Marshall AFD100 announced by Slash at NAMM
| Posted in Music Technology
The Marshall AFD100 rocked the internet last night, and DV247′s news page was among the first sites to bring news of Slash’s announcement at NAMM 2010, alongside a video of the announcement itself. In case you haven’t heard, Slash and Marshall Amplification are teaming up to recreate the near-legendary amplifier tone from Appetite for Destruction, the first Guns ‘n’ Roses album. The resulting amplifier will be called the AFD100.
What’s particularly striking about the announcement however is that it wasn’t the launch of the amplifier itself, but of the project to create it, complete with regular blogs to keep Marshall fans in touch with the development as it happens. In the few hours since the announcement took place, the web has lit up with fans of the album suggesting what the amp should sound like and how it should be designed. In particular, one Finnish amplifier designer has already claimed to have drawn up schematics for a head that captures the tone perfectly.
So why all the fuss? As you’ll hear for yourself in our video, Slash recorded Appetite for Destruction using a modified 100-watt Marshall JCM2203, which had been rented for the sessions from a US hire company. He loved the tone so much that he, in his own words, “basically stole it”. However, the head was later left on the back of a truck while Guns ‘n’ Roses were rehearsing at the hire firm’s facility, and the company quickly snatched it back. It was never heard of again.
As a result, the amp has gone down in rock and roll folklore and enthusiasts have spent decades trying to recapture its unique, raw sound. Speculation has been rife over the modifications that were made to the JCM2203, but no one has as yet settled on a definitive design. With the AFD100 project, Marshall and Slash are planning on settling the argument once and for all.
Nor does it look like we’ll have long to wait to find out the answer. Slash has a solo album being released in April of this year, for which he’ll be in the studio recording over the coming months. It’s the perfect opportunity for him to work with Marshall to nail exactly what the design of AFD100 will be. Crucially, fans will be able to watch the entire process taking place – possibly the first time that the public at large has been invited to participate to such an extent in an amplifier’s design.
Will the AFD100 meet the expectations of the millions of Appetite for Destruction fans who have yearned to recapture its guitar sound over the last two decades? Marshall has certainly set itself a difficult task – nostalgia is never easy to satisfy, and every amplifier enthusiast who has attempted to recreate that tone for themselves will pour over the new amp to find flaws. But with Slash and Marshall working together so publicly, perhaps there won’t be any flaws in the Marshall AFD100 to find.
About Barney Jameson
A contributor, editor and in some cases creator of more music and pro audio magazines than he cares to remember, Barney Jameson is a veteran of writing about gear, and a pretty keen singer songwriter to boot.
Having started his musical education reading old copies of the Melody Maker while riding the tube to University in the mid-nineties, Barney once sang in a band called Sugarstone, troubling record company chequebooks not quite enough to make it a career option. Instead, he achieved his goal of starting a music magazine of his own when he founded Playmusic in the early noughties. Later on, having exploited VIP access to as many festivals as possible, he wrote about the pro audio industry throughout Europe and the Middle East, travelling to far-flung destinations such as Dubai, Doha and Muscat (nice mountains).
As the latest addition to the DV247 team, Barney has big plans. But when he’s not plotting online domination of the musical instrument world, he keeps himself busy writing songs on a battered old acoustic guitar and playing them to audiences in his home town.
Tags: Appetite for Destruction amplifier, Appetite for Destruction guitar, guns 'n roses, Marshall AFD100, Slash