Early Gear of Eric Clapton
In his first band, The Roosters, Eric played a double cutaway Kay through a Selmer Futurama III Amplifier. During his tenure with the Yardbirds, Eric played a Fender Telecaster through a Vox AC-30 amplifier.
While in John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, Eric played a 1960 model Les Paul Standard through a 45-watt model 1962 Marshall 2×12 combo (JTM 45). The amp was stock except that the output tubes were replaced with KT66s which have a more refined mid-range and clearer top end than either EL34s or 6L6s. The amp was usually turned up full volume, even in the studio. When the engineer complained that his amp was too loud, legend has it that Eric replied “That’s the way I play.”
In Cream, Eric switched to 100-watt Marshall heads and 4×12 cabinets using two full stacks. He also used a Vox wah-wah pedal and occasionally a fuzz effect pedal. For a while, he used Les Paul guitars exclusively. Sometime in 1967, he started playing a 1964 Gibson Les Paul SG. He had it painted by The Fool and it is as famous for it’s paint job as for its association with Clapton. The Fool Guitar is not a 1961 model as commonly believed as it has six screws on the scratch plate. This number of screws came into use in 1964. During the Spring of 1968, he switched Gibson Firebird with a single pick-up. He then alternated between the Firebird and his now-famous Cherry Red Gibson ES-335 guitar for the US tour through Cream’s farewell concert.
In Blind Faith, Eric used a Gibson Firebird through either Fender Dual Showman or Marshall amps. But, at the band’s debut performance in London’s Hyde Park, he played a Fender Telecaster with a Stratocaster neck.