MOVING THE AMPS AROUND

On the German tour in Summer 1966 (24th – 26th June), the first tour on which the 7120s were used, The Beatles Book (July issue, 1966, p. 29) records – “The Beatles did their date-to-date travelling in Germany by Pullman coach instead of by car – this way they were able to eat and sleep in comfort whilst journeying to their destinations. Mal [Mal Evans, their roadie], however, travelled in another coach with the equipment and the rest of their entourage.”

Probably the most famous photo of the amps in transit is the one taken at Hong Kong airport on the way to the notorious concert in Manila. One can see the four cabs and trolleys in the background.

CONCERTS 1966 – the 7120s on stage

The 7120s were used six times live on stage:

May 1st: NME Pollwinner’s Concert at Wembley Pool
24 June: Munich, Circus-Krone-Bau
25 June: Essen, Grugahalle
26 June: Hamburg, Ernst Merck Halle
2 July: Tokyo, Budokan
4 July: Manila, Araneta Colosseum

Munich

The last public view of the amps was at the infamous concert in Manila – infamous largely due to the rough treatment accorded the Beatles after missing tea with Imelda Marcos, wife of the president.

Thereafter, so far as we know, the amps were confined to the studio, though there is more to the story than meets the eye………..see further below.

There’s a tiny bit of footage HERE showing the actual concert;  when the Beatles tried to leave Manila, they were roughed up by guards who believed they had offended Imelda Marcos.  The band describe how the Road Manager had to carry the amplifiers and equipment up an escalator at the airport which had been deliberately switched off.   No mean feat, especially with the rare prototype super-sized cabinets the Beatles used;  the difficulty of shifting them in ordinary conditions had previously been commented on (see here), so there must have been a temptation to leave the cabinets behind.  It seems they got themselves and the amps out safely at least.  (An undated but probably later pic on a Los-Brincos single cover could be seen as showing the Beatles proto amps and cabs safely back at Abbey Road).

There was no trouble at the concert itself though, at least as far as the guards were concerned – though they did battle with the humidity and the p.a. equipment. (more…)

EARLY PROMOTIONAL PICTURES
(first pictured in the Vox Story, ed. Dick Denney and Dave Petersen)

In 1993, the “Vox Story”, a history of the company written by Dave Petersen, electronics guru extraordinaire, and Dick Denney, designer of the AC30 and much, much more, brought to light two curious promotional pictures of 7-series amps:

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The Spanish band Los Brincos recorded in Abbey Road in 1967.   It has been mentioned elsewhere that they were recording in Studio 3 at Abbey Road, under the production of Geoff Emerick;  what hasn’t been noticed before is that they appear to have been using at least 7series amps, and possibly even the Beatles own prototype 7series.

The band apparently wanted the sound of the Beatles they had been listening to, with the skills of Emerick, at Abbey Road;  if the Beatles amps were still in ‘storage’ in a cupboard at Studio 3, then it seems at least possible that Emerick may have suggested they use the exact Beatles amps, that were there to use.    Going against that, though, is the fact that they returned to London, either in late 67 or spring 68, and recorded in another studio with Larry Page.  They were photographed again at a different studio (Piccadilly)  – this time  using another interesting combination, a 7120 head (a regular production sized model) – presumably attached between (or balancing precariously between)  two 4120 or 7120 cabinets in trolleys behind them. The unusual arrangement is suggestive of the ‘super stack’ setup, though the cabs are in individual trolleys.  When asked if these might have been the Troggs amps, Larry Page said he  couldn’t say for certain, but didn’t think they were.

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First European International Pop Festival

Walls of 4 and 7 series amps at the Palazzo del Sport, Rome, May 1968

Above, stills from Pink Floyd’s set – two large 7120/4120 cabinets in view, five 760/460 cabinets, and a least three 4120/7120 amps – there are also amps and cabs out of picture.

For more on Pink Floyd and further links, click here.

Below, a short film on the concert, describing the delight and chaos of the event.   The scene is set by the narrator with measured deadliness as Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity are shown arriving at Rome airport:

“their music was to be a high spot in a festival combining chaos and disaster with high hopes and lofty ambition”.

Excerpts are shown of: Captain Beefheart, The Nice, Donovan, The Move, Julie Driscoll, and The Samurai. Carl Wayne of the The Move towards the end of the clip has more or less the last word, a pyrotechnic display having blown up the stage and some of the equipment.

Click on the image below to play the video in a new window:

Below, a 4120 amp and two 460/760 cabs in a music shop in Italy. Perhaps survivors of the event above, though there is no way of telling – a striking thing nonetheless.

The Super Stack / De Luxe

Vox in their 1966 catalogue advertised  special double cab stack versions of the biggest amps;  the 4120 De Luxe and 7120 De Luxe.  Their demo pic had what looks like a single-handled 7120 head for the 7series version,  with two smaller 7/460 size cabs and what looks like the 460 prototype head as seen in the Vox Story’.  (LINK)

No surviving rigs with the trolley have turned up;  they might have been witnessed though by Carl Nielsen, who had worked on them himself at Triumph, at a gig by the Troggs at the Orchid in Purley (Triumph used the area under the stage as a storage area).   That was on one of the Orchid’s revolving stages;  pretty precarious for a stacked rig with a heavy 120-watt amp on top, if the trolleys were used.  Carl said it was possible they used the big cabinets ;   we experimented, and found this was actually fairly stable, as demonstrated here;

A 460/4120 rig was seen behind Jimmy Hendrix at one of his gigs in Italy –  LINK)

stacked cabinets (without trolleys) were also used at the Rome Festival in May 1968 (MORE HERE), as seen here;

– this rig in Italy could possibly be a survivor from either of these –

An unusual arrangement of stacked 730 heads & cabs can be seen in the New Order video for “love Will Tear Us Apart”;

Above, stills from Pink Floyd’s set (Astronomy Domine)

There’s an excellent page here –

http://www.final-lunacy.it/Eventi/1968/Roma68/Roma68.htm

with many details of the festival itself, which was in Rome in May 1968.  In an article on the site, it is mentioned that all the equipment was rented;  it is hard to tell if this referred to the sound tech’s equipment, or everything including the amps,  but a whole wall of Vox hybrid amps was used it seems by many of the bands.

See also our page here.

The final-lunacy site includes this photo of Pink Floyd:

http://www.final-lunacy.it/Eventi/1968/Roma68/Roma68P.htm

There are some recordings here…