Conference napalm::guitar

    '74?
    
    I was playing REO Speedwagon, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath albums on
    my stereo.  I owned a beastly little Fender 3/4 scale acoustic, but my
    parents had made me quit the lessons two or three years before because
    they didn't think I practiced enough to be getting anything out of it.
    
    I didn't pick the guitar back up until around '81.
    
    Greg

With all humor intended, I was playing my FM radio...


  Though I do remember having a "Flintstone Special", It was my name for
a Vox-style copy bass. All I could do was play slides up and down the
neck - through my mono Hi-Fi amp - going to a home made (open back) 
cabinet with five 12" HH Scott speakers that I found up the dump...

/John

    This is a good topic ...
    
    In '74 my rig looked like this ...
    - Black Les Paul Custom, gold hardware.
    - Strat, brown with maple neck, played it probably 10 times ...
    - Ampeg V4 (100W, tubes) with 2 4x12's.
    - Marshall 100W stack
    - Electro-Harmonix LPB2 power booster stomp (like I really needed it).
    - Univox fuzz box (that's what they were called back then ..)
    - Cry Baby wah-wah.
    
    Jerry

    
    	'59 Gibson Melody Maker
    	Traynor Bassmaster
    	Fender twin 12 cab
    	Electro Harmonix Little Muff
    
    

    By '74, I had graduated to my "pro" setup:
    
      '66 Gibson Thunderbird bass, in original baby blue finish
      '70 Bassman head
       homemade plywood cab with 2x15' EV-SROs
    
    I was in a funk/soul band doing Ohio Players and P-Funk covers.
    
    Now if you caught me in '72, it was a puke-orange Mosrite Ventures
    bass.  Cool doesn't begin to describe it :-)
    
    /rick

    I was a 6th grader-guitarist-wannabe

    In 74 all I was playing was a mid-sixties Vega acoustic which I still
    own.  Unfortunately, I had given up my electric instruments in 70 when I
    got married (funny, what that does to your priorities).  What did I get
    rid of:  a Japanese bass (I think it was a Yamaha) which I played
    through a Fender Bassman (I can't remember the vintage on that, but it
    was a hand-me-down).  Oh, and I had a Danelectro six-string single pickup 
    job which I never did learn to play, but I liked the way it looked (it was
    black).
    
    That's amazing, I had no idea I could actually remember that far back
    (it's the short term memory that's a problem these days).  What was
    the topic again?
    
    Al              

    I wasn't playing anything in 74.  Really took up the guitar in 76.
    
    I was on my way to class (college) and there was this band playing
    on "The Patio" (outdoor concert facility at the school) and I was
    blown away by the guitar player (a total unknown named Steve Morse)
    and later that week bought a guitar and started to learn.

    That's a while back. Lessee ... Martin D12-20, Martin 000-18, Bacon
    Belmont long-neck (Seeger style) banjo, and an ancient Sammo (Made In
    Chicago) flat-top mandolin - a little. Around then I was in a group
    called the Folk Process (which included Lisa Neustadt, who later sang
    with Jean Redpath and on the Prairie Home Companion).

	I think all I had around in '74 was my Madiera A20 acoustic guitar.
	(which I still have in various pieces).  I got rid of my Fender
	Mustang sometime in '73.  Wish I still had that mustang.

	_gary

    Nothing...didn't start picking til 78!

    
    I didn't start until '80 or '81.....
    
    Around that time I was playing a Yamaha recorder, and a Sears Sil-
    vertone sax.....;-)
    
    guy

    re .0
    
    Kevin, did you sell/trade that Westwood SG to Daddy's in Salem?
    I bought a used one exactly like you describe in about '78 (it
    was my first decent electric).
    
    - Dave

    Jamming to Chicago records on my Rogers R-360 Drum set:
    
    	20" Bass
        12" Mounted tom
        14" Snare, converted to a tom
        16" Floor tom
        14" Ludwig snare
    
    	Paiste cymbals
    
    (guitar came later)
    
    Jim 

    
    In '74 we had a first born baby, i had a yamaha acoustic which i
    sometimes played bars etc, and played bass in a blues band with
    a borrowed bass and amp - too many cells have died between now and
    then to remember what they were.
    
    The baby just graduated HS 2 weeks ago, i have yasb(yet another sh*tty
    bass), a lovely ovation acoustic that i never play anywhere but home,
    a cello, upright bass & a 4-track. Enjoying it more now too.
    
    bob

    In 1974 I had (and still have) my '69 Strat, a '69 Fender P-Bass. 
    Amps? A Fender Deluxe Reverb and a Peavey TNT 100 for my bass.
    
    Wish I still had that Deluxe Reverb...   :^( .
    
    Rock on,
    	    Fred

    I think I was playing drums???.. mostly singing
    
    Probably some piano, clarinet, and violin,.. mostly singing though,..
    
    In '64 I was playing a Red Zimgo !!! six string through a ??Univox??
    doing "Snoopie and the Red Baron" and "Red Rubber ball covers" with
    the neighborhood doods 'til mom pulled the plug for dinnner or
    whatever. Aaaaaahhh,.. the good ole daze :-). I gave up guitar in 67
    (at the ripe age of 7) because I hated taking lessons (pay attention
    Buck!!!! :-),.. thats when I started singing/playing everything but
    guitar,.. got back into it on a classical in '76,.. been going strong
    ever since...
    
    								/Bill
    

I had a blue sparkle Slingerland Sears And Roebuck Special with a
genuine homemade "Sizzle Cymbal" - Ya know, with POP RIVITS in it ?
I was bad...  Oh, and I had just quit taking Accordian lessons from 
Mr Ellman too.  :)  I was actually pretty good at playing "Indian
Reservation" on my dads Conn Organ (With strum-o-matic !!).

:)

    
    
      1974?. Leesee..I was seventeen and playing my 67 telecaster through a
    Fender Bandmaster with a Big Muff in a three piece band called Prism.
     We used to play James Gang, Procol Harum, Sabbath. I used to sit in my
    room hours on end trying to figure out what the hell Steve Howe was
    doing on "Starship Trooper", until I got it down, spraining the tendons
    across the back of my left hand in the process.
      Those were the days.Playing outdoor concerts surrounded by all those
    nubile young things...
    
    RichC
     

    
        I graduated high school in '74 so this is easy for me to remember.
    I actually was playing in a band at the time. We were doing things
    like Grank Funk, Deep Purple (Space Truckin instead of Smoke on the 
    Water!), All Right Now by Free. That kind of stuff.
        My gear : straighforward and simple-
    
      	Gibson SG Special - cherry red w/"soapbar" pickups
    
        Ampeg Portaflex single channel tube amp w/ 4 X 12 Jensens. 
    
    	I think I used a phase shifter and a generic fuzz box (S Hawk?).
    
    					-long,long time ago-

    Strat-->CryBaby-->Deluxe Reverb.
    
    Still got 'em and use 'em, although the Deluxe stays in the music room
    now.

Hmmmmm......1974......got it!!!

I'd have been about 28 years old, still married to the first wife, into the
WHO, James Gang (me too, remember Funk #49, Closet Queen, got all their albums),
played Born to be Wild a squillion times...........was Bowie/Mick Johnson around
then??

Would have had my 59/60's tele (bought it for 60 pounds from Chris Spedding (he
of "Motor Biking" fame), also my SG Special (new), and a Fender Jazzmaster 
(s/b). As for amps, I had a (wait for it!) VOX Foundation Bass cabinet powered
by an original (circa 1965) 50 watt Marshall. Had a Big Muff fuzz pedal a Vox
Wah Wah, and a De-armond volume/tone foot pedal.  

Yeah and I got pictures to prove it (what a prat I looked!)

Who said bad taste was dead!!

Dave

    
    In 1974 I would've been 4 years old, playing with my Action Man (GI Joe
    to you over the pond) and engrossed in The Clangers.
    
    -Tony

	In '74, I was playing Mommy to a 2-year-old, and listening to
	my 8-track tape player :^}

    
    
    
    
    
       Andrew was _NOT_ two years old in '74!
    
    
    
    
    
    
      He only pretended to be!
    
    
    
      Rick.    
    
               8^)     ;^)  
    
    
    
    
    
    

        Hey, O'Loughlin  -  behave  yerself!   :*) Besides the helpless
        child routine used to get 'em every time...
        
        Hmm lessee - '64 was my first ever _new_ solid body, a Futurama
        III  deluxe  (not a bad guitar..) through a big Marshall combo.
        Couldn't get  the  sound  I  wanted, so went for semi-acoustics
        Gibson style and  solid  body  on  occasion  until I played and
        bought a Burns, (still  got  the  pics but not the guitar :^( )
        but found that the babes  were  haunting  the  folk clubs, so I
        became  a  joke singer in the  Reading  area  with  folk  clubs
        galore.  Excellent!  Contemporary stuff with  the band and solo
        folkie/comedy stuff for relaxation.
        
        So, '74 would have been a Burns Black  Bison  6  string  and  a
        (real) Epiphone twelve string for the finger-pickin'.
        
        Andy
        
        PS. Rick - it's past yer bedtime!
        

    re .23
    
    Actually Tony was playing with his clangers, engrossed in Action Man
    
    I know, 'cos I was that soldier.
    
    
    andy

    Hmmmmm...'74?
    
    22 years old, one year out of college, playing in a four piece band
    doing what was then popular rock and what is now classic rock....James
    Gang, Eagles, Doobies, Zeppelin, Free (and then Bad Company)
    
    Rig:  Gibson SG-->Crybaby wah-->phase shifter-->Electro Harmonix
    LPB-->Fender Showman top-->home made cab.  It was sweet then and I'd
    love it now!
    
    Steve

    Okay dudes. I graduated HS in 1973, so this is easy for me, too.

In 1974 I traded the 1966 Gibson Firebird I bought new for a Japanese
made Fender Acoustic guitar. At the time I also owned an Ampeg Dan
Armstrong clear plexiglass guitar and thought It was far superior to
the Gibson....In retrospect, I should have traded the Armstrong and
kept the Firebird. The Fender acoustic got me interested in playing
music by the likes of Dylan, James Taylor, eagles, etc. so I guess
it wasn't a complete loss.

I also owned an Ampeg B22X which was a massive combo guitar amp. This
sucker weighed more than a twin and it was only 50 watts.

Right around 1974 I started playing with a band called "Gilson Treadmore".
Don't ask me where the name came from. We covered tunes like After Midnight,
Takin' care of business, Sweet home alabama, The best of my love, Evil Ways, 
Knockin on Heaven's door, Lucy in the skies (Elton John version). The weird
thing is that our lead singer was a greek immigrant and had the heaviest
accent you can imagine. We stunk but had lot's of club work. We typically
made about $200/night which was darn good money back in '74. 

    How many of you guys would go back and do it all over again if you had
    the chance. I wouldn't !   
    
    As they say, it's a shame that youth is wasted on the young !!
    
    Mark Jacques
    

                                        

	1974...By now I'd played in regular working bands for 3 to 4 years 
excluding High school stuff. But 74 I left a bar band playing R&R/Blues and 
originals(now classics)in the summer for Boston,I used a Black L P Custom and 
a 59 Les Paul jr for slide with a Fender Twin. I never used pedals as we 
always just used a 40 to 50 watt amps and cranked it. When I got to Boston I 
dumped the Les Paul for an ES355 and an ES175 to study Jazz and Fusion, I still
have the ES175 today. I use to own a MXR Phase 90,Distortion+,6band EQ,
Oberheim Envelope follower/Sample and hold pedal,Dearmond volume pedal.
	I also got rid of all those nasty large Ampeg 4 12 cab's,and kept the 
twin. I remember back then that a Mesa Boogie MKI and a double neck
6/12..... were hot items. And Whurlie's was right at the corner of Mass ave
and Newbury st and had glass cases with new L5's,Johnny Smiths and Super 
400's. There was the Jazz Workshop/Pauls Mall basement where I first heard 
Miles Davis and Pat Martino. It was a very good year.....and it improved in 75.
	Well I'll get back to my rockingchair and count grey hairs ......  :^) 
so you young whippersnappers can play.    :^)

								Rick

	I was playing "Hang on to Yourself" and "Jet Boy" and other
	glitter-age goodies in platform shoes on a short scale bass
	from the catalog store. The band was called "Mothra" and
	played a hand full of CYO and Jr. High gigs. My amp was a
	Traynor YBA-1A played thru a Traynor YB610 (6 x 10) cabinet.

    
    Jeez, I was 10 at the time. GI Joes maybe? 8-)

    Man some of you dudes are old 8^).
    	In 74 I was ten years old and mainly played with cars...I had a 
    cool purple mustang.
    P.K.

    '74, lessee, I'd joined my first gigging band. We was into the 
    "glam-rock" scene big-time; Bowie, Alice Cooper, Mott, etc. Platform
    boots, leather, lace....
    
    Was playing my standard issue Gibson/Ampeg rig. (Steel strings at that
    time. Hadn't discovered the rubbers yet...)
    
    Edd

>    '74, lessee, I'd joined my first gigging band. We was into the 
>    "glam-rock" scene big-time; Bowie, Alice Cooper, Mott, etc. Platform
>    boots, leather, lace....
    
    No way!?  I'd never have pictured you doing that kind of stuff, Edd! 
    Tommy Bolen, eh?  Woah...
    
    Greg

    Hey, I've got some pictures from that era ... yellow cords with silver
    stars on 'em, blue and purple stacks, white lace shirt ... scary
    indeed.
    
    Jerry

    
    A 1969 ES-335-TDC
      Danelectro DS-100 head
      Sunn "studio" cab with 2 SRO 12s
    
      Guy
    

    > No way!?  I'd never have pictured you doing that kind of stuff,
    > Edd!
    
    It's even harder for ME to picture! (There was good reason I didn't
    get to sing lead on Cooper's "Is It My Body?").
    
    Edd 

    In 74 I was a junior in H.S. and temporarily lost all interests in
    music to pursue other "interests"...

    Yeah some of us may be old (creak),. but I was playing guitar
    at the tender age of 6 or 7 so,.. Hot wheels were cool too but...
    
    							/Bill
    

    ditto.  I always liked Strats better than GI Joes anyway.

    Hammond B3 (ugh)
    Fender Rhodes (ugh)
    Hohner Clavinet
    '65 Fender Strat->Twin Reverb (ugh)

    I miss the Hammond.

    71' strat
    crybaby pedal
    big muff  :-)
    sunn coluseum lead amp. (kida crappy, kinda loud)
    sears silvertone amp (sounded better, but not as durable or loud)
    fender rhodes.
    
    Played Who songs badly and other things that I can't remember :-) for 
    our highschool who wanted to hear disco. 
    
    Jay
    
    
    
    

    RE: 37   I bet that rig sounded SWEET!
    
    RE: 42   My '74 band's KB player used a B3/Leslie rig...the root of
    today's back problems and double hernia surgeries.....ugh, indeed!
    
    Steev
    
    

    I was going to pass on this one, since the list of stuff I had in '74
    is too long and too weird, but what the heck:
    
    Ovation Deacon 12 Walnut
    Ovation Custom Legend
    Guild 412 Blonde
    '72 Gretsch Super Chet Cherry
    '68 Rick 360-12 Black
    '60 Fender Stringmaster 2x8 Blonde
    '61 Fender Jaguar SB
    '64 Fender Jaguar Candy Apple Red 
    '59 Gibson ES-355 Cherry
    '71 Gibson ES-355 Cherry
    '62 Gibson L-5 CES Blonde
    '63 Gibson L-5 CES SB Florentine
    '64 Gibson S400 CES SB Florentine
    '69 Gibson S400 CES Blonde
    '58 Gibson Byrdland Cherry SB
    '69 Gibson JSD SB
    '69 Gibson JS Blonde
    '71 Gibson Les Paul Personal Walnut
    '74 Gibson L-5S Cherry SB
    Hagstrom Swede Bass Cherry
    Gibson EBO Cherry
    Maestro Echoplex
    Fender "Fuzz-Wha"
    ARP Odyssey White
    Kustom 2-12ASC Black
    Kustom 2-15-A4 Black
    Peavey Musician head 
    Fender Tremolux head 
    
    I'm not certain about the Odyssey and the Custom Legend--they might
    have been a year or two later. In any case, there was even more stuff I
    can't think of right now. It would have been easier if you had asked
    about 1954, when I had just one guitar and amp, or '64, when I had more
    amps than guitars.
    
    I have a picture from June 1972 of the band with which I was working
    full time.  In the picture, the other guitarist had a '59 ES-175D
    through a Twin with a Maestro Boomerang , I was using the sunburst
    Jaguar through the Fuzz-Wha and Echoplex into the Kustom 2-12, the
    keyboard player had a B3/Leslie (the  Leslie had the top removed and
    the rotating parts painted psychedelic colors), the bass player had a
    '59 Jazz Bass through a Kustom 1-15 bass amp and the PA was a Kustom
    400 top through a couple of 4-12" columns. No board, no monitors,  no
    lights, no racks, no nothin' else. The other guitarist and I used to
    switch back and forth--when I played a Gibson (usually a 355 but often
    the Byrdland), he played a candy apple Jazzmaster. We never both played
    Fenders, but sometimes both played Gibsons. 
    
     FWIW, I was wearing a plain pink dress shirt, dark blue velour slacks,
    black loafers with about a 1-1/2" heel and hair just slightly longer
    than now, though there was a lot more of it,
    especially in the front:-(   We may have played funky music, but we
    looked pretty much like the young professionals we all were. 
    
    The most interesting thing about the picture is the location. Every
    Sunday we played poolside brunch at the Watergate Apartments and the
    picture was taken there just a week before an incident at the office
    building next door  burned the name *Watergate*  indelibly into the
    American psyche 20 years ago this week. 
    
    Danny W.

Lemmee see:

marshall 50w with 2X12 bottom
'69 SG custom
'73 strat
'? sigma acoustic DM-5
VOX wah and a VOX 'tone bender' fuzz box

dbii

    RE: .45
    
    Man, and you guys think *I* have too much gear !!
    Holy smoke man !
    jc

    
    In 74 I had 2 guitars: Yamaha acoustic and Alvarez classical.
    Was just starting to study classical guitar (and music in general).
    
    Went from folk and acoustic blues to "serious" music. Played only the
    nylon string for 5 or 6 years.
    
    Didn't even own or play an electric until the mid 80's.
    
    	Bob

'74 Hmmm. 

I was still playing my old scratched up Beatles records. I didn't
pick up an instrument until around '76 (I was in 8th grade at the
time). 

The axe? An el-cheapo UNIVOX Mostrite copy short scale bass. The
next year I got a 20W UNIXVOX amp. 20W solid state head, 1-15 cab.


I used the cab up until last year (I *did* replace the speaker), I
still use the amp every sunday at church. (Ok it doesn't sound great,
but it does sound good through my PV 1x15 cab.)

>The axe? An el-cheapo UNIVOX Mostrite copy short scale bass. The
>next year I got a 20W UNIXVOX amp. 20W solid state head, 1-15 cab.
                       ^^^^
    
    Clearly Tom has been working *too* much lately...
    
    gh

re:.50

UNIX on the brain I guess... ;^)

Well I'm bad with dates, but I think in '74 I'd just "graduated" from
my Fender Jaguar into a Bandmaster head and home-made cabinet (with
an Electro-Harmonix Power Booster to add gain and to eat the 6L6GC tubes)
to a Marshall 50-watt (I think) half-stack and a borrowed Les Paul.

In the early 70's I was playing Chicago, BS&T, etc. (I transcribed all
of the horn parts for the horn players).  By '74, I think I was up to
the glitter rock period...silk shirts, bell-bottom pants, platform shoes
(I had to borrow my platform shoes from the other guitar player).  Damn
near broke my neck a few times trying to walk in those shoes! :-)

    In '74 I had a handpainted (did it myself) black Orpheus electric
    guitar and a noname acoustic.  I think my amp was a unichord transistor
    stack -- If I recal, it had two 12 or maybe 15 inch speakers; I think
    it was a bass amp.  Later in the year I graduated to a '61 (or
    thereabout) Gibson SG somethinorother (junior?), with soapbar pickups.
    My next amp was a Fender twin, but I don't remember when I got it
    (probably '76-'77 or so).  After that I got a 100w Marshall stack, but
    that wasn't until much later.

    I was playing in my junior high school rock band and we played mostly
    originals because we didn't want to play other people's music.  That
    and it was *much* easier to write our own music than to figure out what
    someone else had done (wished I still felt that way!).  Actually, we
    did a pretty good cover of Smoke on the Water and Highway Star because
    everyone in the band grew up on Deep Purple and we wanted to be just
    like them....

    My standard setup was the Orpheus guitar, unichord amp, a cry baby
    wah-wah, and some sort of distortion box.  I don't have a clear memory
    of how it sounded, but it had to be bad by today's standards...

    steve

 >   My standard setup was the Orpheus guitar, unichord amp, a cry baby
 >   wah-wah, and some sort of distortion box.  I don't have a clear memory
 >   of how it sounded, but it had to be bad by today's standards...
    
    
    Who's standards????  Tone is in the ear of the beholder.....
    
    8^)

    Back in '74, I had the Fender Jazzmaster and a Hofner Strat-clone
    and a homemade amp. Played stuff from the mid-late '60s. 
    Looked about the same as now, except was less "rotund" and had nearly
    no gray hairs. Was 25 at the time, lived in The Peples' Republic of
    Cambridge, Mass, near Porter Square (#1 Orchard Street, to be precise).
    
    I stiff have both guitars, along with several more acquisitions.
    
    ed

    Still playing my '71 SG. The amp's gotten smaller, only the cry-baby
    remains from my once-formidable arsenal of pedals, but I'm still
    playin' the same old tunes...
    
    Bell-bottom blues
    Badge
    She's so heavy
    etc...

    In 73 I bought a new Strat, (sunburst/maple neck)
    I paid $270 for it w/ case (Obscene!)
    
    In April of 74 I bought a new Les Paul Gold Top ($475!!)  It was either 
    a 73 Gremlin, or the guitar....  no surprise where my priorites were
    and still are!  I still remember taking the check for $1,800 dollars
    back to the bank, and taking out a smaller loan for $500 to by the
    guitar when I decided my present car would be fine for another few
    years. (a 68 Merc Montigo, A REAL hummer of a beast)  Went from
    the bank to Union music.... 
    
    I traded that same guitar in '79 and got $375 for it not bad depreciation 
    schedule! 
    
    That Gold top, and my 70 telecaster (my first NON SILVERTONE Guitar)
    are the only two guitars I owned that I really wish I still had today..    
    
    For an amp, I used an Acoutsic 150 head with matching 4x12 cab..
    
    Also had a MXR Dist+ (back when they were made out of tank armor)
    and a Badstone Phase shifter ,, (ooooohh cool..)
    
    I also had (this will test your memories) an EMC Aries.  (A real
    dawg of a creation, about 75/80 wats, 4 10s, no master volume,)  
    In fact, as I recall now, I traded the EMC for the acoustic 150.
    Which wound up being a bargain.  The 50 was a much better
    amp..  That sucker still works and is going strong today..
    (Not that I use it, but I know it still works..)    
    
    It was a basic set up, no frills, but I had "loud" going for me
    Actually, it all didn't sound too bad..  I still have some old
    cassettes...
    

    re: .56 (Lefflerm)
    
    Hey, I had a 71 SG (Cherry).
    
    When I bought it, the neck had a hairline fracture that got worse and
    worse until it finally just broke off so now it sits in its case, but
    it might as well sit in a grave.   Just can't bring myself to actually
    throw it in the garbage.

    Lessee now. I had just traded a Suzuki 185 street bike for a Black Les
    Paul Custom and an EMC bass amp with 4 10's ( I think - I dont remember
    the model). the LP was one of these "fretless wonder" jobbies. It had
    frets, but they were just real small. Liked the tone, but hated the
    action as compared to my Guild Starfire V, which I also had then. But
    then again the Guild necks are my idea of perfection.
    
    Also had an old Gibson 50 watter. It was a GA-77 RVT (reverb and
    Tremolo). 2 6l6's in the output stage. It was a combo amp with a single
    15" JBL speaker. Tremendous amp, but a few years later it developed a
    hum, the source of which I couldn't find. I kept it for several years in 
    the cellar waiting to get "a round tuit" to fix it. Never did, I ended up
    giving it to Harvey of Harvey's Music in Milford NH as a basket case to
    see if he could make use of it. 
    
    After I got rid of the LP, I installed probably the first production
    run of Dimarzio Super Distortion HB'ers in my Guild dramatically
    improving that guitar. Still got both the Guild and the pickups although
    they are no longer together. I'm using one of the pickups on my
    modified Strat. Not sure if I'm gonna reinstall the other in the Guild,
    or put PAF's in it.
    
    
    "sakman"

	Ah, 1974...

	I was playing a '63 Fender Jaguar that I had completely rebuilt
	(later stolen) through a Traynor bass head into a Silvertone
	6x10" cab.  I too had one of those LPB-1 'booster thingies'.
	I might have also been using a little Ampeg 1x12" combo that
	was a truly great amp (can't remember the model, but it too
	was stolen along with the Jag).

	We were doing Allman Bros., Dead, and Neil Young covers along
	with some other tidbits like Humble Pie and King Crimson.

	joe.

    ..missed this note the first time around....
    
    Judging from the previous replies, I *must* have been the only person
    in the world playing country music in '74.....and I didn't have
    to wear the hat back then :(
    
    
    I actually took a photo of all my equipment that year; alas, all that
    remains is the photo and memories (*sigh*):
    
    1970 Radio Shack (!!) copy of a Hofner Beatle Bass, except with single
     coil pickups.  What a sweet bass that was!
    
    1966 Fender Telecaster.  Bought secondhand for $125.  Not bad for my
     second electric, but dull-sounding by normal Tele standards.
    
    1973 Harmony Sovereign 5-string banjo.  Didn't get too good at it
     'cause I discovered pedal steel a few years down the road...
    
    1972 Sigma DR-7 acoustic.  A damn good-sounding guitar, shoulda been 
     another keeper...
    
    196? Fender Concert amp.  Had to write this one off when the power
     transformer literally caught fire and totalled the amp.  :(
    
    1974 Peavey Century bass amp.  One of their better early amps. Lasted
     through my first two years of club gigging.
    
    Every once in a while, I'll come across things like old set lists -
    these can be a REAL revelation!
    
    						--Eric--

Wow 1974.  That's over...gasp...20 years ago.  (Maybe I'd better not think
about that part :-)

Let's see.  In 1974, I was playing:

	1967 Fender Strat - Black with a white pickguard.  A real nice
	guitar.  One of the few guitars I miss.

	1972 Fender Telecaster Deluxe - Twin humbucking pickups.  Sounded
	real nice.  Played well to boot.

	1974 Les Paul - This one was a nice guitar.  I set it up for slide
	work.

	1971 Yamaha 12 atring acoustic.  (I still have this one.)

All played through a Kustom combo amp - gold metalflake rolled vinyl.

Ah the memories.

- Mark

    What was I playing with in 1974??
    
    Well, I was 12, I was probably trying to playing with the girl 
    next door...  Other than that, it was a Conn trumpet, anna Selmer
    MkVI Tenor Sax...

	In '74 I was playing with GI Joe's & Action Jackson's, reading 
Marvel Comics, and going to 4th grade.

	I didn't know anything about rock 'n' roll, and all I knew about 
guitars was that the wimpy girls who loved "Seasons In The Sun" played bad 
folk songs on big, clunky acoustics. Needless to say, guitars had no appeal 
to me at that time.


Brad

    I was 12, and was playing a Ludwig 404 snare drum and a Kay 
    acoustic guitar.  The Kay featured a "wildwood" finish and had a
    plastic bridge.  I still have both (although the Kay is no longer
    playable).  For Christmas that year, I got my first drum set: a
    four piece Rogers R-360 series in a black and silver pearl.
    
    I finally sold the Rogers set a couple of years ago.  I kind of hated
    to see it go...
    
    Jim

    I was playing a Cherry Gibson SG thru an ancient "Revere" tape recorder
    with a builtin speaker (used it in "PA" mode).  I found out that if you
    pulled the guitar cord halfway out it would increase the gain and give
    you a very cool distortion sound.
    
    I still have never found an amp that had a sound I liked as much as
    that Revere.
    
    	db

    
    I was 14. I'd been playing drums for 13 years (yes, you read that
    right), and was gigging on a Slingerland kit in my dad's jazz
    quartet. I was also doing some GB gigs with dad, some as a drummer,
    some as a sax/clarinet player; my tenor sex and my clarinet were
    Selmers, my alto sax was a Conn. I'd been playing bass for a year,
    and was the youngest member of a band called "Phoenix" as well
    as another garage outfit that did Beatles covers. My bass was
    a "Klira" copy of the Hofner Beatle bass, and I played through
    a Fender amp. I forget the model, but it was the one with all
    the tube guts sitting in a little wire mesh cage above the amp.
    
    -b

    Hmmm - 
    
     Gibson SG Special - cherry red, dual soapbar pickups. 
    
     Various stomp pedals - what I (vaguely) remember : MXR phase 90,
    			S. Hawk distortion, MXR compressor.
    
     Ampeg Portaflex amp - all-tube, 4 12" Jensen speakers, the top 
    			flipped upside down inside the cabinet for 
    			transportation. LOUD!
    
    								-John R-

    Nothing -- didn't pick up a guitar for another two years yet.

In 1974, I'd sold a Martin D-35 that I had bought new and bought a new D-28.
If only knew then what I know now .....

Jim

    
    
    		Started playing in November 74' 
    
    		Black National LP copy, through a Fender Bandmaster and
    		EMC performer 1.  Also used Electro-Harmonix screaming
   		bird.
    
    		CMD

    I was pounding opposing pitching in Clinton Little League.

    > I was pounding opposing pitching in Clinton Little League.
    
    Couldn't beat them on the field so you beat up their pitchers in the
    parking let eh?

That would be around 3rd grade at P.S. 174, Queens, NYC, so I was in music
appreciation class playing a $2 black plastic "flutophone" which was more like
a tiny recorder in appearance.  I learned how to read music at this time:
"Every Good Boy Does Fine" and "FACE".

I was listening to top-40 (which wasn't bad at that time) WABC-AM 770.

adam

    I grew up in Union, NJ and used to listen to WABC-AM all the time,
    until we moved to Mass. in 1971. I listened to WABC from 1960 to
    around 1969 when I discovered FM radio.  WABC played all of the 
    great music during the 60's. Everything from the Supremes to the
    Beatles.  The most popular DJ at that time was Bruce Morrow (aka:
    Cousin Brucey). 
    
    Mark

    db, I'll have you know that I still hold the single season record for
    most doubles in a season in that town.

    I was playing the same 1971 ES-345-TD I still own.  I used to have a
    Standel amp with 4 X 10" speakers in it.  Beautiful clean sound...
    no power at all... the thing was quiet even on 11.  Around this time, I
    bought a bandmaster with cabs way too big to carry around.  I used to
    put the bandmaster head into the Standel speakers with good result.
    I had a wide variety of fuzz tones, both store bought and home made. 
    Can't remember much about any of them at my current advanced age.
    
    							M

>    db, I'll have you know that I still hold the single season record for
>    most doubles in a season in that town.
    
    What does your drinking problem have to do with baseball?
    
    	db

    '74, Eh?
    
    I was playing the FIRST set of FIBES drums in Lake County, IL.
    The rest of the band was miked thru the P.A., but these freakin' drums
    were so loud, I played without mikin' them! Crystal-clear set, with an
    18"x18" f;oor tom that sounded like a cannon when I hit it!
    
    Then, just a while later, I became civilized, and started playing those
    fine, stringed things that I love so much..............
    
    Animal: Eat drums! Eat drums!
    Kermit: no, no, Animal; Beat drums!
    
    Bill Message

    who said it was drinking, db?  it could be a number of things.

    A Fender Telecaster and a Hofner Beatle bass.  Wish I still had the
    Telecaster.
    
    Paul

    
    	'59 Gibson Melody Maker, Traynor Bass Master head, twin 12
    	home made cab with EV's.
    
    	Chicopee Comp, Holyoke High, West Springfield High, Westover
    	Air Force Base, Chicopee High, and a thorough thrashing at
    	the South Hadley Battle of the Bands by Clean Living!!
    
    	Tom
    

    Epiphone Jumbo acoustic, customised by John Birch (no, not him - a UK
    guitar maker!!!), having Barcus Berry transducer and back Fender Telecaster
    p/u, each fed separately through the two channels of a Fender Tremolux
    head, and a 2x12" cab of unknown origin for onstage, and separately
    through the PA (RAC mixer - UK custom job, Quad 303 power amp for foldback,
    HH 100W power amp into 6 Altec Voice of the Theatre bins each fitted with
    Tannoy Monitor Gold speakers, mix of AKG D404(?) and Shure mikes).

    Bizarre or wot?  Worked tho!

    The lead guitarist had a Telecaster/Marshall rig, and the bass a John
    Birch SG style custom bass and an HH bass rig.

    Andrew