How loud were they?

[Martin Page]

I played in a group competition (we didn't win!) in 1964 at the Tottenham Royal dance hall, which is a big place. Although they'd had their first hit, The Dave Clark Five were still playing a residency there. I well remember the guitarist, Lenny Davidson doing the sound check and thinking how incredibly loud his AC30 sounded, just on its own, i.e. without the rest of the band playing.

Martin.

[iefje]

I know The Who were very loud, especially in the mid 1970's. They set a record in 1974, when they played the loudest concert to date at the Charlton Football Ground. Pete Townshend has tinnitus, because of this, or maybe because of their 1967 Smothers Brothers appearance in the USA, when Keith Moon bribed a stage hand for a huge amount of explosives to set off his drum kit. I don't think Tony or Brian has ever smashed up a drum kit or Hank or Bruce a guitar.

[neil2726]

I saw Cliff and the Shads at the now Regent theatre in Hanley around 1964. No house PA was used and the vocals were handled by a pair of Selmer coumn speakers, prob 4x10" in each. Also recentlysaw the Rapiers at the Victoria Hall, Hanley - and again they didnt appear to be miked up through the main PA. have to say though the hall is regarded by "classical" orchestras as one of the finest acoustic venues in the world! Shows you dont need volume to get a decent sound, just guys who can agree on a good balance.

[JimN]

RayL:

I saw The Shadows at the (Stoll Moss) Liverpool Empire in 1962, 1964 and 1965. The sound was very well balanced on every occasion, through the house system as well as the AC30s. Even the Gibson J45s they used in 1965 were plainly audible - and this long before the advent of the Barcus-Berry bug.

I also saw Frank Ifield and Cliff Richard at the same theatre (at Shadows concerts or variety bills) and they came across perfectly.

I remember the almost-impossibly powerful (for the time) Selmer 100 watt PA amp being advertised as "equivalent to a permanent threatre installation". Some theatres may have been using Grampian mikes and church-hall type systems, but the top professional theatres did a good job at the time, though maybe not loud enough to counter-balance the screaming of Beatles fans.

RUSSET:

I still recall my first experience of the Cavern Club in Liverpool. The groups all seemed to use three AC30s each with a 50w Vox PA amp and Vox "line source" elliptical speaker columns. The volume was absolutely deafening in that confined space. You felt as though pressure was being applied to the sides of your head!

JN

[cockroach]

All very interesting responses chaps, but I was pondering how things would have been sound- and volume-wise well before the availability of the AC30....let alone Marshalls..

In fact, when they were pretty well all using 15-20 watt amps...so prior to about 1960...plus thick strings, and low output pickups on their non-American guitars and basses.

Hardly relevant to consider things in America- where even teenage kids in young garage bands had Fender, Gibson and other great guitars, and powerful Fender amps and Shure PA and microphone equipment...lucky buggers!

Anyone on this site old enough to remember attending a live rock show in the late '50's? Even my memories of such shows only dates back to about 1962-63, and by then there was some far better gear available and being used- here in Australia as well as in the UK..