Ritchie Blackmore Gear/rig

[Kitsada]

Any one know Ritchie Blackmore Rig/Gear?
thank you:)

[burner]

10 Things You Gotta Do To Play Like Ritchie Blackmore:

http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/10-things-you/feb-07/27646

"Currently, Blackmore endorses the Austrian-built ENGL Ritchie Blackmore Signature 100 amplifier."

[Smü]

"Currently, Blackmore endorses the Austrian-built ENGL Ritchie Blackmore Signature 100 amplifier."

Bad research done by Guitar Player. Engl Amps come from 84529 Tittmoning, which is in germany.

[wildschwein]

I think he has ditched the electric for the time being to play medieval music. But a patchy history of his gear can be found in his Wikipedia entry. SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritchie_Blackmore
It's about 1/2 way down the page under "Gear Set-Up."

[swimrunner]

Better work on that finger / chicken picking - it's a big part of Ritchie's rhythm sound.

[scorpio]

I was able to go back stage during a Rainbow concert in Lubbock,Tx around 1980. I talked with Richie's guitar tech Ian. I asked about Richie's guitars. He took me to Richie's dressing room to see the guitars and meet the man. This was a huge thrill for me as he had always been one of my favorite players! I walked in and he introduced himself and showed me a white strat copy that he called his "smash up" guitar. I was puzzled because I was sure he played a Fender strat. I found out later that this was a copy that he destroyed during the performance.Then he pulled his Strat out and showed it to me. He talked a good bit about the tail piece. It had been modified to go down in pitch as well as up. I can't remember if if was routed underneath to be pulled up similar to a Floyd. It almost had to be. The fretboard had a medium scollop. It was not extremely deep. I think the neck was also glued into the neck pocket. It had 3 pick ups but I think the middle one was disconnected. As I recall the action was not high but not real low either.

His amps were 200 watt Marshall Majors through 4-12 cabs. I had always heard that he used a modified reel to reel tape deck as a pre-amp. I did not see anything like that although it could have been there somewhere. He was also supposed to use a treble booster. I did not see that either. I have used one to try to emulate his sound and it does help. You might want to try one. From what it looked like to me, it was guitar straight into the amp. I would almost bet that there was something else in the signal chain but it was not visible.

IMO he is one of the hardest players to emulate due to his technique and use of the bar. I have heard many players play his stuff note per note but they did not come close to SOUNDING like him.

His drink of choice was straight scotch. I tried to hang with him but I ended up getting very drunk and puking on the folks in front of me after his performance when I had gone back out to watch Pat Travers. Thanks for letting me ramble and I hope this helps.

[daddyo]

Here is a vid showing Blackmore's current rig. You can't really see his pedal baord in the vid very well.

http://www.blackmoresnight.com/videos/html/times.html

[Unburst]

What era?

A lot of the famous stuff was AC30, Machine Head, Woman for Tokyo etc.

[fast ricky love]

Blackmore is a phenomenal guitarist AND a world class weirdo!

[Lewkk]

Im listening to Rainbow live in germany right now, and good god Blackmoore had such a tone :bow

[wildschwein]

Here is a vid showing Blackmore's current rig. You can't really see his pedal baord in the vid very well.

http://www.blackmoresnight.com/videos/html/times.html

Heh; good one!!!

[Kitsada]

is he use a "Foot Bass"?

[HurricaneJesus]

What era?

A lot of the famous stuff was AC30, Machine Head, Woman for Tokyo etc.

Seriously? I would have never guessed that.

[dc_jcm800]

Dawk Stillwell, www.dawksound.com (http://www.dawksound.com), is a great resource for all things Blackmore..

He is usually pretty active in his forum and has/had a lot of info on the guitars and rigs used over the years. Especially the "secret sauce" of Blackmores guitars.
Seems like a good guy.

I have not been there recently.

[buddyboy]

RB moved to my hometown in the early-80's. He actually lived about a mile from me. I would see him all the time as he wandered through the aisles of one of our town's supermarkets where I worked as a stock-boy. His wife was a gorgeous brunette.

He would pop into one of the local bars/music establishments (Sparks)
fairly frequently in those days and play (this would be 1982-1983). He used a Marshall with the tape recorder and a big-head Strat.

My buddy and his group of amateurs actually backed him up once at a bizarre gig at a local biker bar (Funzy's or Fuzzy's IIRC). RB was billed as the headliner and my bud played guitar and sang lead. My bud still laughs about the gig to this day as he showed up with two Twin Reverbs and proceeded to play louder than RB the whole night, a feat which did not endear him to RB's handler/manager.

Great days. He still lives in Long Island I believe. Mt. Sinai I think.

[Unburst]

Seriously? I would have never guessed that.

He often said the AC-30 was his favorite amp.

[HurricaneJesus]

He often said the AC-30 was his favorite amp.

That's pretty cool. I always just figured he was a strictly marshall guy.

[Drowned Rabbit]

I was able to go back stage during a Rainbow concert in Lubbock,Tx around 1980. I talked with Richie's guitar tech Ian. I asked about Richie's guitars. He took me to Richie's dressing room to see the guitars and meet the man. This was a huge thrill for me as he had always been one of my favorite players! I walked in and he introduced himself and showed me a white strat copy that he called his "smash up" guitar. I was puzzled because I was sure he played a Fender strat. I found out later that this was a copy that he destroyed during the performance.Then he pulled his Strat out and showed it to me. He talked a good bit about the tail piece. It had been modified to go down in pitch as well as up. I can't remember if if was routed underneath to be pulled up similar to a Floyd. It almost had to be. The fretboard had a medium scollop. It was not extremely deep. I think the neck was also glued into the neck pocket. It had 3 pick ups but I think the middle one was disconnected. As I recall the action was not high but not real low either.

His amps were 200 watt Marshall Majors through 4-12 cabs. I had always heard that he used a modified reel to reel tape deck as a pre-amp. I did not see anything like that although it could have been there somewhere. He was also supposed to use a treble booster. I did not see that either. I have used one to try to emulate his sound and it does help. You might want to try one. From what it looked like to me, it was guitar straight into the amp. I would almost bet that there was something else in the signal chain but it was not visible.

IMO he is one of the hardest players to emulate due to his technique and use of the bar. I have heard many players play his stuff note per note but they did not come close to SOUNDING like him.

His drink of choice was straight scotch. I tried to hang with him but I ended up getting very drunk and puking on the folks in front of me after his performance when I had gone back out to watch Pat Travers. Thanks for letting me ramble and I hope this helps.

Hilarious Story!

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee15/chrismischief/Thanks.jpg

[Robert1950]

Yeah. Well, last year he was still dressing like a hobbit anyway. ;)

http://www.blackmoresnight.com/photos/personal/gainsville_ren_faire_2007/01.jpg

[zenfreud]

Yeah. Well, last year he was still dressing like a hobbit anyway. ;)

http://www.blackmoresnight.com/photos/personal/gainsville_ren_faire_2007/01.jpg




If wearing that hobbit hat could land me that wench, I might consider it. :BEER

[gregc]

I remember the club, Sparks! I can remember seeing RB there, had to be late 70's - early 80's. I remember watching him watch me play there; a bit unsettling to say the least..... I still like my Engl BlACKMORE HEAD, it does the trick!

[buddyboy]

I remember the club, Sparks! I can remember seeing RB there, had to be late 70's - early 80's. I remember watching him watch me play there; a bit unsettling to say the least..... I still like my Engl BlACKMORE HEAD, it does the trick!

Hehe - I played Sparks all the time in 81-84. He would wonder in, scowl at us local kids and then play!

[jesper]

The treeble booster was before the tape

[Whiskeyrebel]

If wearing that hobbit hat could land me that wench, I might consider it. :BEER

Folks, I think we have a new slang expression for condom. Just a sec, honey, I have to put on a hobbit hat.

[Whiskeyrebel]

But seriously folks, I really like the octave divider sound Ritchie uses on Difficult to Cure. Would that have been a commercially available pedal or something custom made?
Also, this is more a technique question than equipment. On solos where Ritchie uses volume swell to get a bowed-string effect (like Fools from the Fireball album), is that done with a volume pedal or with the volume knob on the guitar?