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He went through many electric ‘tone changes’ starting with the 1970 album ‘A Beard of Stars’ {Strat (Tony Viscontis' own) & Vox AC30 amp I'm guessing} right up to ‘Dandy in the Underworld’, but it is perhaps the sounds which he generated between 1971 -1974 on Electric Warrior, The Slider, less so Tanx and Zinc Alloy which are generally considered his best, and that is where I have channeled my efforts.
Probably my all time favourite guitar tone is Marc Bolans c. 1972, and which came to prominence on 'The Slider' album, and spilled over into 1973. From there on, he began to lose the plot and with it went his tone.
Essentially it was his Les Paul via his HH IC100 that gave him his best tone, but that is not the end of it. There are several ingredients, all of equal importance…… Much of the following is common knowledge, but I have tried to dig a little deeper.
Electric Warrior
By the sounds of it and the few studio photo’s in existence, again this appears to have been mainly Fender Strat into Vampower and Vox amps. He did have an endorsement deal with Vampower. His Dallas Rangemaster was probably used all the time, but its' effect can be very clearly heard in particular on the rhythm tracks on Motivator, Lean Love and ‘Rip-Off’ (this latter track has some great overdriven ‘separation’ in the chord work, particularly when he hits the 'F'), and the solos on Lean Love, Get It On (short solo at the end when it hits the ‘G’).
The Slider
By the time this album was recorded, Bolan had developed a taste for solid state HH amps, as they were more reliable than the valve driven Vampowers, and the distortion channel on the IC100 and IC100S works like a dream with a Dallas Rangemaster, which incidentally does not suit every amp.
Listening closely to all the electric tracks on this album (even more revealing is the ‘Slider Tapes’ CD which contains the raw recordings in progress), it would seem that all the electric stuff on this album was recorded entirely with his Les Paul and HH. There were definitely some tracks where he D.I.'d straight into the desk and overloaded the channel pre-amp; this can quite clearly be heard on Telegram Sam on the breaks. There is a CD called 'Bump 'n' Grind' which contains what appears to be one of the first studio cracks at 'Telegram Sam'. The guitar on this take sounds superb though a little out of tune down to the 'capo effect', and slightly different to some of the other Slider stuff. It is deeper in overall tone, and given that this was recorded at Rosenberg studios in Copenhagen (together with Thunderwing)', I did a little more digging, and photograhic records would suggest that this was his HH into a large Fender cab, though not being a 'Fender amp man', I'm not sure of the cab model - it looks as though it may even be a bass cab, though I'll stand corrected. This tonal difference is somewhat lost in the final mix though.
Tanx
I have not been able to unearth any photographic evidence from the Tanx sessions, which would indicate the equipment used, but my ears would suggest that this is again essentially his Les Paul & HHIC100. On 'Electric Slim....' you can hear him using the inbuilt tremolo on the HH very clearly. Some of his soloing sounds as though he had D.I.'d it, though if you play through the HH / RM at 'bedroom volume', it accentuates the scooped tone. A good example of that tone is the soloing on Left Hand Luke which pretty much extends throughout the track.
Zinc Alloy
The album has probably the widest selection of sounds on any T. Rex album. It was recorded in fits and starts, and it shows as there is no overall album consistency like on Tanx & The Slider. It does however have several great tracks in Liquid Gang, Carsmile Smith and Superbad, all of which have a great feel and some very nice melodic fingerwork from Bolan. Superbad features some great wah noodling - very clearly done through his LP & HH. This combination works very well with all the ingredients I have outlined on this piece. By the sounds of it, some solos such as on Teenage Dream, Nameless Wildness may have been D.I'd as they are pretty 'thin', as were some of the rhythm tracks on 'Sound Pit'.
Other tracks from c. 1973/4
Around this time, Bolan introduced a phaser into his effects arsenal, and in conjunction with his Les Paul & HH, it can very clearly be heard on 'Satisfaction Pony'. According to Tony Visconti, around this era, analogue tape flanging can be heard on the solo's on 'Satisfaction Pony' and others. It's a very strange effect and sounds somewhere between a wah and a phaser.
Guitars
Strats a Tele and an assortment of others, but his preferred, and main axe was his Gibson Les Paul: possibly originally a ’58 Plain Top or Gold Top, which was finished in an orangey-brown in deference to Eddie Cochrans’ Gretch. It looks as though it originally had a Bigsby, as on some good photo's two holes near the bridge can be seen. It was an 'amateurish & streaky' job - maybe he wanted it like that! He broke the neck on this in America apparenty where he threw it in in a fit of rage sometime around 1972. The replacement neck - a black 'Custom' one, was fitted twice after it was badly fitted the first time. The construction of this guitar in conjunction with the electrics and open coil PAF’s were very important. The inconsistencies of these early pick-ups meant that Bolan had accidentally stumbled upon a couple of beaut’s - beauts' that is for the sound he created. They didn’t appear to have a great output, and sometimes it was though he had to push out every note – he rarely suffered from massive feedback. They delivered a very raw and crisp attack – not smooth like modern day PAF’s, which enabled him to generate a fantastic raw tone; ‘crunch’ for his rhythm and ‘biting’, ‘crisp’ lead work alike. This guitar would also have been constructed with Bumblebee capacitors, again an important element of that guitars’ tone. It was stolen around 1977. I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHERE IT IS NOW!
The nearest you can get to this guitar now is with Gibsons’ VOS reisues. They have the long neck tenon, Bumblebee caps and Burstbucker pick-ups, amongst other accurate elements, and are superb, and I have recently acquired a ’58 plain top which in conjunction with all the other ingredients, delivers this tone in spades. Note: even these guitars all sound different, and I tried about 10 before I found one which gave me what I was after.
By the way, a Strat sounds fantastic via the RM/HH or Vamp amp/Vamp 4x12, and you can dial-in most of the Electric Warrior tones this way
Amps
The Vampower amps are somewhat ‘cleaner’ than the HH’s, even though they feature a ‘bite’ control which sends them into a nice overdrive/distortion. They are also incredibly loud; my Mk1 100w head pushes out about 108 watts and I can’t even get it past 0.5 on the master volume before it’s rattling the foundations, it's so powerful! Tracks such as Jeepster and Ride a White Swan pre ‘The Slider’ etc, appear to have been done with the Vampower. A Dallas Rangemaster combines very well with A Vampower.
The HH IC100 S (the ‘S’ stands for sustain) features a distortion channel which can be dialled-in, and goes from ‘crunchy overdrive’ to ‘sweet sustain’. The IC100 has a pre-set level of distortion which works quite well. These amps have two settings ‘studio’ and ‘stage’ and go from ‘bedroom’ volumes right up to ‘very loud’. It is possible to get a great tone at low volumes. On its’ own the distortion channel is quite ‘muddy’; a Rangemaster really tightens the whole thing up and brings it to life, with some fantastic sonic separation in chord work and some beautiful highs on solos.
I own two IC100S' & one IC100 which is almost ex-factory mint, and interestingly they all have their own character. One of the IC100S' is more powerful than the other, and the IC100 has slightly more of that 'Bolan' tone than the IC100S'.
Speakers/Cabinets
Open to opinion, but we do know that he used HH combo’s and Vampower 4x12’s. I also acquired a Vampower 4x12 cab which was loaded with Rola Celestion G12m 25’s. This nails the Slider album tone. I am also aware of other Vampower 4x12’s containing pre-Rola 25’s.
Dallas Rangemaster
I read somewhere recently where the sonic effects of a Rangemaster are like that of fine grade sandpaper, an analogy which I feel is very accurate. I have had the pleasure of acquiring three RM’s, and they all sound different. They all however deliver that trademark 'hollowed-out sound' in varying degrees. My findings and the opinions of others I have counseled would suggest that the ones containing the OC44 germanium transistors deliver a smoother tone, and the OC71’s provide certainly more ‘edge’ and possibly higher harmonics. One of mine has the OC44 and the other two the OC71. So if an OC44 is 1500 grade, OC71’s fall between 1500 and 2000 grade. The OC71's do have less gain, so that would go some way to explaining Bolans' attacking crunch. Modern day PAF's appear to suit the OC44, and Burstbuckers/vintage PAF's combine well with the OC71 to deliver that attacking crunch. I know this is a small sample, and that they all differ slightly, but right now that's all I have to go on, as it's not as though I can sample 20 RM's and make a judgement.
Given this, I now believe Bolan had one which contained an OC71. The solos on tracks such as ‘Rabbit Fighter’ and ‘Ballrooms of Mars’ would suggest this. Also if you listen to ‘Buick Mackane’ just before the solo starts you can hear in the background a couple of phrases which sound as though they have been done with a Wah -they haven’t; it is the OC71 RM effect in conjunction with all the above, and one which I am now able to replicate easily with my set-up.
The 'live' tone he got on the Musikladen shows- 20th Century Boy and Buick MacKane was awesome, and if you discount some of his wayward 'noodling', they are probably the finest examples of THAT tone to survive. He is using an IC100 through an Orange 4x12. The 'depth' he gets through that Orange is phenomenal. A Vampower 4x12 gets that tone, but with slightly less depth, as the cabinet is narrower and of different construction. It can't be seen, but his Rangemaster is in the mix; he couldn't have got that sound without it. In fact it was after having heard this version of 20th Century Boy that I decided to scour the planet in search of an original Rangemaster - it blew me away that much.
There is a work-in-progress track on the ‘Rabbit Fighter: Alternative Slider’ CD called ‘Buick MacKane and the Babe Shadow’ – I am in no doubt now that this is a raw and perfect example of his Les Paul / HH / Vamp 4x12 / RM OC71 in action. Just as an aside, this set-up gets unbelievably close to Billy Gibbons tone on 'Eliminator' and 'Afterburner'.
So for anyone wanting to get that sound on 20th Century Boy, this is the simple set-up. He also used a WEM Copicat on a short delay to fatten up his overall sound.
Vampower amps & cabs are now pretty elusive, as are Rangemasters, but they do become available from time to time if you look hard enough; HH amps crop up on UK eBay pretty regularly and they can still be obtained fully serviced from MAJ in Kingswinford U.K. They have the 'servicing rights' for HH. When HH was bought by Laney, I don't think Laney were bothered about that aspect. If you don't want to spend big bucks on an original Vampower cab or Rangemaster (it's the speakers really more than the cab which get you there) it's still possible to find the vintage Greenbacks, though I have to say I do like the look of the Vampower cabs' grille cloth and that logo. Vintage 'broken-in' speakers sound SO good. As for a Rangemaster, there are many good clones out there that will get you most of the way there, though not quite providing the mojo that comes with a RM. - they are pretty special.
I would welcome any useful information that could be added to the above.
