of the staple tones in rock n' roll music. From humble beginnings, Marshall amplifiers soon rose to prominence through the combined efforts of some of Britain's most prolific players, including Eric Clapton (*then of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers) and Pete Townshend and John Entwistle of The Who. While The Who's tandem is largely responsible for the modern day "stack", it was Clapton's use of a Mashall JTM-45 combo model that would set the guitar-playing universe on its ear.
Known by guitar afficianados simply as "the Beano 
album", Clapton's de rigueur blues stylings, combined with the amazing tone of the over-driven Marshall combo, would send players everywhere scrambling for "that tone". What few knew at the time was that there was another key ingredient to pushing the amp into its natural over-drive state. That little piece of analog electronic magic: the Dallas Rangemaster Treble booster. There are many theories as to why Clapton chose to use the Rangemaster, and most seem to point to the rather "dark" voicing of the Marshall amplfiers of that period. Employing the booster before the amp resulted in not only a "brighter" tone, but also a faster saturation of the tubes. Lo and behold - - the cream-iest of distortions. The technical specifications of the Rangemaster treble booster are incredibly simple, and the 10db of boost it provided was more than ample to coax the much-desired effect. Bearing in mind the near-obsessive conditions this single tone created amongst guitarists - even today, the scarcity of original Rangemaster adds yet another mystical element to this legendary guitar sound.
Another key ingredient in Eric's "Beano Tone" was the use of his 1959 Gibson Les Paul (*some sources indicate that it was a 1960 model) equipped with dual P.A.F. (*patent applied for) humbucking pickups. Gibson had already discontinued the Les Paul model in 1960, long before the Bluesbreakers recorded their masterpiece (April 1966). Due to the fervid interest in Clapton's playing (*along with that of other notable rock and blues artists of the day), they would eventually re-introduce the instrument in 1968. It's been the company's top-selling model ever since.
Today, guitarists seeking the elusive "Beano Tone" can expect to shell out a fat wad of dough - and even then, may not be able to duplicate Clapton's exact Bluesbreaker-era sound. A re-issue 1962 Marshall "Bluesbreaker" combo amp will run you rougly $2,200 - but unfortunately only carries a single Celestion 12" "Greenback" speaker (*whereas Clapton's original JTM45 had two). If you're a fussy bloke, you might shell out some extra ching to mod out your amp with NOS tubes, an original-type Drake transformer (*or a solid Mercury Magnetics repro unit), and various caps & resistors. Gibson has a re-issue of their famous '59 Les Paul Standard model, which will run you a cool six grand (*though it does include a custom hard case - nice.) And again, you could go the extra mile and swap out the stock p'ups with repro P.A.F. units, change out the stock pots, caps, and wiring with NOS stuff, and replace the stock tuning machines with period-correct Kluson units. The Dallas Rangemaster treble booster is more scarce than decent rap album (*maybe non-existent is a better term), so expect to pay several hundered, if not more, should a good working example turn up on Ebay. There are, however, numerous Rangemaster "clones" readily available, ranging in price from $100 - $300 - and most likely all will impart a reasonable facsimilie of the original effect. All of which brings us within stone's throw of $9,000. Indeed, a pretty penny for a major-league guitar tone.
Having an admittedly serious affliction for this particular guitar sound, I thought it would be fun to go through the "tone farming" process to see just how close I could get with the gear in my own arsenal. True, there will be some creative license here and there - but all in good fun. So, armed with a reasonably impressive line-up of "Average Joe" gear, along with a couple of ringers, I am off to see the Wizard. Provided that I don't get whisked off by flying monkeys, I shall report my findings via a series of upcoming posts, and perhaps even a few clips. Because I am certain that there are other "elusive" tones amongst those in our "tone farming" community, please - feel welcome to join in the fray with your own mad tone scientist experiments. Cheerio - J.
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