What gear did the Allman Bros use at the very famous Fillmore gig?

I bet everybody knows that, but - I don't.


(To my ears it does sound like Les Pauls into Marshalls, am I wrong?)

Of course Les Paul Guitars, Played throgh 50 watt marshalls and I think Duane used a Fuzz to get his drive tones. That is the benchmark of les paul tone on that album.

the old formula was Dicky on a Les Paul and Duane on an old SG both using 50 watt plexi heads and 4x12s w/greenbacks on 10. these days it is Derek with the SG and Warren on a Les Paul but with a lot different effects and types of amps.

I read that Dickey's Marshall was actually 100w which is why his tone tended to be cleaner than Duane's. Also heard that Duane ran 6L6s in his Marshall??

I can believe Dickey's Marshall being a 100w, would definitely make it stand out in the mix especially with a Les Paul, a deeper rhythm tone than what you can get with a SG like Duane was playin thru, but Duane using 6L6GCs in his Marshall 50w???? That is way funky, but then he knew what he wanted so balls to the wall....... whoda thunk it???

Actually, I read an article about this in a Guitar World or something like that a few years back. Duane was using a Les Paul for much of that show (you can see it on the bootleg video, too) and a 50 watt Marshall. During his studio sessions (with Aretha, et al) he used a Fender amp and a fuzz pedal with a drained battery, but with the ABB it was guitar>amp. His Les Paul was kind of a frakenstein, where he switched out one of the pickups and something else from another Les Paul, but no so much as Clapton's "Blackie." Dickie used 100 watt Marshalls, thus his tone was cleaner. However, the interesting thing in this article was that they both had JBL speakers in their 4/12 cabs. And either Dickie or Duane (can't remember which) had holes drilled (kind of like ports on a speaker) in the back of the cabs to make it airier.

Sweet T,

Bootleg video? Of the Allmans at the Fillmore? I would kill for a copy of that. Do you have one yourself, or know where it could be found?

thanks!

quote:

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Originally posted by Sweet T:
Actually, I read an article about this in a Guitar World or something like that a few years back. Duane was using a Les Paul for much of that show (you can see it on the bootleg video, too) and a 50 watt Marshall. During his studio sessions (with Aretha, et al) he used a Fender amp and a fuzz pedal with a drained battery, but with the ABB it was guitar>amp. His Les Paul was kind of a frakenstein, where he switched out one of the pickups and something else from another Les Paul, but no so much as Clapton's "Blackie." Dickie used 100 watt Marshalls, thus his tone was cleaner. However, the interesting thing in this article was that they both had JBL speakers in their 4/12 cabs. And either Dickie or Duane (can't remember which) had holes drilled (kind of like ports on a speaker) in the back of the cabs to make it airier.

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I actually just met the Allmans at Water music studios with their backing band the other day...the guy who owns that studio (Rob Grenoble) has a small indie label called Infidel Records that might put my album out.

It was pretty awe inspiring.

LINKS!

Very cool, Cary! Were they recording?

Duane was using a 50W Marshall with possibly some mods. I have a pic somewhere of the head in my collection and Duane's amp had a label on the back indicating it was "worked" on (modded?) by I believe a shop in Michigan. Dickey was using a 100W Marshall and I believe just recently switched over to a 50W. He supposedly has a few heads and a tone of JBLs put away for the future. All the pics I have seen over the years, show a lot of JBL usage. Can't say only JBLs. In addition, check out the Les Paul forum. There are some folks over there heavy into the Allmans that will talk your head off.


In addition, do a little research on Lynyrd Skynyrd. They were influenced by the Allmans (Free Bird is dedicated to Duane) and I have read interviews in which they refer to the rear porting on the Allmans cabinets and they copied it for theirs. Anyways, here is some info that I liberally copied for anyone that is interested.


HERE IS SOME INFO THAT MAY HELP OR ADD MORE TO THE MYSTERY.

The main causes for the development in Duane's technique and sound were his progress from a Fender Guitar/Amp combination to a Gibson/Marshall marriage. He started off using a Fender Telecaster with a Stratocaster neck, before moving on to a 1954 Fender Stratocaster, which he played through an assortment of Fender amplifiers (a Twin in particular).

In order to thicken out the sound a little, he used a Fuzz Face distortion box, which he insisted to be used in conjunction with nearly flat 9V batteries. His justification for this was that the sound takes on a slightly creamier quality when the batteries are flat, while the amp can then be used to provide the main raunch and overdrive.

He moved to Gibson guitars shortly after the formation of the Allman Brothers Band in 1969. During the recording of this album he used a Gibson ES-345, while co-guitarist Dickey Betts also used a variety of Gibsons, in particular an ES-345 and a 68 SG. It is highly likely that both Dickey and Duane occasionally swapped guitars with each other, and maybe took spares on the road with them.

From photo evidence though it can be seen that Duane switched between several Gibson guitars, although his favourite was a 1957 Les Paul Goldtop (serial number 7 3312) with PAF pickups. He part-exchanged this guitar in Daytona Beach, FL on the 16th September 1970, having played a concert with a local group there, (having also recorded the large part of Layla with it) for a plain-top 1958/59 cherry sunburst Les Paul that was then in the posession of the guitarist in the opening group; they were called "The Stone Balloon". The plain-top is the guitar he can be seen to play in the Fillmore Video; it is also the guitar that he used to complete the recording of the Layla album.

When he did that exchange, he also switched over the PAF pickups from the 57 Goldtop to the 58/9 Cherryburst - apparently he preferred the sound of the Goldtop's bridge pickup to that of the newer guitar, and consequently swapped them over in a Hotel Room after the concert where he found the Cherryburst.

Early in 1971 he bought, in addition to the other Les Paul, a 1958 vintage tobacco sunburst Les Paul, with an exaggerated tigerstripe sunburst pattern. This had been owned by singer Christopher Cross, and was found for Duane by Billy Gibbons of Z Z Top. This was the guitar on the "at Fillmore East" and "Eat A Peach" albums. Late in 1971 he began to use a 68 Cherry Gibson SG that had been used previously by Dickey Betts (who had replaced it in mid-1971 with a vintage '58 Gold-Top Les Paul, the guitar which Dickey gave Dan Toler in 1978, who had it refinished in a cherry sunburstcolour) exclusively for slide work.

Before this Duane had retuned on stage between lead and slide songs, although he continued to play slide in standard tuning in songs with both lead and slide parts (the only two Allman Brothers songs like this are Dreams, Mountain Jam, and very briefly Midnight Rider, which both feature Duane playing both lead and slide).

As far as amplifiers are concerned, he switched from Fender to Marshall when playing live at the same time as he switched from Fender to Gibson Guitars. In the studio he continued to use Fender amps occasionally. As far as Marshall amps are concerned he tried 100W heads, but switched to 50W soon after as he could push them to heavier distortion at quieter volumes (remember that these amps didn't have distortion channels like modern amps, but required natural volume to push the valves to overdrive)- although quiet is still relative (i.e. loud).

This is an interesting note when comparing his sound with that of fellow guitarist Dickey Betts, especially on the "at Fillmore East" album. Dickey used 100W heads, so the overdrive is still far cleaner when he played at the same volume as Duane. They both used half open modified Marshall 4x12 Cabinets, which were altered to use JBL-D120 speakers; these have a very different tone and character to the standard Celestion 25 watt speakers found on speaker cabs from that era.

There are many photos around of Duane using a Bass top cab, which he probably used to get the smoother, essentially bassier tone that he preffered. Because the amps do not feature a channel switch, both used the volume controls on their guitars to alter the clean/distorted texture when playing rhythm or lead. Duane, however, used the Tone and Pickup controls far more during his solos than Dickey did.

Duane's tone on the slide is unique due to a number of points that set him apart from his other contemporaries. Firstly, he played with a glass Coricidin Medicine Bottle. This is not actually long enough to cover the whole neck of a Les Paul, so he never played full chords with it, preferring never to reach beyond triads (3 string chords).

It also means that he had to position the slide differently as he moved across the neck. He held the slide in such a way that the inside rim of the bottle rested on the second knuckle of his ring finger, and he used the tip of that finger to position the slide over the frets. In order to keep the slide at the correct angle, he held the guitar high, and angled it up slightly higher than most guitarists do. He also put his middle finger across the strings behind the slide in order to mute the other strings and prevent unwanted overtones. This is difficult to do properly unless the action is set rather high, implying that Duane liked his guitars set up that way. His slides around the strings while playing normal fretted work also tend to imply that his guitars were set up with fairly low frets.

As far as Duane's fretted technique goes, he also had a number of idiosyncrasies that made his playing all the more unique. Firstly, he used a technique called circular picking, whereby the pick doesn't move simply perpendicular to the strings, but in a circular motion. Not only does this soften the attack, but it allows you to jump strings in a far more even, controlled manner. As he held his pick between his thumb and forefinger, he kept the other three fingers on his right hand virtually still, making his right hand seem almost motionless as his fingers moved the pick as opposed to his whole hand. This can be seen quite clearly on the Fillmore Video.

Also, Duane was in fact left-handed, despite playing the guitar as if right handed. This added strength in his fretting hand gave him a greater degree of control when bending notes or adding vibrato, plus it meant that his picking hand was not quite as strong, seeming to give him a very light touch. Listen to the version of Dreams from the debut album for an example of his extraordinary control over slow bends and slow vibrato. This also gave him added strength and dexterity with his pinky on his fretting hand.

Duane always used a pick when playing lead work, but also never played slide with a pick. Instead, he used his thumb, index and middle fingers to pluck the strings. He backed off the tone a little to prevent squeals from being audible, and he used a variety of pickup positions, depending on how high he intended to play. When his notes extended past the fretboard, as in "Layla", "Mountain Jam" and "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'" and others, he would use the Bridge/Treble Pickup (although with the tone backed off considerably). On most others, he used the Neck/Rhythm pickup, or both.

When playing fretted lead for extended solos, he used both pickups, and manipulated the tone controls extensively. The solos in "Whipping Post" and "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed" from the "At Fillmore East" Album are good examples of this. Note also that he would often end the solo for Whipping Post by getting gradually quieter - this let him reset the volume controls gradually lower to the required rhythm volume for the next verse - this was necessary since he had used both pickups at full wack.

In other songs with shorter solos, such as the first section of "You Don't Love Me" and "Hot 'Lanta", he would set one pickup to be quiet for rhythm work, and the other to be loud for solo work, and he could use the pickup selector as a sort of channel selector.

One of the most important parts of Duane's slide sound is his use of alternative open tunings. Of the tunes he recorded with the Allman Brothers Band with slide features in them, the tunings were grouped thus:

Open E - Statesboro' Blues, Done Somebody Wrong, One Way Out, Trouble No More (Live), Drunken Hearted Boy, Stand Back, Don't Keep Me Wonderin', and Little Martha.

Standard Tuning - Dreams, Mountain Jam, Midnight Rider, and Trouble No More (debut album version).



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MORE - different source


Dickey used a 100W Marshall. Not sure on which year it was made or whether it was a bass or guitar model, though I would presume it's a guitar model since I've never heard anything to the contrary, and I've tried to find as much info about this as I can. He used 4x12 Marshall cabs with half the back panel removed. Speakers were JBL D120Fs (you can see one on the cover of Fillmore East, in front of the roadies on the back cover). Later he went through the K series JBLs and also reportedly used Electrovoice EVM12L speakers at some time, but the Fillmore East recordings were almost certainly the D series JBLs, as were probably most of the other recordings Dickey did during the Duane era.

Duane, OTOH, used two Marshall 50W Bass amps (model 1986), allegedly made in 1968. These differ only slightly from the guitar models, mostly having a rounder bass which can flub out if you crank the bass control and the volume. The bass models also differed from the lead (guitar) models in that the specs of the bass models changed much less over the years. So a bass model from 1968 has a shared cathode arrangement on V1 which is what the earlier (JTM45 and up to 1967/68) amps had. The lead models changed this arrangement in late '67 or early '68, I think. If you listen to the recordings, Duane essentially had a gainier, bassier tone than Dickey. This can be accounted for by the difference in guitar pickups and amps (the 50W used by Duane will compress and distort a little earlier, and is generally a little softer/smoother than a 100W, particularly if Dickey's amps were made post-67, i.e. with a split cathode. However, while it has usually been reported that Duane also used JBLs in an open-back Marshall cab, there have been recent rumours that this was not the case. Don Butler (aka Tone-Man) is a highly regarded amp tech who apparently knew the Allmans from way back and hung out with them before they even became the ABB. He says that Duane never or at least very rarely used the JBLs with his Marshalls. The only of Duane's amps he saw JBLs in were his Fender amps, which were probably used on the first album, but not much later than that, and certainly not on the Fillmore East recordings. Don Butler also went on to work for Cerwin-Vega shortly after Duane died, and was told that Duane actually used Cerwin-Vega ER123 speakers in his Marshall cabs, mixed with the Celestions the Marshalls came with. He also says Duane preferred the G12H30 version with the bass cones. Lastly, he says that Duane did *not* use his Marshall cabs with an open back.

While I can't verify any of this (obviously), I will say that Don Butler seems like a guy who would know what he talks about. He says he saw the ABB shortly before Duane died, and could clearly see the aluminum domes of the JBLs in Dickey's cabs through the grille cloth, while he could not see any such domes in Duane's cabs, FWIW.



Allman had used a Strat through a Fender Twin equipped with JBLs during his stint as a Muscle Shoals session player, but he switched to 50-watt Marshalls for the Allman Brothers. His five-year recording career ended tragically in a motorcycle crash in Macon, Georgia, in 1971. He was 24.

Bump,
Sick of looking at the John Mayer thread everytime I log on here....

Regarding Allman DVD bootleg's at the Fillmore I seen em' on Ebay.