#Fender bandmaster head serial number#
#Fender bandmaster head driver#

Hiwatt went out of business in the early 1980s and the name was sold. They were essentially the same amps Reeves was making under his Hiwatt brand, just re-branded. Sound City branded amplifiers and speaker cabinets were designed by Hiwatt founder Dave Reeves and built by his Hylight Electronics business for Ivor Arbiter's Sound City store. In the beginning of his Pink Floyd tenure he used a Sound City L100 before switching to Hiwatts. Gilmour has also used the 50w DR504/Custom 50 and SA212 combo models. A vintage 1970s Hiwatt DR-103/Custom 100 would be the ultimate foundational amp for most Gilmour tones. Since 1969 the Hiwatt has been very much associated with Gilmour's live and studio tones up to Pink Floyd's The Final Cut album in 1983, and his later solo work and live concerts from 2006 onward. Hiwatt SA212 Custom 50 combo amplifier and Gilmour's SA212 with Fane Crescendo speakers from his Medina studio in 2014 ĭavid Gilmour's Custom Hiwatt 100/DR103 and Custom Hiwatt 50/DR504 amplifiers, both with linked input channel modifications For a great buyers guide to Gilmourish sounding amps, please visit. Sending a Big Muff or distortion pedal into a dirty and distorted amp generally sounds bad for Gilmour tones, but there are cases where David has done exactly that to create a blend of tones.

#Fender bandmaster head driver#

Pedals like the Big Muff, Fuzz Face, and Tube Driver seem to react with and sound much better with that style of amp.

Those are the amp tones with sound frequencies that work best for a Gilmour rig. You may have heard of the famous Fender 'bell' tone or the Hiwatt 'chime'. Solid state amps will work, as long as they are clean, but real tube amps sound better in my opinion. There are exceptions, but the clean channels in many classic Marshalls or Vox amps are not the best foundational amps for Gilmour tones. Those were often blended with the sound of a regular amp/cab, so they were used like a modulation effect, in a similar manner as David has used modulation effect pedals like the Uni-vibe, Electric Mistress, and Boss chorus.ĭavid uses pedals to create his overdrives and distortions and to color his clean tones, so it is important that the basic foundational amp tone be relatively clean as that is what everything else is filtered through. Another amp type David has used both in the studio and on stage are rotary speaker cabinets and rotary amps like the Leslie 147, Maestro Rover, Leslie G27, and the Yamaha RA-100. He has also used a 1977 era Mesa/Boogie Mark I, '86 Gallien-Krueger 250ML, Seymour Duncan Conterible 100 combos, a late '50s Magnatone 260 2x12 combo, several small Alessandro amp heads, and a 1950s-60s Gibson GA-20T Ranger combo. Another way was when he giggged and recorded throughout the 1990s with a stereo rig consisting of a pair of 59 Fender Bassman combo reissues and a pair of Hiwatt SA212 combos. The Alembic was basically a Fender Twin/Fender Showman preamp, so this was a way of combining the Fender preamp tone circuit and Hiwatt power amp tones. In a few instances (19) he has used an Alembic F2-B preamp in place of the preamp stage of his Hiwatt amps. He has also used those in the recording studio, as well as a '72-74 Dual Showman Reverb, '56-58 Tweed Twin-Amp, 1982-86 Super Champ, '55 Bandmaster, '50s Tweed Deluxe, Tremolux, and a Champ. David has used numerous Fenders on stage, such as the silverface Twin Reverb, '83 Concert Combo, '83 Twin Reverb II, a pair of 1990s 59 Bassmans, and a tweed Bandmaster. Hiwatt Clean and Overdrive Tones - early 1970s Gilmour Hiwatt tonesĪ Hiwatt is what I recommend Gilmour afficionados start with, but there are many other options, such as Fender amps. Below is a soundclip of various Gilmour clean and overdrive amp tones, beginning with David's early1970s Hiwatt tones. If any amp can be said to be a defining one for Gilmour tones, it is the Hiwatt.

#Fender bandmaster head serial number#

It is also known as the Custom Hiwatt 100, from the name on the control plate, and the AP, or 'All Purpose' model, from the AP type designation on the serial number plate. David has used a variety of clean amps in the studio and performing live, but the most well known type he has used is the 100w Hiwatt DR103 model. Most tube amplifier circuits distort more as volume is increased, which alters the pedal tone. This is important because most of Gilmour's distortion and overdrive tones come from pedals, not the amp. 'Clean' meaning the sound does not break up or distort very much, and 'headroom' meaning it remains clean at high volume. TYPES OF AMPLIFIERS - For amplification, David Gilmour typically uses clean, real tube amplifiers with lots of headroom. I've got Fender amps, tiny little things, that sound enormous sometimes if you get them in the right place' - David from Guitar Player Magazine, 1984 And little amps only work in little rooms. 'I've found that if you use a big amp, it only works in big rooms.