What Is a Bluesbreaker?
Some questions are worth a closer look. I think we can all agree on that. In this article, I want to investigate one such question: what is a Bluesbreaker?
First off, let me acknowledge that there are two different types of people reading this article. Some of you are saying the Bluesbreaker is obviously an old amplifier. You’re correct. Others are saying it's a guitar pedal. Strange as it sounds, they are also correct.
To understand why that is, we need to go back to where it all started, around 1962.
The ’60s
In the early ’60s, a drummer named Jim Marshall was importing early Fender amplifiers into London for the booming music scene. Two of his associates, Ken Brand and Dudley Cravens suggested to Jim, "Hey, let's stop importing these in and just build them ourselves because the shipping and taxes are killing us," and that's exactly what they did. Marshall successfully built their first amplifier, and they based it around that 1959 tweed Fender Bassman. But one thing that made the Marshall amp unique was the parts. The parts used in amps in London were (and are) very, very, different from the parts that Leo Fender used in California. This resulted in a unique sound for the guitar market, and it's a pretty big part of guitar history.
The first unit was the 1962 JTM Head, and then two years later we got the 410 combo and the 212 combo. The circuit was originally intended to be used by bass players, but when you plugged into it with an electric guitar and cranked the volume, the effect can only be described as magical. One guitar player that proved its magic more than any other was Eric Clapton.
In 1965, a young Eric Clapton walks into Jim Marshall's shop and asks for an amplifier that's powerful enough to play live but small enough to fit into the boot (or as we Americans say ‘the trunk’) of his car. He gets the 212 JTM combo, and he gigs with it for over a year. Then he joins a brand new band, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers.
They go into the studio and they track this record just like they were playing live on the club scene in London-- which basically means that they're playing really, really loud. Eric plugs his 1960 Les Paul directly into the amp and cranks it with no isolation, so it's bleeding everywhere into all the microphones, and it sounds amazing. This album explodes, and it's credited for the birth of the British blues rock scene in the ’60s. Now, that JTM 45 212 combo from that point on is forever affectionately called the Bluesbreaker.
The ’90s
In 1991, Marshall released an English-made line of pedals based around some of their more popular classic amplifiers. One of them was the Bluesbreaker. It was in a black enclosure and not to be confused with the later version in a smaller silver enclosure. While these are both quality pieces of gear, don’t ever, ever confuse these two pedals.
This line of pedals didn’t do that well, actually, and they were discontinued fairly soon. Nobody really cared about them until 2006 when John Mayer released Continuum and put guitar back on the map.. The BlackBox Bluesbreaker was clearly visible in his rigs at the time, and they have become very, very, expensive, and for good reason. It's a really great pedal.
But--and this is the question that haunts me at night--does it sound like the amp? The best way to decide this for yourself is to listen to a demo, which I already put together for you in the JHS Show episode this article is based on. If you want to take a quick break to go watch that episode, make up your mind, do what you gotta do. I’ll be here when you’re finished.
The 2000s
The next evolution of the Bluesbreaker circuit came in 2003 when Analogman created and released the King of Tone. It's a pedal based around the topology of the ’91 BlackBox Bluesbreaker made in England, but it's very, very, different. He was the first guy to use this circuit as a topology, and he brought it into the boutique pedal market. A lot of guys like myself have followed in his footsteps with our own versions.
I released the Morning Glory in 2008. Wampler put out the Pantheon in 2019. We have the BlackBox by Snouse. Even Robert Keeley has taken a stab at this circuit with the 1962. The thing that's important to realize is, just like Jim Marshall was going after the ’59 Bassman circuit but created a very different amplifier, that's what happens with pedal topology. When you see someone on a forum or you see someone discussing that the King of Tone is just a clone of the Bluesbreaker, they mean well, but they're also really, really, wrong.
You can take an existing topology and use it to create a really beautifully new and unique thing. That's exactly what many of us pedal guys have done with this circuit.
Amps in a Box
In the evolution of the JTM 45 Bluesbreaker and the world of guitar tone, an entire genre of pedals has evolved called “amps in a box.” Now within the genre, there are a lot of pedals that say their pedal sounds like a JTM 45. They're not talking about the Bluesbreaker, and you'll never see the combo mentioned in the copy. In theory, if it sounds like the head, it should sound like the combo. The only difference is that two speakers are attached to that combo and none to the head.
If you’re looking to purchase the infamous Marshall “amp in a box,” a few great options are the Rocket 45 Caliber, the Box of Rock by ZVex, and the JTM by Love Pedal. We even have my own Charlie Brown. In theory, these JTM 45 amps in a box should sound like the Bluesbreaker combo and in that same episode of the JHS show, I put it to the test. Do these amps in a box JTM 45 pedals actually have the Bluesbreaker sound? You be the judge.
This all leads us back to the same question: what is a Bluesbreaker? Is it an amp? Yes.
Is it a pedal? Also yes.
Is it a pedal based on an amp? Yes.
Is it an amp based on a pedal? Again, I’m going to say yes.
The Bluesbreaker pedal circuit is incredibly important to me, not only because one of my bestselling pedals is based around it. When I look back through guitar history and how guitar gear got to where it is today, you can trace it right back to Eric Clapton and that John Mayall session. That’s what I love about guitar history. At the end of the day, it doesn’t go back to pedals. It goes back to people.