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now *this* is a rig (Noel Redding content)

Noelpic6.jpg

Pretty much what he used when I saw him. IIRC 2 Sunn heads and 6 matching 2x15 cabs.
 
Noel must have switched to the full blown Sunn rig between Jan and May of '69. In mid-Jan he had two Marshall stacks. You can see the Marshall logos above the drums. There were also one or two 2x15 Sunn cabs on both sides of the stage.

LOL I only heard one bass note...one in Red House rang out...that was it, and probably why he got the Sunn stuff.
 
Here's a few things to consider about Hendrix:

1) Look at the size of his rig - he used to play that as loud as possible. It's the only way he was able to do a lot of his signature moves - controlled feedback, crazy sustain, etc.
2) When The Experience was recording at the BBC the studios were in the basement of the building. Hendrix was so loud that the engineers were getting complaints from the 6th floor.
3) He was also so loud that the glass in the control room was visibly moving when he played.

If this is the case, it's no wonder that Billy & Noel needed to have such a huge rig - otherwise they never would've been heard.
 
Noel must have switched to the full blown Sunn rig between Jan and May of '69. In mid-Jan he had two Marshall stacks. You can see the Marshall logos above the drums. There were also one or two 2x15 Sunn cabs on both sides of the stage.

Whether he was using Sunn or Marshall was somewhat dependent on where and when you saw him. I believe he switched to Sunn in '68 in the States, but in Europe he continued to use Marshalls through the end, sometimes mixed with Sunn cabs.
 
Whether he was using Sunn or Marshall was somewhat dependent on where and when you saw him. I believe he switched to Sunn in '68 in the States, but in Europe he continued to use Marshalls through the end, sometimes mixed with Sunn cabs.

I think you may be right, and I also think it might have been a transportation thing. I've seen pics of the Exp where Jimi was using Sunn stuff, Seatle I believe, when he was still wearing "the hat" with the chain belt, which would likely be '68 (memory fades). Maybe some other pics in the southwest.

There was early Jimi; Jimi with the hat; the hat with chain belt; no hat; haircut; post-haircut...I used to be pretty good at guestimating the date of pics that way.

Back on topic; I can't recall any pics with a lot of Sunn stuff from Europe. They might have stashed all that stuff in a studio or somewhere to cut down on airmail.
 
I think you may be right, and I also think it might have been a transportation thing. I've seen pics of the Exp where Jimi was using Sunn stuff, Seatle I believe, when he was still wearing "the hat" with the chain belt, which would likely be '68 (memory fades). Maybe some other pics in the southwest.

There was early Jimi; Jimi with the hat; the hat with chain belt; no hat; haircut; post-haircut...I used to be pretty good at guestimating the date of pics that way.

Back on topic; I can't recall any pics with a lot of Sunn stuff from Europe. They might have stashed all that stuff in a studio or somewhere to cut down on airmail.


I saw him in 1968 and was using Sunn. As I said before 2 heads and 6 cabs.
 
Just found this:
"Also in 1967, Buck Munger solidified a five-year contract (which actually lasted 14 months) between Hendrix and Sunn amplifiers after the Monterey Pop Festival. Sunn agreed to supply the entire Experience with anything they needed, in exchange for Hendrix's research and development input.

Hendrix started out with a 100-F cabinet, loaded with one JBL D-130 in the bottom and an L-E 100-S driver horn in the top. There was not much midrange - Munger described the tone as "almost a surfer sound" - and Hendrix combined the cab with a stack of Marshall 4x12s to get a blend. Later, the Sunn setup included up to five Coliseum P.A. tops - altered for guitar at 120 watts RMS each - with ten speaker cabinets loaded with two JBL D-130s each.
"We then went to four 12" Eminence speakers at Jimi's request, and we also took his advice that the minimum acceptable power at that time was 100 watts," recalls Munger."

and a pic (hat, no chain belt)
 
An interesting thread and a nice stroll down memory lane. :)

When I first saw The Experience in March 1968, Noel was using the Sunn 200S rig with three heads and six cabs. I think Jimi was using a single Marshall stack with two 4x12 cabs and a Sound City stack either as a backup or a prop.

My apologies if this has already been mentioned, but in those days the PA system was primarily for vocals and micing of instruments was secondary and usually minimal. As I recall there were only one or two mics on Mitch's drum set. You heard Jimi and Noel from their stage amps (which were pretty loud!)
 
I would have loved to hear Jimi or any band in the late 60's live. I'm told most PA's back then were tube powered. That must have been awesome, except that nobody knew anything about placement ;)
 
When I got my 200s rig I was initial perplexed as to why it had feet on the side and on the bottom, then I remembered those pics. I remember reading or hearing that Hendrix used to dime all the controls on his Sunn amps, it pissed-off the engineers and they reworked the amps so "10" wasn't really all the way up. Hendrix switched back to Marshall shortly after that.
 
I would have loved to hear Jimi or any band in the late 60's live. I'm told most PA's back then were tube powered. That must have been awesome, except that nobody knew anything about placement ;)

The funny thing is Jimmy that my memory is that FOH sound was actually better back when the PA's were in the so-called dark ages than it is now. Every instrument was clear and distinct from each other unlike so many of today's shows where the bass guitar and bass drum are indistinguishable from each other. I readily admit that this maybe selective memory but in discussions with a good friend of mine who has been in the business for many years, I think there is at least some truth to my memory.
 

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