Ritchie Blackmore Tone on a Budget - Marshall MS-4 Pre-Amp Trick

I recently found out that if you plug the headphone jack from a Marshall MS-4 mini amp into a Boss Katana, you can get a pretty good Ritchie Blackmore tone!
Ritchie famously used the pre-amp from an Aiwa TP 1011 tape recorder and a treble booster into his Marshall Majors to get his sound. However, the MS-4 has a very similar circuit (i.e. a boosted class a pre-amp), which means that the sound should be pretty close.

[@TheKingKrusher]

Awesome intro! So beautiful.

[@peterquinn7237]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

In the circuit board with the headphone jack, you can solder a wire to short the attenuation resistor, and cut the trace that goes to the pad connected to the right (ring) blade in the jack. You could even add a switch to have both options available (I just did it on a Fender MD-20 Mini Deluxe amp).
The coolest thing is that you can even run it into a speaker cabinet with it in no attenuation mode.

[@peterquinn7237]

Thanks. Yes, I'm aware of that mod - just not been brave enough to try it yet!

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

@@peterquinn7237 It's easily reversible if you want to put it back to stock, just remove the jumper wire from the resistor and move it to the jack's solder pads to patch the broken trace.

[@peterquinn7237]

@@Bleats_Sinodai Cool, thanks mate!

[@BeesWaxMinder]

@@Bleats_Sinodai What does this mod do?

[@gvibes69]

Even with the headphone jack conected to a 2.0 edifier pc speakers with 67watts and 5" drivers its sounds amazing !

[@KeefsCattys]

Great tip , thanks Peter

[@peterquinn7237]

Thanks.

[@jhs8496]

Great tip. But that tone is much more Trower than Blackmore, IMO.

[@peterquinn7237]

Thanks, and point taken! Still, no harm in sounding like Robin Trower!

[@qwertc1400]

Good Job

[@pierrecote4231]

Hi Peter, this is so informative, thank you for sharing, I have a question, would you be able to replicate the Blackmore sound with the MS-2 as well or it just works with the MS-4. Thanks again for your amazing work.

[@peterquinn7237]

Thanks. It should work with the MS-2, but you may need to back off the gain.

[@pierrecote4231]

@@peterquinn7237 Thanks Peter for the clarification.

[@davebruton5731]

So what you're telling us , is to run the headphone - Out jack to an even bigger amp , to achieve this result ?

[@peterquinn7237]

Not exactly. You use the small amp as a pre-amp to overdrive the bigger amp.

[@frankzimmermann1318]

@PeterQuinn Wow Peter, that’s really a fantastic sound. Eyes closed, just listening and I was transported back to when I was 15 listening to “catch the rainbow” , “on stage version.
Does this work with an FM9 or an Amp1?

[@peterquinn7237]

Thanks. I haven't tried it on either of those, so not sure.

[@christineayres7199]

Thats cool sounds exactly like the tone Blackmore used for the Rainbow song , Catch the Rainbow , also if you love Blackmore and Deep Purple you must have heard of the great Persian Guitarist Kami Rochandal ? He can play exactly like Blackmore but writes his own material , strongly recommend to check out his work. Also if you can find one a Marshall AVT 100 Amp is a good Amp its a Valve state amp i used to own and it can give you that classic Deep Purple Burn aggressive tone.

[@peterquinn7237]

Thanks. I recently missed out on getting an AVT from Cash Generators. Will check out Kami Rochandal

[@christineayres7199]

@@peterquinn7237 Ah sorry to hear that I used to plug my 2007 US 🇺🇸 Strat into it and no effects were needed as that and had all the tones and yeah please 🙏 check out Kami he is amazing 😀

[@peterquinn7237]

@@christineayres7199 Thanks

[@davidhyslop3376]

do you use a phaser in your blackmore catch the rainbow sound

[@peterquinn7237]

Yes, it's a Phase 90. I used the EVH version, but I recommend the Script version, with the dial set to about 11 o'clock.

[@BeesWaxMinder]

Wanna sell the
Autographed one..? 😉

[@peterquinn7237]

Erm.... not just yet.

[@BeesWaxMinder]

@@peterquinn7237 😉👍

[@tubpsjkrev]

What dythink about Mooer 009 "Blacknight"?

[@peterquinn7237]

I haven't tried it yet, but I will look out for it. Thanks.

[@my_vinyls_and_cassettes]

ORANGE CRUSH MINI is best 🤘

[@peterquinn7237]

I'll have that check that out.