REVIEWED
HANDS ON... The Man
THIS MONTH: Phil Campbell
Phil Campbell has been supplying the upper-register element of Motörhead’s wall of noise since 1984, when the Welsh-born
guitarist was invited to join Motörhead as a replacement for the departed ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist, Brian Robertson. Motörhead is almost halfway through its third decade and as any of its past members will testify, holding down the lead guitar gig with Motörhead demands total commitment and the ability to withstand the rigours of life on the road with the hardest living rock and roll band in the business. However, the laid back Campbell has settled so smoothly into the Motörhead lifestyle that even he admits that nowadays he and Motörhead’s legendary frontman/bassist Lemmy often feel more like an old married couple than a pair of hell raising rockers! As a guitarist, Phil is a quietly accomplished player who understands that his role in Motörhead is less about unleashing stunning displays of technical virtuosity - Lemmy was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and so he is rather difficult to impress. Instead, the classic Motörhead sound needs a guitarist like Phil that can help to propel the band’s formidable momentum, which is an essential requirement for any decent rock and roll guitarist, at the end of the day. The band is currently touring to promote its new album, The World is Yours and Marshall is – as always – supplying the forbidding wall of towering backline that Phil and Lemmy use to deliver their classic brand of full throttle rock and roll. As Phil himself states, “We enjoy being together, we’ve no plans to knock it on the head. We don’t care about musical trends, we just look after Motörhead. Sometimes I think it’s a life sentence but if I didn’t enjoy it I wouldn’t still be doing it.’’ PM
Motörhead + Marshall Amps = Rock ‘n’ Roll2 Marshall Vintage Modern 2466
The unmistakable roar of the 100 watt Marshall amplifier is as integral a part of the heart and soul of the Motörhead sound as Lemmy’s whiskey soaked vocals. Since day one Motörhead has relied on Marshall amps and Phil Campbell justifiably has a seriously huge collection of Marshall heads and speaker cabinets. Last time we saw Motörhead on tour, Phil was plugged into a several Vintage Modern 100 watt heads driving at least eight 412 stacks – his roadie must be strong as a horse! The Vintage Modern 2466 departs from Marshall’s more familiar EL34-based compliment of output tubes, instead opting to pump the power through a quartet of KT66s, which was the tube fitted to the early 1959 100 watt Super Lead amps made during the
18 3pickup
late 1960s and early 70s. The KT66s silky smooth tone and generous headroom is included helps the Vintage Modern 2466 live up to its design brief, which is to allow the guitarist to select a sound based on the aforementioned vintage Super Lead amp, or else select a foot- switchable high gain mode (High Range) that uses an extra preamp tube to generate the more aggressive sound of the early master volume Marshall amps. A Mid Boost switch on the front panel kicks in an even fatter sound that offers extra sustain; ideal for the player that likes to ride out those soaring singing notes a la Jeff Beck or Gary Moore. As an all-round gigging musician’s amplifier, the Vintage Modern offers a lot of flexibility in a very simple and classic looking package. PM
LEARN THE SECRETS OF MARSHALL USERS’ TONES
The world at his feet: Phil Campbell
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