IvanP
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 10331
southern Michigan
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Posted on Aug 18 2016 11:04 PM
The Madeira was very fortunate to open for DD at Melody Inn in Indianapolis this Tuesday. I decided to take some shots of the reverb unit and the amps while I had the chance, so we can get the settings right in the future! 
First, the reverb unit, suspended, of course:
Annnnndddd... the settings! Notice two different dots around the Dwell knob, indicating two different settings he uses. I think there's the same for Tone, but one of the dots is covered by that cable tie. Dick's roadie stood by the reverb unit all night and I believe (I couldn't see him, he was behind the wall) he changed the settings depending on what songs Dick was playing.
The two Showmans, each one running its own separate cab, one stage right, one stage left. Unfortunately, I took these pics after the show, and the roadie had turned down the volume knobs so I'm not sure where he had them during the show. But it's interesting to note that he's using the Normal channels, and Treble at 7-8 and Bass 5-6. Presence is dimed on both amps. (I was very pleased to see these settings as I use basically the same ones on my Gomez Surfer - well, maybe a touch less treble.) You can also see a splitter box, though unclear what it is, as well as the wireless unit.
Here's a bit of a bonus: this pic was taken and posted to my FB page the day of the show by one Kevin Silva, THEE amp repair guy in Indianapolis, that all the stars go to if their amps need some TLC before the show. He posted: "workin' on # 1 right now." Notice Kevin had the volume knob at 7.5. Damn! My guess is that's where Dick's got them during the show, too. Notice also that the amp in Kevin's pic is NOT either of the amps that Dick used that night! The one in Kevin's photo has a tear in the grill cloth on the right side, and you can't see the tear on either of the amps above. So, DD didn't have his #1 at the Indy show! Still sounded AMAZING, though - the tone was absolutely there, and then some!
The cabs seem to be either new or recently recovered. The 2x15" cab with black grill cloth is Dick's (there's an identical one on the opposite side of the stage), while the 1x15" with silver sparkle grill cloth is Sam Bolle's (the bass player - and there's also an identical one on the opposite side of the stage for him). Not a fan of black grill cloth, but I'm quite certain DD couldn't care less!
Finally, the guitar. The one on top of the cabs in the above pic was used by the roadie to test the rig, and it's a fairly new guitar - maybe his Fender-Custom-Shop-made "The Beauty"? It was nowhere to be seen during the show, and DD only played his trusty "The Beast". The thing is battered to hell, but it was interesting to notice a few things. First, the decals on the headstock are long gone. Second, check out the crazy way he winds the low E around the tuner peg - the opposite way of how he should!
I have no idea what's going on there! But he's been doing this for a long time - I got to play The Beast back in '04 at a Detroit show, since I was hanging out with Dusty and Sam backstage before DD showed up, and his guitar was just sitting there. I remember this same winding pattern back then. You can also tell the guitar has new-ish tuners, not the vintage style, and an extra string tree.
Something I had never noticed before is that DD was flicking the pickup switch back and forth a great deal in some songs, changing his tone every bar or a few. I was really struck by that as this is something that my other favorite Strat legend, Ritchie Blackmore, does a LOT. He'll switch back and forth in the same phrase multiple times, it's almost like a nervous tick! Well, I noticed that same tick with Dick! Very surprised! Well, he's not nearly as bad with it as Ritchie....
There you go! Hope all this is of interest! Enjoy!
— Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube
Last edited: Aug 18, 2016 23:30:51
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devinomatic
Joined: Feb 02, 2016
Posts: 61
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 12:10 AM
Fantastic writeup! Very enlightening, and great to see the photos to accompany the info.
I had the privilege to see Dick Dale at Reggie's and Durty Nellie's, two nights in a row. I could tell he was hurting for sure at the first show, but he powered through the set with very minimal breaks for storytelling, just playing his ass off the whole set.
The second show was totally different. Dick spent nearly half the show telling a variety of interesting stories, from his first job as a child, to when he met Lana. My favorite part was when a fan in the crowd begged him to play as song that he claims he hasn't played on a stage since the 60's. I couldn't hear which tune it was, nor did I recognize it, but they did a great job putting it together on the fly.
Considering he's played the Beast since the earliest days, I wonder how many necks, frets, p/u's etc. it has been through! Amazing that it's held up this long and has stayed in his possession. When guitar techs tell me that I shouldn't string a stratocaster up with 16-60 strings, I just tell them it can handle it.. Dick Dale's has for longer than I've been alive!
One question though.. does anyone else string up their reverb tank like that? I know Slacktone Dave rests his on sorbathane. Does hanging it have a similar effect?
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IvanP
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 10331
southern Michigan
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 12:35 AM
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Surfersaurus
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Posts: 352
Australia
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 03:05 AM
Ivan, excellent info..Thanks for doing that..
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DENjector
Joined: Jun 01, 2016
Posts: 7
Moscow
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 04:10 AM
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Badger
Joined: Nov 16, 2013
Posts: 4536
Wisconsin
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 06:57 AM
Thanks Ivan for all the various write-ups. FWIW trivia department, settings on his Showmans in your pics pretty much identical to a pic I have (somewhere) from the Madison show at the High Noon awhile back. Not much changing there.
— Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel
DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.
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Chippertheripper
Joined: Mar 11, 2011
Posts: 819
Semass
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 07:49 AM
Badger wrote:
Thanks Ivan for all the various write-ups. FWIW trivia department, settings on his Showmans in your pics pretty much identical to a pic I have (somewhere) from the Madison show at the High Noon awhile back. Not much changing there.
This is just a casual assumption, but at this point in his career, I'm sure dd operates under the "if it ain't broke" model. Amps set the same way all the time. Done and done.
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IvanP
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 10331
southern Michigan
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 08:45 AM
Kevin Silva, the amp repair guy from Indy I mentioned above, replied to my post on FB and wrote the following:
"I spent some time documenting his amp: It's a model 6G14-A. There are a few differences between the production model and this one. The schematic for the production model shows a 45945 output x-former, Dick's has a 45268 twin x-former. It appears to have been in the amp from the start (ie. solder connections haven't been touched). There are 4 resistors that are different from the schematic. Unfortunately the power x-former is shorted. It is stock to the schematic, and appears to be original to the amp. (#67233) Mercury Magnetics makes a clone of both x-formers. It's my understanding THIS amp is the one Leo Fender put together for Dick. It's the one he recorded most of the songs with. Not to much rock and roll amp history around any more, but this one is...................."
— Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube
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revmike
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 3852
North Atlantic
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 09:08 AM
Ivan,
Thanks for posting DD's gear pics. Two days ago I was wondering what his settings were after watching several live from KEXP videos. You have more than answered my questions. Great show review as well.
Rev
— Canadian Surf
http://www.urbansurfkings.com/
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psychonaut
Joined: Dec 08, 2007
Posts: 1304
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 09:41 AM
IvanP wrote:
I got to play The Beast back in '04 at a Detroit show, since I was hanging out with Dusty and Sam backstage before DD showed up, and his guitar was just sitting there. I remember this same winding pattern back then. You can also tell the guitar has new-ish tuners, not the vintage style, and an extra string tree.
What was the neck like? I mean how bowed was it? The neck on one of my strats bowed beyond repair from having 11's on it ( and ok I admit it, neglect and abuse too ). I would imagine that with the bridge cables he uses for strings, there's got to be quite a bit of relief and tension on that neck. How playable was it?
Something I had never noticed before is that DD was flicking the pickup switch back and forth a great deal in some songs, changing his tone every bar or a few. I was really struck by that as this is something that my other favorite Strat legend, Ritchie Blackmore, does a LOT. He'll switch back and forth in the same phrase multiple times, it's almost like a nervous tick! Well, I noticed that same tick with Dick! Very surprised! Well, he's not nearly as bad with it as Ritchie....
I always thought there were a few similarities between DD and RB myself - I think we even spoke about this in another thread once. I learned the gypsy minor scale from Deep Purple and Rainbow records, so it took me 2 seconds flat to learn Miserlou when I first got into surf.
The switch flicking is definitely some kind of ADD!
— https://www.facebook.com/coffindagger
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http://thecoffindaggers.bandcamp.com
Last edited: Aug 19, 2016 09:42:51
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Brian
Joined: Feb 25, 2006
Posts: 19334
Des Moines, Iowa, USA
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 10:26 AM
Ivan's description of The Beast is in our Yahoo Group archive:
https://surfguitar101.com/ygroup/thread/6240/
— Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me
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IvanP
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 10331
southern Michigan
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 10:42 AM
Thanks, all! Glad you're enjoying my write-up and the photos!
psychonaut wrote:
What was the neck like? I mean how bowed was it? The neck on one of my strats bowed beyond repair from having 11's on it ( and ok I admit it, neglect and abuse too ). I would imagine that with the bridge cables he uses for strings, there's got to be quite a bit of relief and tension on that neck. How playable was it?
Brian, thanks for posting the link to my impressions of The Beast from '04. Victor, in a nutshell, the neck was straight as an arrow, no bow whatsoever - and a VERY thin neck at that! That's some amazing piece of wood right there! The action was very low, and the whole thing felt surprisingly comfortable to play, given the string gauge. The only thing was that the frets were COMPLETELY chewed up! Big divets on the low frets - I have no idea how he could play that thing and keep it intonated! Some sort of voodoo, I think!
I always thought there were a few similarities between DD and RB myself - I think we even spoke about this in another thread once. I learned the gypsy minor scale from Deep Purple and Rainbow records, so it took me 2 seconds flat to learn Miserlou when I first got into surf.
The switch flicking is definitely some kind of ADD!
Yep, Victor, we definitely did discuss that! They were both true showmen, and demanded the spotlight on THEM - and accordingly demanded that their amp makers (with whom both had personal relationships - Leo Fender and Jim Marshall) push the limits of the current technology to create the first 100W amp in Dick's case and the first 200W amp in Ritchie's case - and in the process became legendary for playing EXTREMELY loud! They also both used Strats in order to do what Strats do best - allow the player to create a truly unique and personal sound and style! The volume, the showmanship, the bigger-than-life personality, the unique sound and style, the reliance on exotic scales - all characteristics shared by Dick and Ritchie - they even share the same first name, but adopted variations on it as their stage names! AND they can both claim the title of Father of Heavy Metal! The similarities are eerie!
— Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube
Last edited: Aug 19, 2016 10:45:09
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OnedinGiraldo
Joined: Jul 17, 2016
Posts: 103
Sacramento
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 01:09 PM
Thanks for sharing Ivan! Like many, I am a huge fan of Dick Dale. Saw him years ago when I was in college at a tiny place and he blew me away. Saw him last year and he did the same thing! The man is an inspiration and a true living legend. Thanks for the insight on his setup, though I will have to say I do not see myself playing the size strings he does!!
— The Me Gustas
https://themegustas.com
Last edited: Aug 19, 2016 15:49:43
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Emilien03
Joined: Jul 16, 2008
Posts: 1377
Coyoacán, Distrito Federal
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Posted on Aug 19 2016 04:23 PM
UNDER THE HOOD!  
— When you have to shoot ... shoot! Don't talk.
"Los Grainders" > https://losgrainders.bandcamp.com
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Surfersaurus
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Posts: 352
Australia
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Posted on Aug 20 2016 11:23 PM
Ivan, did you happen to get the Showman amps serial numbers?
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IvanP
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 10331
southern Michigan
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Posted on Aug 20 2016 11:25 PM
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wfoguy
Joined: Dec 11, 2011
Posts: 2136
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Posted on Aug 21 2016 11:43 AM
Neat thread.
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Strat-o-rama
Joined: Oct 23, 2007
Posts: 385
Boca Raton, Florida
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Posted on Aug 21 2016 03:50 PM
Surfersaurus,
Back in '96 or '97, at a DD show, I spoke with a member of the road crew who explained to me that one of the Showman heads is a production prototype and unlike any other Showman in a number of technical details, and that the amp has no serial number. He proudly explained it was made by Leo Fender himself (a bit of a stretch, but maybe Leo supervised its building). Of Ivan's pictures, it would be the one on top. I remember the bare wood showing through even back then. As for the other two heads...?
BTW, your transcriptions and tabs of The Atlantics and your own music has helped me improve my guitar playing abilities and ear training. A humble thank you.
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DaveF
Joined: May 10, 2009
Posts: 1117
Green Valley, AZ
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Posted on Aug 21 2016 04:26 PM
I saw DD at the coach house in San Juan Capistrano last December.
These photos were taken right after the show.
Photos during the show were not allowed.
Dick played 2 songs on his grand piano,
Silent Night and Dr. Zhivago theme.
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Strat-o-rama
Joined: Oct 23, 2007
Posts: 385
Boca Raton, Florida
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Posted on Aug 21 2016 04:40 PM
Hello again.
I know what I posted conflicts with Kevin Silva's commentary. His analysis of the components being different would certainly jibe with what the roadie told me those years ago, but the amp the roadie pointed to as the prototype without a serial number was the one with the torn tolex and the wood casing showing.
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