The guitar gear used on The Stooges’ Raw Power album
When you trace back the lineage of most modern rock bands, sooner or later, you end up at the album Raw Power by The Stooges. It was not very successful upon its initial release, but has since been hailed as one of the most influential records in rock history. As much has been cited by bands like the Sex Pistols, Black Flag, Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even CeeLo Green. People often refer to frontman Iggy Pop as the godfather of punk, and Raw Power is certainly a massive reason why. In this article, we will discuss the gear that was used to create the album, and the unique aspects of its production that made it a cult classic.
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Raw Power was the first Stooges album to feature James Williamson on guitar. Williamson also co-wrote all of the songs on the record. He had a very different style than the band’s previous guitarist, Ron Asheton, who reluctantly moved to bass guitar for the recording, and it certainly shows in the sound of Raw Power. It gave the album a bit more of a hard rock feel. The album was produced by David Bowie, who was impressed with the band’s sound and Iggy Pop’s songwriting. Bowie had released Ziggy Stardust… the previous year, so he was a massive star at the time, and his thumb print on the album’s production was invaluable to the album’s legacy.
Iggy Pop (left), Scott Thurston (background) and James Williamson (right) performing with The Stooges at Max’s Kansas City, New York, 1973. Image: Linda D. Robbins/Getty Images
Guitars & Amps
I spoke with James Williamson, who told me, that nearly all of the guitar parts for Raw Power were written on acoustic guitar, specifically, a Gibson B-25 that he had picked up in London, when he flew over for the recording. Williamson, like many musicians, chose to write on acoustic for a couple of reasons. First, they had neighbors and it would be difficult to write on an amplified electric guitar. Second, writing on an acoustic allows the notes to come through more clearly – the electric tone can always be added later. He explained the other guitars used in the studio to me as well:
“The guitar I wrote that stuff on is a Gibson B-25; a little guitar. And the guitar that I used in the studio was a Martin D-28; Dreadnought.”
The Martin can be heard in the driving rhythm on the song Gimme Danger. The acoustic guitar on the album was accented, perhaps even overpowered, by Williamson’s electric guitar playing which had a real raunchy edge to it that is hard to explain, but you certainly feel it when you listen to the album. Here’s what Williamson told Ultimate Guitar about his electric rig:
“[For electric guitars] I had a 1969 Les Paul Custom that I brought over with me from Ann Arbor and I picked up the B-25 in London. I started out Raw Power with a Marshall stack and I thought that was what I was gonna use but when we got in the studio it was just kind of overwhelming for recording. And so I experimented trial and error with different amps and eventually came upon a Vox AC30 Top Boost with Bottom Cut. That amp sounded fantastic. So the combination of the humbucker pickups and the AC30 was really powerful. I may have been one of the first guys to do that and it was just dumb luck; there was nothin’ else besides trial and error that got me there. But that’s what that sound is on the album.”
Williamson almost exclusively used the bridge pickup for the recording of Raw Power, which was a T-Top pickup with a resistance of 7.27k which is quite low. But that pickup, combined with the way Williamson plays and the rest of his rig, is what amounts to the sound of Raw Power.
Effects
As for effects… there were none. This was 1973 and effects pedals were being used to great effect by most iconic rock bands at the time. But Williamson opted to not use any, again telling Ultimate Guitar:
“You know, I didn’t feel that I needed them. I always felt that the time that album was made was between the big era of the wah wah pedal when everyone from Hendrix to Cream were using them and the fuzz box. I thought the fuzz box was limiting because it distorted things so much that it didn’t allow you to really hear what you were playing. So especially after I discovered the Vox AC30 I felt like I could get an edgy sound on the guitar but also get sustain without any additional effects. So I never really used anything until the reunion tour when I added a treble boost pedal for solos. But other than that I just played through whatever amp I had.”
Bass & The Mix
We can’t be quite sure what Ron Asheton used for a bass rig on Raw Power, but this brings us to a common debate with Raw Power – the mix. Many people have complained about the mix, which was done by Iggy and Bowie. The underlying issue seemed to be with how the tracks were recorded and the amount of leakage there was between tracks – the drums and bass in particular. So they were kept very low in the mix, making the original Bowie mix sound somewhat thin to most ears. Thin mix or not, the unique sound of the record is still a classic and incredibly influential record.
Regarding the gear of Ron Asheton, a Detroit photographer named Robert Matheu was interviewed for a 2024 Guitar World article, and he stated this about the gear that Ron AshEton was using during the Raw Power era, “For Raw Power, I’m pretty sure Ron played a Fender Precision. But live, all the bass photos I have of Ronnie are with his Guild. And I’m pretty sure he used Hiwatt amps on stage.”
Ron Asheton performing with The Stooges at Bimbo’s Club in San Francisco, California, 1974. Image: Richard McCaffrey/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Legacy
Raw Power has stood the test of time and come to be one of the most beloved albums of all time, in spite of all of its quirks and “flaws”. If anything, the flaws reminded young listeners that they too can make a record. It doesn’t have to be perfect – it just has to be true to your own artistic vision.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
