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10/2/2016 John Entwistle Gear: 19862002 | John Entwistle Bass Gear | Whotabs The Definitive Online Tablature and Gear Resource Whotabs for The Who since 1997 John Entwistle’s Gear: 1986–2002 Buzzards and Little Manhattan News (June 2012): Christie’s to auction Status Buzzard as part of its Popular Culture: Rock & Roll Memorabilia sale, to be held on 12 June 2012. The instrument is currently owned by Brad Rodgers of whocollection.com. The Who A circa 1996 Status Buzzard Prototype; No serial number, in black basket weave finish, irregular shaped carbon graphite body, chrome parts, irregular shaped headstock with a detuner and Status Graphite Buzzard in red, graphite neck, twenty seven fret graphite fingerboard with roman numeric position markers and LED side markers, two Hyperactive pickups, four rotary controls, two toggle switches, black bridge plate with four adjustable saddles; and an original aluminium framed rectangular flight case — owned and played by John Entwistle, during tours with The Who and The John Entwistle Band, and seen in performances at the Royal Albert Hall, 2000 and 2002; accompanied by a letter from the drummer/producer of the John Entwistle band concerning the provenance. Estimate: £10,000–£15,000 (US$15,440–$23,160) http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/bass/bass8602.html 1/15 10/2/2016 John Entwistle Gear: 19862002 | John Entwistle Bass Gear | Whotabs Realised: £13,750 (US$21,258) Provenance: Exlot 112 John Entwistle Estate Sale, Sotheby’s London, 13th May, 2003 From the collection of Brad and Diana Rogers [sic] of www.whocollection.com Exhibited: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, Ohio, from 1998–2007 See lot details at christies.com 1986–1989 Gold sparkle Warwick Buzzard, courtesy RockStarsGuitars. http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/bass/bass8602.html 2/15 10/2/2016 John Entwistle Gear: 19862002 | John Entwistle Bass Gear | Whotabs White Warwick Buzzard, courtesy RockStarsGuitars. Green 1991 Modulus Buzzard prototype. h/t Marc Forrester; photo © Cowtown Guitars, Las Vegas. Bass: the “Buzzard” The original Buzzard was designed by John and Warwick in 1985, with prototypes and the first models in wood. John then contacted Modulus Graphite, which made two graphite Buzzards. Modulus then manufactured six graphite necks for Warwick for use in John’s Warwickmade basses. (Read the history of the Buzzard at warwickbass.com/news/37.htm (offline). Modulus Buzzard graphite basses (two; for which John paid full retail) http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/bass/bass8602.html 3/15 10/2/2016 John Entwistle Gear: 19862002 | John Entwistle Bass Gear | Whotabs One in green, which John used on the Ringo Starr tour. Sold by Cowtown Guitars, Las Vegas, to a private collector. Prototype, arabic numbers on fretboard, no serial number. From Bass Culture: “Modulus Graphite made this prototype for me. Unlike all the other Buzzards, this one has no leds in the neck. I used this for almost every show on Ringo Starr’s All Star Tour of Japan and the USA.” Warwick Buzzard/Green Warwick Buzzard Designed by John, featuring: Longscale neck 2 EMG Pbass split pickups (note: later reissue versions used MEC pickups). Weight approximately 12 lbs. Warwick 8string basses Bartonlini electronics Amplification: 1989 John’s rig consisted of threewaysplit signal, bassmono, bright left and bright right. Below are two considerably different descriptions of his rig. Description 1 (from Guitar World) Treble/highend signal Bass into Alembic splitter, into TC Electronic 2290 multieffects processor (has five external effects loops, which allow it to function as MIDI controller) Loop 1: Linked to a GallienKrueger GK2000 CPL preamp; Loop 2: Connected to TC Electronic 1128 graphic equalizer; Loop 5: Linked to Yamaha SPX1000 stereo multieffects unit; SPX1000 stereo output to the left and right channels of a Trace Elliot RA500 power amp Power amp feeds four (two each channel) A.S.S. 212 2x12 cabinets loaded with Fane speakers. Bass/lowend signal Bass into Alembic splitter, into: Trace Elliot MP11 graphic equalizer, sending a mono signal into: Trace Elliot RA500 power amp. Power amp drives four A.S.S. 1x15 cabinets with Fane speakers and horns. Description 2 (from Guitar Player) Treble/highend signal Instrument signal via Sennheiser wireless receiver, into Alembic preamp/splitter, into GallienKrueger 2000 preamp, into T.C. Electronics 2290 programmable delay (with an optional 64second oversampling conversion) Acts as controller for other processors to recall programs Stereo noise gate Yamaha SPX 1000 digital effects processor Korg KEC42 (hum cancellation) T.C. Electronic 1128 programmable 32band graphic equalizer Two Trace Elliot 300watt power amps One amp powers one A.S.S. 4x12″ cabinet with Fane speakers One amp powers one A.S.S. 16x5″ speaker cabinet with Fane speakers Bass/lowend signal Instrument signal via Sennheiser wireless receive (from above), into http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/bass/bass8602.html 4/15 10/2/2016 John Entwistle Gear: 19862002 | John Entwistle Bass Gear | Whotabs T.C. Electronic 1128 programmable 32band EQ or Trace Elliot EQ (presumably Trace Elliot MP11 graphic equalizer) Trace Elliot preamp, into Trace Elliot (RA500) 500watt power amp Power amp drives four A.S.S. 1x15″ cabinets with Fane speakers Quote from July 1989 interview in Musician magazine: “Since the last time I played with the Who, I’ve changed absolutely everything, except the basic idea of sound splitting. All I have to do is press a footswitch and the whole thing changes. I couldn’t find one amplifier manufacturer who made all I wanted, so it starts with a t.c. electronics digital delay that controls all the outboard stuff. The Yamaha SPX1000 gives me a lot more effects and splits into a stereo chorus. I’ve got a GallienKrueger 2000 CPL preamp, which I use to get a beefy overdrive. I’ve got the top sound, the distorted trebly guitar sound, coming out of four 12s and 16 fives in stereo. That goes into two Trace Elliot 500W power amps. I’ve got a Trace Elliot computer premp for the bottom end, or I can use a t.c. graphic EQ, whichever I favor at the time, going through four 15s. All the speakers are Fanes in A.S.S. English cabinets. “I’ve designed a new bass guitar for Warwick called a Buzzard, a big, weirdshaped bass, similar in dimension to the Explorer basses I was using. But now it’s shaped like a flying buzzard. It reminds me of the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland playing croquet with a flamingo.” Quote from 1994 interview with John: I noticed in ’89 you had amps behind you that said something like Acoustic Sound System? Acoustic [Sound] Services — A.S.S. They’re a company in England. They make all those cabinets. They make those specially, a rig for me. I was wondering if it was your own line of amps or cabinets. No, they’re sold commercially, but they’re a very small company in South End in England. They used to make stuff like TurboSound by JBL. It’s just that their cabinets give you a very directional, perfect sound. The bottom end is very tight, top end’s very smooth. I haven’t found any other cabinets like them that last that long. I use exactly the same speakers that I use in those cabinets in other cabinets and they blow to smithereens. If I were the company I’d be very happy to have that sort of recommendation. Well I’ve done this tour, I’ve done a club tour, done a tour of sheds, done a couple of stadium tours with The Who with them, and I haven’t blown one speaker yet. Quote from August 1989 Guitar Player “I use the distortion from the Yamaha SPX1000 combined with the natural distortion of the overdriven GallienKrueger preamp, which gives me long sustain even at lower volumes. I have various choruses, exciters, echoes, and delays on at all times. They’re programmable and all go through the treble side only. I’ve already programmed 10 of the Who songs for the tour, and will probably use the sampler to play back the bass lines during my big solo feature in ‘Shakin’ All Over,’ where I play with the drums and then cue them out to do a freeform thing.” Excerpt from April 1995 Bassist interview How did he discover [Trace Elliot]? “Through the Bass Centre in Wapping. I went there out of interest, because I saw an ad in one of the music papers and thought that if there was a shop dedicated to bass equipment then I should definitely take a look! They had a lot of Trace Elliot gear there. I got invited to one of the American trade shows http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/bass/bass8602.html 5/15 10/2/2016 John Entwistle Gear: 19862002 | John Entwistle Bass Gear | Whotabs by Henry Goldrich who owns Manny’s in New York. He said that the trade shows were great events for getting drunk and talking about music all day. Sounded good to me! That was when I really formed the link with Trace Elliot. I found that the best bottom end I could get was through one of their computerised graphic preamps that has 20 builtin programs. They want one back so they can start making them again, but I’ve got all of them! I now use Trace MP60 power amps but also a lot of different stuff on top of that, like a Sansamp preamp, a buch of TC Electronic gear and Yamaha SPX1000s.