Jet Harris's Studio Bass Amplifier

[abstamaria]

Here is a very interesting note on the amplifier that Jet Harris used for Apache and other Shadows recordings. I had learned in this or other Shadows forum that Jet probably used Abbey Road’s Leak amplifier; apparently a Leak RC-PA (ie Remote Control Pre Amplifier) mono preamp, produced in 1947-1951 fed through a TL25 power amp. The lucky fellow who posted the note may have the very preamp that Jet (and possibly one Paul McCartney) used!

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/archiv ... 80464.html

Here is the photo of Jet at what is generally regarded the Apache studio seesion, with the Leak:

Shadows Apache recording.jpg

(180.77 KiB) Downloaded 15503 times

This is all new to me, so I find this quite exciting.

Regards,

Andy

[abstamaria]

And here is the photo of the preamp itself, in case you are unable to access it.

LeakAmp007.jpg

(105.2 KiB) Downloaded 15502 times

[GoldenStreet]

Cliff is playing the acoustic guitar!

Bill

[dave robinson]

That rig is described in Mo Foster's book - it's a 'Pepe Rush' hand built cabinet, filled with sand and if I'm not mistaken has an eighteen inch speaker. The amp is a Leak model which many of us used back then - a quality amp may I say. Paul McCartney did use the same rig for quite some time in the studio, as did jet and many others at the time.
If you really need to do it, a recreation would not be too difficult, you would just need the dimensions and the measurements for any ports. I friend of mine has two similar cabinets which he uses for hi-fi , each of them sand filled and loaded with an Altec 15" speaker, as well as the mid and high frequency units - they sound AWESOME !
The only problem as far as transporting them to gigs is the weight - it's killer ! . . . . .

[Bojan]

Cliff is playing the acoustic guitar!

Bill

If they are recording Apache and if Cliff is playing acoustic guitar, what is Bruce doing playing a Strat ?!

[stratmantd]

The drummer looks more like The Guvnor than Tony Meehan.

[Iain Purdon]

The drummer looks more like The Guvnor than Tony Meehan.

Funny, I thought the same

[JimN]

Cliff is playing the acoustic guitar!

Bill

If they are recording Apache and if Cliff is playing acoustic guitar, what is Bruce doing playing a Strat ?!

They aren't recording Apache.

JN

[abstamaria]

I should have been more clear. That photo at Abbey Road was subject of some discussion here a while back, and I think the consensus was that it was most likely taken on the day Apache was recorded, but during a break, not the recording itself. That seems plausible to me as Cliff is there, and he did play the tom-tom in the intro and outro of the piece. But if that's not Tony Meehan ...

Anyway, I attached the photo only to show the Leak, which is unfamiliar here. I was also quite pleased to see a close-up. Is that preamplifier and amp combo really a bass amp or simply an audio amp pressed into bass service (and which did an excellent job anyway)?

Thanks very much for info on the speaker and cabinet. It is incredible how much information is available in the forum.

I wish the Chinese drum (which they referred to as a "tam-tam") were in that photo!

Andy

[abstamaria]

Dave, many thanks for the detailed information. But what is a "Pepe Rush" cab? Is that a brand or a person? I Googled the term and nothing turned up. Remember I'm several thousand miles away!

I had never heard of Mo Foster too, but there is information on him on the Web. I must try to get a copy of the book yup refer to.

I hope someone is writing down all this information. So much was lost when the old forum dissolved.

Andy