The Who's influence on musical equipment

This is a history of the equipment that the English rock band The Who used. It also notes their influence on the instruments of the time period.

As their sound developed with each album, and their audience expanded with each tour, John Entwistle and Pete Townshend, supported by sound engineer Bob Pridden, became known for constantly and consistently changing the equipment they used on stage. Townshend altered his setup for nearly every tour, and Entwistle's equipment changed even more than that. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20041020055608/www.thewho.net/whotabs/equipment/index.htm Who Tabs.] A detailed reference of each band member's equipment throughout their career.] Keith Moon also played various drum kits, probably the most recognised of which is the 'Pictures of Lily' kit, manufactured by Premier Percussion, which actually consisted of one and a half kits' worth of equipment as a precaution towards his tendency to destroy parts of it onstage. [ [http://www.whocollection.com/Keith's%20Pictures%20of%20Lily%20Kit.htm Who Collection.] Keith Moon's "Pictures of Lily" drum kit.]

=Marshall Stacks= In the early and mid 1960s, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle were directly responsible for the creation and widespread use of stacked Marshall cabinets. Townshend later remarked that John started using Marshall Stacks in order to hear himself over Keith Moon's drums, and Pete himself also had to use them just to be heard over John.

In fact, the very first 100 watt Marshall amplifiers (called "Superleads") were created specifically for Entwistle and Townshend when they were looking to replace some equipment which had been stolen from them. Prior to the theft they were each using 50 watt amplifiers, Entwistle was using a Marshall JTM45 and Townshend had a Fender Bassman.

They approached Jim Marshall asking if it would be possible for him to make their new rigs more powerful than those they had lost, to which they were told that the speaker cabinets would have to double in size. They agreed and six rigs of this prototype were manufactured, of which two each were given to Townshend and Entwistle and one each to Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott of The Small Faces. These new "double" cabinets proved too heavy and awkward to be transported practically, so The Who returned to Marshall asking if they could be cut in half and stacked, and although the double cabinets were left intact, the existing single cabinet models were modified for stacking, which has become the standard over the years. Due to the urgency of the situation, the amplifiers were simply modified versions of the existing 50 watt JTM45 model with the output valves doubled, and were thus named the JTM45-100.

Entwistle and Townshend both continued expanding and experimenting with their rigs, until (at a time when most bands still used 50–100w amplifiers with single cabinets) they were both using twin Stacks, with each Stack being driven by new experimental prototype 200w amplifiers (nicknamed "Pigs" for their extra grunt). This, in turn, also had a strong influence on the band's contemporaries at the time, with Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience both following suit. However, due to the cost of transport, The Who could not afford to take their full rigs with them for their earliest overseas tours; thus, Cream and Hendrix were the first to be seen to use this setup on a wide scale, particularly in America. [The Who can be seen using rented Vox equipment in footage shot at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.]

Ironically, although The Who pioneered and directly contributed to the development of the "classic" Marshall sound and setup with their equipment being built/tweaked to their personal specifications, by the time they could afford to transport their equipment overseas a couple of years later, they had stopped using Marshalls and moved on to Sound City equipment. Cream and particularly Hendrix would be widely miscredited with the invention of Marshall Stacks. [ [http://twtd.bluemountains.net.au/cream/whostuff/who&marshall.htm Those Were the Days - A Cream fansite.] The Who's Marshall History.]

ound City and the invention of Hiwatt amplifiers

John Entwistle traded in his Marshall Stacks in favour of Sound City at the beginning of 1967, and Townshend followed later that year.

Around this time, Jimi Hendrix and his manager Chas Chandler approached Townshend asking for his opinion on amplification. He told them that he had stopped using Marshall as he thought Sound City were better. The Jimi Hendrix Experience subsequently started using Sound City rigs, but set them up together with their Marshall Stacks instead of replacing them.

In late 1968 The Who approached Dallas Arbiter, the makers of Sound City, asking if their equipment could be modified slightly. This request was denied, but independent amp designer/manufacturer Dave Reeves, a former employee of Sound City, agreed and created customised Sound City L100 amplifiers under the name Hylight Electronics. This model was named the Hiwatt DR103, which would be modified in 1970 into the CP103 "Super Who 100" model which Townshend used almost exclusively for over a decade. In 1973 the updated DR103W model was created, which has been the central piece of equipment around which Townshend's various rigs were built for the next thirty years. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20041020055608/www.thewho.net/whotabs/soundcity-hiwatt.htm Who Tabs.] Pete Townshend's transition from Sound City to Hiwatt.] [ [http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/cp103.htm Who Tabs.] Pete Townshend's Hiwatt history.]

Most recently, Pete Townshend has been using 50 watt Hiwatt Custom amplifiers with custom made cabinet stacks, paired with 60 watt Fender Vibro-King stacks. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20060815184353/http://www.hiwatt.com/ Hiwatt] Live at Leeds with the Who again.]

Rotosound strings

In 1966, bassist John Entwistle was looking for a set of roundwound strings "which vibrated properly". He contacted James How of Rotosound and set up a meeting to visit their factory in London. Entwistle spent the afternoon there, trying various strings made for him by the on-site technicians in different gauges with different cores and types of wire until they found a set that he was happy with.

In return for a free lifetime's supply, Entwistle agreed to allow Rotosound to market the strings they had co-developed as their flagship "Swing Bass 66" range, with a black-and-white photograph of John and James How on that day in the Rotosound factory gracing the reverse of every packet.

In honour of the partnership, The Who wrote and recorded a jingle for Rotosound which appears on their 1967 album "The Who Sell Out".

Entwistle used these strings exclusively for the next twenty-three years until switching to gold-plated Maxima strings in 1989. However, in 2001 he switched back to using Rotosound until his death in July 2002. [ [http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equipment/bass/equip-entwistlegear-misc.html Who Tabs.] John Entwistle's Gear: Strings, Picks & Action.]

References

External links

* [http://web.archive.org/web/20041020055608/www.thewho.net/whotabs/soundcity-hiwatt.htm Pete Townshend's transition from Sound City to Hiwatt]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20041020055608/www.thewho.net/whotabs/cp103.htm Pete Townshend's Hiwatt history]