Jimi Hendrix' Gear and Mods at West Coast Organ and Amp
Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 1:49 pm
Alright, here it is, the rest of the story about Jimi's gear, his mods, and whatever else we did at West Coast Organ and Amplifier Service to help him get his sound and keep his band running.
If you want to know anything about it, please ask. I won't know every detail of every gig, but maybe between what you all have been able to find out and deduce from the study of all his performances and other forums, we can make pretty good guesses about what went down.
I can tell you that Jimi was process, I'd do a mod, it would go into the field, Jimi would tell me what happened (sometimes the amp would tell me), and then things would be changed to try to become more in line with Jimi's vision, which was also changing as his career went along. Mods were done over and over, some he liked and we kept. Other techs did other mods, mostly on the east coast, and we were not in communication about what was changed on either side. Sometimes I'd get an amp back and look inside and go "what the hell is this?"
I believe the wildest amp mods were mine, no one I saw took them quite as far, and a lot of other techs didn't want to touch them. As far as I know, all the amps, pedals and effects were modded to some degree or another, with particularly good amps being left mostly intact, often leaving them more vulnerable to blowing up on stage.
It's tough to get everything you want and still have it be robust enough to play it live.
From what I've heard, some of the original amps are still around, although it appears that they have been returned to stock, which is kind of a shame because that wasn't what Jimi used to get this or that sound at any given performance.
There is a thread on "The Next Level" about the "Governor" amp, if that was really it which was being sold, and there was an article on "Musicplayer.com" which had listed all the serial numbers of the amps Marshall shipped to us for Jimi's '69 tour, only the page has now been removed, the dreaded "404" error.
I guess the numbers were listed in the March 2005 issue under the heading "The Gear of Jimi Hendrix".
Maybe some of you have seen it or have copies of it.
Any other info you might have to expand the story would be helpful too, so throw in whatever you know about, it might make me remember some forgotten detail.
Fire away!
DW
If you want to know anything about it, please ask. I won't know every detail of every gig, but maybe between what you all have been able to find out and deduce from the study of all his performances and other forums, we can make pretty good guesses about what went down.
I can tell you that Jimi was process, I'd do a mod, it would go into the field, Jimi would tell me what happened (sometimes the amp would tell me), and then things would be changed to try to become more in line with Jimi's vision, which was also changing as his career went along. Mods were done over and over, some he liked and we kept. Other techs did other mods, mostly on the east coast, and we were not in communication about what was changed on either side. Sometimes I'd get an amp back and look inside and go "what the hell is this?"
I believe the wildest amp mods were mine, no one I saw took them quite as far, and a lot of other techs didn't want to touch them. As far as I know, all the amps, pedals and effects were modded to some degree or another, with particularly good amps being left mostly intact, often leaving them more vulnerable to blowing up on stage.
It's tough to get everything you want and still have it be robust enough to play it live.
From what I've heard, some of the original amps are still around, although it appears that they have been returned to stock, which is kind of a shame because that wasn't what Jimi used to get this or that sound at any given performance.
There is a thread on "The Next Level" about the "Governor" amp, if that was really it which was being sold, and there was an article on "Musicplayer.com" which had listed all the serial numbers of the amps Marshall shipped to us for Jimi's '69 tour, only the page has now been removed, the dreaded "404" error.
I guess the numbers were listed in the March 2005 issue under the heading "The Gear of Jimi Hendrix".
Maybe some of you have seen it or have copies of it.
Any other info you might have to expand the story would be helpful too, so throw in whatever you know about, it might make me remember some forgotten detail.
Fire away!
DW