Deep Purple's Machine Head Sound Revealed. Here's How Ritchie Blackmore Recorded His Unique Sound.

50 years have passed since December 1971 when DP recorded Machine Head and there’s still lots of speculation on how Ritchie Blackmore obtained his sound. One of the causes is his unusual gear, and the modifications he made to it. To complicate things further, pictures of a Vox AC30 can be seen on the album’s sleeve artwork.

So how did he do it? It’s actually a very simple setup.

Blackmore himself mentioned in several opportunities how he got his Marshall Major heads modified at the factory to achieve the sound he was after, and that he used them with a modified Hornby Skewes booster in front. He also used full stacks with the “100” logo, meaning that they were loaded with G12H 55Hz Greenbacks. And that was really it. That’s what he used from around 1969/70 till 1973 for both live and studio albums. In Rock, Fireball, Machine Head, Made in Japan, WDWTWA were all recorded using the same Strat - Booster - Major - G12H Greenbacks setup.

In this video I intend to capture the kernel of that sound for every track on the record using similar equipment, with my take on the amp's and booster's circuit modifications that Blackmore did back then.

Gear:
Custom Shop ’69 Strat - Custom Shop ’71 Strat
Handwired Hornby Skewes-type Treble Booster with “Blackmore” mods. Built to order, please comment if interested or get it on Reverb: https://reverb.com/item/33543817-hand...
Modified 1970 Marshall Major with “Blackmore” mods. Comment if interested in a handwired replica of this amp. I have a Reverb listing for it too.
4x12 in isolation cab with 1972 T1281 Pulsonic G12H 55Hz speakers. EQ’d with the Helios plugin in Pro Tools. Some reverb and echo added when necessary to match the originals.

Please contact me here if interested in the 100W Major I build with the same "Blackmore" mods as the amp on the video. NEW! 20W version available.

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