, others rewarding, some totally inspirational. I'd say it's like most artistic undertakings.
TQR: Where is your imagination going to take us in the next few years?
Besides working on the Lone Star Special, we're just starting to build the first Stiletto Deuces. They'll be followed in a couple of months by the Tridents. These are our version of the British classics and our spin on the legendary EL-34. We're trying to deliver the classic 'Eddie' tones, among others. But the only pattern here is to keep doing what we've always been doing and that's trying to make more players happy by coming up with amplifiers dedicated to different musical styles. Each new design borrows from all the past ones, teaches us more and propels the whole thing forward by suggesting more new possibilities. We're not even close to running out of ideas or enthusiasm. We see it as serving all the different musical styles. It seems to me that most styles of playing exist simultaneously and the trends have more to do with which ones get more popular attention at any given time. The styles themselves are all equally valid as far as I'm concerned. Some can be seen to evolve, while others, like the Blues, are pretty well established as classics.
I think most people (and musicians especially), undergo a musical awakening at some point in their lives. They hear some piece of music and it really resonates with them, they really hear for the first time, it makes a connection and it somehow imprints into their psyche and becomes an important part of their identity. Then, throughout the rest of their lives, that particular style is likely to remain their favorite for all time, never mind if it's no longer trendy. What's so hip about guitar is the number and breadth of different styles available from one instrument. And it's largely the amplifier that sets apart the individual sounds and styles and makes them possible. You can play a lot of different musical styles on an acoustic piano, but the instrument always sounds the same. Compare that to electric guitar where the amplifier is at least half of the total instrument, because it's what you actually hear — not the plucked strings. Amplifiers and styles emerge and evolve hand in hand. Blues and rock sounds came from 'turning up too loud' — especially an amp like the4x10 Bassman, which was touted for its lack of distortion. Ever heard anyone use one for bass? Me neither.
But we've moved on past the unexpected and unintended uses of amplification to the point where the amp is literally a serious musical instrument all by itself. Specs and 'scopes and all that don't matter one bit. You go for a sound, or several sounds. And there is such a great interest in guitars and amps by such a great number of people that it stays fun and exciting. As far as the future, those young guys who were imprinted by a Recto sound at an early age will be wanting to get one of their own as they grow older. The Lone Star pays tribute to the sounds that first hooked us and so many other guys, some middle age now and older, who are still interested in possessing those classic sounds that first seduced them. This is the Tone Quest.
TQR: We've read the usual lore about the development of the original Mark I — that you "gutted a Princeton Reverb and turned it into a 100W amp by hanging huge transformers on it, etc..." Lately we have even heard people speculating on which came first... the Dumble Overdrive Special or the Mark I, and is one amp derivative of the other? Can you set the record straight on your inspiration for the Mk?
Wow. Big Question. Let me try to keep the answer short. The first Princeton Boogies were hot-rodded 4x10 Bassman and Twin type amps built to look totally stock inside the Princeton cabs, including a 12-inch JBL or Altec speaker. Santana's was probably the most famous of the hundred plus I made, although the first was for Barry Melton (of Country Joe and the Fish) and it was built as a practical joke! Even with the increase in power and gain, Carlos still asked for an amp that would sustain a note even better and longer. He hated it when he tried to hold a note and it died out. As he said, in some halls, some nights some notes would sustain but what a drag when they didn't.
Around this time I was asked by Lee Michaels if I could come up with a musical sounding pre-amp for his new Crown DC-300 power amps. Lee was always a dreamer and a wild man — always exploring wacky new projects. Matter of fact, he had just built a go kart you laid down in with two chain saw motors strapped to a solid rear axle right between your ears. He took it out to Sears Point (our Sonoma road race track now more famous for NASCAR) and passed a Ferrari that had just won at Daytona! When his record company heard about that, their insurance forbade him from ever driving it again! Anyway, he told me how all these other companies he listed had made pre-amps for the Crowns that just couldn't drive it right. Luckily, I wasn't hampered by knowing anything about the specs or having any formal engineering, so I started with a trusty Fender-based pre-amp but added another tube for an additional gain stage because I didn't know what it took to drive the Crown. Then, to hedge my bets and make this pre-amp controllable, I put in three gain controls at various points along the circuit.
When I finally took the thing over to Lee's big home studio, he accidentally plugged the preamp output right into this 4x12 cab. Well, we kept turning it up and up because we could hear a little faint sound — but no more. With my tail severely between my legs, I started to unplug it and head for home when I noticed it wasn't plugged in right. I switched the cords around, got it right, and asked Lee to hit a chord. Now picture the two of our bodies being blown across the studio floor and right into the back wall! We still had the preamp jacked waaaay up and when all that signal hit the 600 watt Crown, it was like an explosion! But the amazing thing was, it had TONE! We got to adjusting those three gain controls and found there were amazing things you could do by altering the settings. You could go from the loudest, cleanest Fender sound ever heard into these new realms of overdrive performance that were never heard before. Single notes could be made to sustain forever, even at soft volumes, and power chords were just ridiculous. Lee wasn't a great guitarist —remember, he was really a keyboard guy, but he played with a great rock and roll attitude and that amp delivered the shit in spades!
That, I believe, was the birth of high-gain. Here's what I mean: You can take a typical Fender-style preamp and hot rod it, increasing the gain among other things. But while you can get a 50% or 100% increase in gain, that's about all that configuration can support, and meanwhile, you're compromising the original tonal characteristics to get that additional gain. With this new circuit, you could retain the original characteristics and instead of one hundred percent more gain, you could dial up almost one hundred times more gain. And that was the key to this new realm of sonic performance. Balancing those three controls shifted the emphasis on various parts of the circuit and provided gain and saturation in any amount, anywhere you wanted, and could do so independent of playing loudness.
The next day I realized that this kind of circuit should solve Santana's problem with sustain, so I built one up in a Princeton-sized 1x12 combo package with four 6L6's and covered it with Snakeskin. It still had the Level control, which was the final output and all of the gain stages were online all the time. Later, to make it easier to operate and understand, I put the last stage first with two tricky switching jacks so a player could access either a pretty traditional Fender preamp or, by plugging into Input 1, get the added performance of that first Gain stage. That became the Mark I. I still remember the moment that solution popped into my mind: my hair stood on end and I had a little shiver. I still live for those break-through moments when something clicks in your brain. It's like a mini orgasm of the visionary type and suddenly you see something in a new and different way.
As far as Dumble, I don't know much. I've never been inside of one of his amps, although I hear they're all gooped up to prevent copying and that they are built on printed circuit boards. I did run across a hand-drawn block diagram somewhere — I don't know — Gerald Weber's book or Aspen's — of an Overdrive Special and it looked to me like the functional equivalent of a Mark II. The configuration was the same, deriving the overdrive the same way, had the controls and internal switches in the same locations and so on. Howard no doubt has his own ways of doing things and makes great amps, so many of the parts values and such could be different, or the whole thing could be different for all I know. Really, my only exposure to his amps is that one block diagram, although I did meet him briefly in 1973 or'74 when we were both trying to straighten out Neil Young's stage rig of six tweed Fenders all turned to ten which picked up horrendous buzzing from the light dimmers. Howard said he had a solution, but he wouldn't show Neil until he was paid $1000 up front. He had this huge resistor box — I mean there were a couple of wire-wound ceramic resistors about two feet long. I was pretty intimidated and I wanted to see what it would do, but Neil wouldn't pay first and Howard wouldn't try it without first getting paid. After he left, I was up next. I tried putting some ground-lift plug adaptors like you get at the hardware store on five of Neil's six amps and disconnected all but one of the ground switches. That seemed to cure the buzz. Then one night when I was sound asleep, Neil's road manager, an ex-Green Beret named Leo Makota, called and told me to pack my tools and drive to SF airport where they had a first class ticket for a red-eye to Chicago, then on to Madison. When I started to protest, he said firmly,"You WILL be there. I'm hanging up now." At dawn on a snowy morning, bleary eyed in Madison, a chauffeur in uniform snatched my tool box off the luggage conveyor just as I started to reach for it, then led me toward a block long limo parked in front. As we approached, the rear door swung open and when I got there, Leo held out this huge buck knife with a giant line of coke running its entire length. "Here," he said."You're going to need this!" That was the Harvest Tour and baby, it was big time rock and roll!
