At the time, Valco used the same handful of circuits in a range of amplifiers manufactured not only for Supro, but also for National, Airline, Gretsch, Harmony and others.
And that’s without any absolute verification that this was indeed “the Jimmy Page studio amp” of legend. The mere implication that Page used a late ’50s or early ’60s Thunderbolt has sent the prices of these amps soaring on the vintage market from just a couple hundred bucks a few years ago to well over a grand, and upwards of two, in recent sales. This combo had a single 15-inch Jensen speaker and a pair of 6L6GC tubes in the output stage, but put out far less volume than higher-end amps using similar tubes, probably something more in the 25-watt range rather than the 45 or 50 watts that a similarly equipped Fender Super Reverb produced, for example. One tributary of this legend holds that it was a Supro Thunderbolt (and amp, it so happens, that’s also associated with Jimi Hendix’s recording career). The riddle within that mystery is… which one? It’s fairly widely reported that Page used a small to medium-sized amp made by the Valco company of Chicago, possibly a combo sold under the Supro brand name. The mystery part of that early Page studio amp is that, rather than recording with a Marshall head and cab, the Zep guitarist purportedly used a much smaller tube amp, and one that was also far cheaper and more mundane. Crafting your own sound-and thereby standing out from the crowd-is a big part of the game, and dropping every Tom, Dick, and Mary an easy clue to copping your tone isn’t in the best interest of any guitarist who wants their playing to remain distinctive and instantly recognizable. Or to put a firmer finger on it, Page’s early recording amp is more of a mystery within a riddle within an enigma-not only is this studio rig a far cry from the big Marshalls he used live, whatever it actually was remains shadowy and elusive to this day…formative artists might not be entirely keen to reveal their signature tones. More shrouded in myth is Jimmy Page’s amp of choice, for the seminal first two Zep albums in particular. In the studio, however, there was often a whole lot more going on-or a whole lot less-and running out to duplicate the Page live rig might not get you very close to sounding like the Page of “Dazed and Confused”, “Communication Breakdown”, “Ramble On”, or “Whole Lotta Love”.įor one thing, his use of the Les Paul and EDS-1275 weren’t exclusive, but that isn’t such a big secret: live performance photos and film footage often show him breaking out a Fender Telecaster or a Danelectro DC model, although they doesn’t reveal the whole story-that Page also used a Tele for many of the recorded tracks on the earlier Led Zeppelin albums, as well as for the famous solo in “Stairway to Heaven”. From huge and gutsy to atmospheric and mellow, from a ominous rhythm-guitar crunch tone to soaring, wailing lead, Page’s sonic palette was every bit as broad as his chops were versatile.Īny player who stamps his signature so indelibly into the annals of rock tone becomes extremely influential to others seeking to make a big sound in their own playing, and the visual that persists alongside that sonic imprint is of Jimmy Page strutting an arena stage with a sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard or EDS-1275 Double-Neck in front of a pair of roaring Marshall amp stacks.Īnd live, this is indeed how a major part of the tone was generated. There’s no greater icon of late ’60s and early ’70s British blues-rock tone than Jimmy Page, the legendary guitarist with Led Zeppelin.