BEST OF BRITISH
Richard gets out the big guns and talks us through some of his favourite studio amps
“I have a real passion and love for recording with little amps, but there’s something to be said for big powerful heads. I can’t believe they’re not more popular, but I guess it can be difficult to contend with that much power. I use load boxes to make it more manageable. I’ve got a Fryette that’ll handle 200 watts; you can bring it down, volume wise, and mic up a cab while also getting a direct line. I’ll also use the [Universal Audio] OX in combination with a cabinet.That way, I’ve got the mic lines as well as the [cab] simulation.
“The Marshall at the top [of the image] is a 50-watt PA head [model 1963] and the one near the bottom is a 100-watt PA head [model 1968]. Both the [Marshall] PA heads in this photo were modified by Obeid Khan [founder of Khan Audio]. He does a lot of my amp work. It’s a really cool mod: the first channel is just stock; the second channel is like a channel jump, but he tightens up the low-end so it’s super thumpy and percussive; and the third channel dumps into the fourth channel, so you pick up the extra preamp tube for a hotter sound.
“Second from the top is my Laney Supergroup – I use that all the time and it sounds amazing. Next is my Kelly PA head, modified by Trace [Davis] at Voodoo Amps. He just used the transformers and rebuilt it from the bottom up, but it was a Kelly DP100 PA head originally. In the 60s,John Kelly was a designer/engineer at Selmer and left to start his own company. I’ve got a few of his amps. I found them all in the UK. They’re super cheap and they’re great!
“The Park on the bottom shelf is one of the greatest-sounding amps I’ve ever heard in my life and everyone that’s ever used it agrees with me. It’s a very early Park from ’65. It’s like a JTM45 and it’s magical.The one on its side [to the left] is a ’69 Park 150. It’s like a combination of a [Marshall] Major [200-watt model 1967] and Super Lead [100-watt model 1959]. It has four KT88 [power valves] and is one of the greatest-sounding heavy amps – it will kick you in the chest like a donkey!”