About a month or so ago, I'd posted a feature on Eric Clapton, and the omnipresent guitar tone he employed on John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers' landmark '65 release. I've dug up a few additional resources on that very same tone that I thought might interest fellow guitar players.
The first link is an excellent piece written by John Wiley, and featured on Premier Guitar's online site. In the article, Wiley goes into fantastic detail on upgrading a newer Marshall 1962 Bluesbreaker re-issue to Clapton-era vintage spec. I'd touched on that a bit in my initial post - and here, Wiley takes it to a major-league level. While I don't think that most of us are of the mind-set to undertake such a daunting (*and gloriously expensive) task, it does present one with an interesting base from which to consider modifying one's own gear. In many cases, getting the absolute best tone from your amp / guitar may only be a few inexpensive mods away - i.e. new tubes; a bigger output transformer; maybe a better capacitor here and there.
The second item is a link to some excellent photos of two early 60's JTM-45 amplifiers - very similar to what Clapton would have been playing at that time (*the 2x12 model). Being that the production details for some of Marshall's early amplifier runs are pretty sketchy, the legend of the actual amp EC used during this session continues to grow to this very day.
The last article deals exclusively with the Les Paul guitar that Eric used during the Bluesbreaker sessions. Like the JTM-45 amp, details regarding this particular guitar are also inconclusive. Of particular interest to me was the bit towards the end of the article that highlighted Clapton's guitar successor in the Bluesbreakers - Peter Green. Peter would break shortly after his stint with Mayall to form another British blues powerhouse - Fleetwood Mac.
Anyways - more food for thought. I am still hoping to follow-though with my EC / Bluesbreakers tone-farming project at some point here in the very near future. While it may seem like over-kill to keep exhuming this one tone as a viable discussion / posting topic, its supreme relevance to all that is considered "modern rock" is immeasurable. Quite simply, this tone is the blueprint from which bands like Zeppelin, the Yardbirds, the Stones, The Who, and those that followed in their wake, would build - and eventually, refine further. - J.
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