Kirk Hammett thinks Marshall amps sound “30 per cent better” when you plug them in in the UK than they do in America – is he right?
Does your geographical location determine the sound of your guitar amp? Kirk Hammett certainly seems to think so.
The Metallica guitarist and wah-slinger-in-chief says amps plugged into the mains in the UK sound “better” than when they’re plugged into the mains in the US, and he reckons it’s to do with the voltage supplied.
READ MORE: What guitars does Kirk Hammett use? The varied instruments that power Metallica’s lead guitarist
“About five years ago I figured out that Marshalls sound the best in Britain,” he says in a new interview with Total Guitar. “You plug a Marshall straight into the wall in London and it will sound 30 per cent better than the same Marshall hooked up to the wall in America. It’s everything to do with the voltage. And it would drive me crazy because it would sound different from show to show!”
Hammett’s theory definitely checks out; guitar amplifiers, like any other electrical device, are configured for a specific voltage range. Voltage is the measure of the difference in electric potential between two points, so a higher voltage means more electrical pressure placed on the unit itself.
And the UK and US do indeed have different voltage ratings as standard; in the UK, mains sockets supply an alternating current at 50 Hz (cycles per second) and 230 volts, while US sockets supply between 110 and 120 volts at 60 Hz.
Therefore, Kirk’s claim that “Marshalls sound the best in Britain”, as Marshall amps are manufactured in the UK, and would be optimised to take the 230v voltage supplied by UK mains sockets. A guitarist running a Marshall amp in the US could, indeed, use a step up transformer to ramp up the US mains voltage to that of the UK’s, but Kirk is right that using straight mains power, the same amp would sound different across the pond.
In other news, Kirk Hammett recently said Metallica have no plans to call it quits any time soon, and look up to the Rolling Stones as an example of a band continuing to play into their 80s.
“The Stones are setting another precedent playing into their 80s,” he said. “That’s inspiring to us, man. That’s our goal.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
