Uh-Oh. HOT button!!!
One of the best!!
His Strat was a testament to dedication. I saw him live 3 times and everytime he played his heart out like it was his first and last gig. He used the Strat most of the time, the Tele for slide (excellent slide player BTW),
a mandolin (true to his Irish roots) and I think a Martin (also excellent acoustic player). He was using little Fender amps all the times I saw him, not sure which models but definitely Blackface. I saw a post (plexi palace, I think) which reportedly had pics of Rory's AC30. I even saw him on TV when his Fender head erupted in flames! I know for sure he used some sort of treble booster (common practice then).
Just read a great book written by his long time Bass player, Gerry McAvoy. Brian May is qouted "The first time I heard Rory play I knew that's the setup I needed. I had to have THAT tone." Sounds to me like he found it! So the AC30 thing could be true. Rory was even bigger than I remember. Won Best Guitarist in GP one year. He was so big that his funeral packed the church and streets outside. Supposedly The Edge and Adam Clayton had to observe from the street. They couldn't even get in.
I have that vid. As good as it is it doesn't do him justice. You have to get
Rory Gallagher Live In Europe CD. It's by far my favorite. He opens with a version of Messin With The Kid that drips of outrageous tone. For years I swore that could NOT be a Strat and an AC30. He puts in some nice bitchin acoustic finger picking and rabble rousing, beer drinking Irish mandolin as well.
Most of his early studio cuts are great. My favorite is Calling Card. Can't go wrong there!
BTW (Dan) the first thing I thought of when I plugged my Rory Strat into my new TMB boost and cranked my AC30 I thought "Holy SHIT!!! A strat CAN sound like that through an AC30. It was pure "Meesin" tone.
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