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The Ventures played some surf numbers but they were not a surf band. I
would consider them a "guitar instrumental band." They, along with other
guitar instrumental acts (the Fireballs, Link Wray, etc....) surely
influenced the surf bands but as Ivan pointed out, they predated the surf
stuff. Once the fender reverb was released, it (along with fender guitars)
was featured on virtually all of the surf stuff and became synonymous with
surf music. There's no doubt that the Ventures could play surf music, and
play it well, they just weren't a surf band.
At 12:29 PM 2/21/2002 -0800, you wrote:
>You are absolutely correct sir. Those amps were not
>tonemasters, but blond bassmans or showmans or some
>head cab fender thingy. Not my point, but good catch.
>My point was that they used non-reverb amps, without
>reverb units and I totally disagree with the idea that
>the Ventures are not a surf band, but one that just
>did surf songs. I think of them as a surf band that
>"branched out" and did other stuff. I don't know
>much, if anything about Ventures history, so I may be
>totally wrong . . . I'm sure someone can tell me what
>the Ventures were when they started, beside "The Most
>Instrumental Band in Rock N' Roll" as their album
>reads. I would never say The Ventures aren't surf.
>They certainly were influential for my surf guitar
>endeavors and the first instrumental guitar album I
>bought (at a gas station no less) was a tape called
>something like "Venture do the Hits," anyway it had
>Walk Don't Run and Pipeline (Chantays wrote that
>right?). I learned all the songs and told my guitar
>teacher to teach me to play like those guys. I was
>13. I'm 24 now. Don't listen to much Ventures
>anymore, I prefer more surfy instrumental, but they
>helped bring me to where I am as a musician today. In
>other words, I won't put down the Ventures by labeling
>them "not surf," and THAT WAS A PUT DOWN, because
>thats all the instrumental guitar or surf music a lot
>of people know.
>
>I also think that surf music, or any music for that
>matter, is all about how you play . . . not about
>gear. The gear is just something for those of us who
>can be bothered . . . and I can be . . . to fool
>around with and discuss, but the best surf guitar
>setup is at the very least debatable. I'll agree that
>reverb is good for surf, some might say reverb makes
>surf, but I must believe, that there is more to it
>than gear.
>
>Damon
>--- IVAN PONGRACIC <> wrote:
> > On Thu, 21 Feb 2002, Damon wrote:
> >
> > > I like the ventures' sound for a classic surf
> > tone.
> > > On one of their old albums from my collection
> > (can't
> > > remember which, all my vinyl is in boxes) they
> > used
> > > tone-masters. The sound is great, but the reverb
> > > isn't there . . . surf music without reverb? My
> > > point being, the setting your describing might be
> > too
> > > much reverb. It only takes a little to make your
> > tone
> > > more surfy, but overall, surf is how you play more
> > > than what you use.
> >
> > well, there's some debate about this, but most
> > people have come to an
> > agreement that the Ventures were not a surf band.
> > They played a few surf
> > songs, but you cannot call their sound surf anymore
> > than you can call the
> > Shadows' sound surf. Even the Ventures used
> > outboard reverb units when
> > they really tried to sound like surf music - just
> > listen to Diamond Head
> > or WDR '64.
> >
> > BTW, given that Fender Tonemaster amps only came out
> > during the nineties,
> > the Ventures didn't use them on any of their old
> > albums. Who knows what
> > they used in studio? In '65 though they used blonde
> > Fender Showman amps
> > without reverb for live gigs. The last time i saw
> > them live they used
> > blonde Tonemaster amps, with the exception of Don
> > Wilson, who used an
> > Ampeg head with a huge built-in reverb that he would
> > turn up on songs like
> > Pipeline.
> >
> > So, gotta have reverb for true surf music....
> >
> > Ivan
> >
> >
>
>
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