NO BAND HAS

had more pages written about them than the Beatles. There are books that examine every day of the band’s history, large volumes about their recordings and books devoted entirely to their gear. Yet for all that has been written about them, there is still much mystery about the finer details, such as what exact guitars and amps they used to record specific songs.

We set out to answer that last question by closely examining a select group of songs spanning the Beatles’ entire recording history. A big part of the challenge is that a great amount of conflicting info exists, even among the experts. Even the members of the Beatles, producer George Martin and engineers like Geoff Emerick have provided conflicting accounts, and sometimes those people have contradicted themselves. Photos taken during the recording sessions provide helpful hints, but all too often crucial details are missing, and the best anyone can do is speculate. Internet forums are frankly a hell-hole of highly opinionated alpha characters who insist they have golden ears but are usually pulling utter BS out of their golden rears.

What follows is our best attempt to determine the guitars, basses, amps and effects that the Beatles actually used. This information is not perfect and in many cases is highly speculative (such as the amp that Lennon used to record his solo on “The End”). However, we hope it will provide a good guideline for guitarists who want to decode the magical mystery of the iconic sounds that the Beatles’ crafted over an incredibly prolific sevenyear period.