The Horka Blog

Was just thinking about how the sound of bands changed from the early 60s to the late 60s.

Think back to the guitar sound of the early George Harrison Beatles, Brian Jones Stones, Hermans Hermits, Troggs, etc. I am not sure how to characterize it except as twang clang. Nice clean sound such as you obtain when you play a good guitar through a good little amp at about half volume – no distortion, just clang twang. The Beach Boy sound also typifies this kind of sound as did Robbie Robertson of the Band. There is a readily identifiable tone and predictable decay rate and that rate is fairly rapid.

Then, by the late 60s you have the sound Jimi Hendrix is getting, Eric Clapton with Cream, Jimmy Page with Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck in Truth (funny how these last 3 all came from the Yardbirds). What happened? Someone discovered distortion and sustain. All of a sudden, instead of twang and clang you had an instrument which could literally sing in the right hands. Instead of Vox and Fender Twin Reverbs there were Marshalls with 100 watt heads and2X4 cabinets and they distorted really fine. This is, I think, critical, because it expanded the ability of the guitar to make music dramatically. You no longer had a short, predictable decay rate. You could play a note and sustain it, modulate it in various ways, bend it, add a little or a lot of vibrato, etc. The sound of the guitar in some ways was becoming more like that of a violon in terms of sustainability and the modifications possible after the note had been struck.

Once this change in the sound was achieved, guitar solos became interesting. And boy, were there guitarists ready to take advantage of it!

Then someone discovered the Altec Lansing Voice of the Theatre speakers and decided to use them as PA speakers for bands. Holy Toledo – these suckers could cut through anything. And you could bolster not just the vocals but every other instrument as well. If 2 were great, 4 were even better, 6 just ratcheted everything up and bands were now playing with the kind of volume that could, literally, move you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, someone decided to take the Hammond B3 organ out of the church and stick it in a rock band, feeding through those glorious Leslie 145 speakers. Listen to Steppenwolf. When those horns start spinning and the Doppler effect kicks in, hang on for dear life. Those miserable Farfisa organs (the Doors) almost instantly disappeared.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting, isn’t it – the big Marshalls, the Altec Lansings, the Hammond/Leslies – you had a completely different sound at a completely different sound level. If there were instruments that characterized this era, then these were it.

 

 

 

 

Sidenote – Jimmy Page in the early Led Zeppelin albums completeley changed the role and sound of the guitar in a band. But that incredible sound he gets in those early albums did not necessarily come with the big artillery. The way the story goes, many of the recordings on the first two albums were done with his 58 Telecaster through a Supro amp. What’s a Supro amp? People at those recording sessions remember it as a “grey and silver tiny little bastard”. In any case, it sure did the trick.

Sidenote  – and let’s not forget 2 really recognizable effects – fuzz and Wha Wha!!