Paul McCartney reveals his teenage guitar amp in studio tour

Photo of LIVE 8 and Paul McCARTNEY, performing live onstage at Live 8.
(Image credit: Mick Hutson/Redferns)

Paul McCartney’s 1997 album, Flaming Pie, has just received the deluxe reissue treatment, and among the gems included with the new edition is an hour-long studio tour, in which Macca shows you round his home studio – and some very important gear.

Most notable among his collection is his very first guitar amp, the Elpico A55.

“This is my very first amp I ever had when I was 14, it was called an Elpico,” he says at 19:31 in the video below. “As you can see it is very ’50s – the design looks like a piece of ’50s furniture.

“Instead of putting guitars into it, it says Mic1, Mic2, Gramophone – anything but guitars, really.”

As a result, the amp produces a fuzzy tonality when used with electric guitars, which is best heard on The Kinks’ You Really Got Me – although Dave Davies cut his amp’s speaker with a razor blade for extra distortion.

The studio tour also showcases McCartney soloing on his custom Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette models, which were equipped with custom pickups and produced for Macca and fellow guitarist Robbie McIntosh.

During a recent interview, McCartney revealed how Jimi Hendrix inspired him to buy his favorite electric guitar.

The Super Deluxe edition of Flaming Pie is out now in a number of physical formats.

Paul McCartney

(Image credit: Linda McCartney)
Michael Astley-Brown
Editor-in-Chief, GuitarWorld.com

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and over a decade's experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.