Old Ex-Steve Stevens 10000 Super Bass sold

[Emerald]

---

Brought to my attention by my Scottish pal Patrick after the auction had way ended of course was the sale of one of Steve Stevens, apparently two plexi Super Basses that he had racked up in groups of threes.
I learned a few years ago once I had become closer to Steve that he had unloaded most of his plexi Marshall's and Parks in the late nineties or so.
The example a 1967 with a JMP front panel looks very clean, can't see tranny numbers, has some USA power socket foolishness to replace the UK Bulgin and tons of capacitor replacements, ect.
What is the expert consensus here.
My buddy is obsessed with the VNB 'Exposed' CD and the Atomic Playboys recordings, as I am of course, but he feels that there were certain heads that had that tone, ect.
I explained to him the subtle differences 'tween a SL and SB, ect. Steve's metal front Super Lead which he bought as a half stack in 1979 in NYC, was used on Rebel Yell and resurrected by Dave Friedman for SS to use on his Memory Crash album, with some slight tweaks too up the gain. SS still has this head.
For example the Vince Neil Band album 'Exposed' had Steve using six Marshall plexi's.
Can my Marshall expert brothers weigh in on this head please?
Steve Friedman's designed with major input from SS during the two year development of the Marsha by SS in his touring rack and being built by the Velvet One is highly anticipated. It will be a two channel, basically a mega clean, think Fender Twin, plus the second channel will be the Stevens tweaked Hairy Brown Eye. Of course the world class Metropolous effects loop will be utilized. I had thought the cosmetics were finalized, but apparently there are more changes, see this thread:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/sho....php?t=1096828
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=it em1c26d94698&item=120910857880&nma=true&pt=LH_Defa ultDomain_0&rt=nc&si=Myj9MF7Gjexf5WzlpDt3fpTcsDI%2 53D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc#ht_500wt_922
Here are the pics, so with star provenance, at $2.5K was it well bought???












Same dual Marsha (one spare) and CAE rack SS will use on the brief Eastern European tour next week:



Was it one of these..??

Steve had Dave Friedman sell off at least 4 Marshall heads I believe back in the relative day.
This 10000 series SB does have a unique history though..
I'm sure all of Steve's amps were/are cataloged by serial # as are his guitars in storage.
So not that hard to track down various items of past equipment Though with various guitars this is not necessarily true :bang: :bang:
There aren't many original components left on the main board anymore. ect/
At least it has been kept up, it was sold in May for $2.5K, it has been substantially worked in at the component level.
I know it was in a rack case with two other heads, one other Super Bass and a metal front Marshall.
Thanks
Emerald

[Emerald]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T9uz...layer_embedded

[charvelguy]

Tone, and what you're willing to pay for it, is very subjective.
That said, I just happened to be looking on eBay (and on the net) for the past few weeks at some plexi's/clones.
They seem to be asking that range. '67 plexi 100 watt and a '66 park.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1967-Marshal...#ht_500wt_1413

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1966-Park-Gu...#ht_500wt_1413



http://www.ebay.com/itm/1966-Park-Gu...#ht_500wt_1413

and a 69,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1969-Marshal...#ht_842wt_1396


The cabs used to run about 1000-1500 5-6 years ago, so these things are on the rise, as are the heads obviously.
Locally, we have a shop that deals with these very old high end plexi's; Solid Body Guitar (just down the road) and they're asking these prices as well.
Personally, I would rather take the vintage cab than the head, but old amps, at least the 'good ones' , are rather scarce.
Blankenship, Freidman, Suhr, Trace Allen, Metropoulos (just about anyone/everyone who can build them) all are repro'ing plexis in their own way.
Price tages on those are equal to Fractal range, and there are clips of Pete Thorn demo'ing side by side a 68 Suhr and the Fractal,(not completely dialed) and its pretty danged close.

[charvelguy]

These amps can still be found in the nooks and crannies of Europe. France, Scotland etc.
There was a guy in Scotland area selling a Superbass 100 and the 100 cab about 5 years back on ebay, it went for under a grand but it needed some work. Cab went for less, like a few hundred.
Unless you live in that area, you are paying through the nose. Shipping was hideous on the cab, at least 500 to the US.

[Hellbat]

The key to his tone isn't using the same amp he uses, it's in the hands. The only way to duplicate his tone is to train, say your prayers, and eat your vitamins.

He would still sound like Steve Stevens through a Gorilla GC-20.

[charvelguy]

I would say Ed started the tone in hands comment/argument trend but that's debatable.
Tone is in the head, the mind ( as well as a combination of other factors ).

[Emerald]

My point to my friend and fellow SS enthusiast was that of course the secret to every guitarist lies within their own hands, pun intended.
I am soon to be 59 years old in August and have been doing this a long time.
AS far as vintage Marshall's, I have had my fair share since 1968, but no rack mounted processor is the same as a tube amp to me.
Some fans get very fanatical which is the nature of the beast, but having all the exact equipment may give a psychological edge to the player, but that's it.
We are just discussing a guitarists old equipment.
On the Malmsteen forum one of the mods there bought Yngwie's touring rack from the Rising Force era and has gone to extreme lengths to stock it and duplicate exactly Yngwie's setup from back then.
Look no further than the Van Halen sections of any forum for the ultimate "tone chasing".
These days I tend to gravitate to the history of the music and the guitars and amps used are a large part of the experience. I like to study setups and recording techniques in detail and that's how I learn myself.
I learned a lot from Rory Gallagher, Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Gary Moore, Steve Stevens and Yngwie.
Steve has been the most accessible player and glad to see him still doing what he loves and inspiring next generations of guitarists.
Emerald

[damon1]

Steve sounds awesome with whatever he plays through, and like you said, its mostly the player not the amp. Didn't know if you saw him on That Metal Show on VH1 classic, but he was playing through the house amp, a basic marshall tsl I think with a boost pedal and he sounded killer as usual. Same when he was playing through the 5150"s.

[Frigo89]

I nailed the Steve Stevens' "Exposed" tone with a modded Soldano SP-77 and a Marshall EL34 50/50