Flynn Amps The rory gallagher Hawk booster User Manual
The rory gallagher
Hawk booster
explosive power and sustain
sparkling highs and ultra wide dynamics
recreated from rory’s actual 70’s booster
one unique guitarist
One unique pedal
FLYNN
AMPS
by
®
Rory Gallagher 1948-1995
‘How does it feel to be the greatest guitarist in the world? I don’t know, go ask Rory Gallagher.’
—Jimi Hendrix
‘Rory’s death really upset me. I heard about it just before we went on stage, and it put a damper
on the evening. I can’t say I knew him that well, but I remember meeting him in our ofces
once, and we spent an hour talking. He was such a nice guy and a great player.’ —Jimmy Page
‘So these couple of kids come up, who’s me and my mate, and say ‘How do you get your sound
Mr. Gallagher?’ and he sits and tells us. So I owe Rory Gallagher my sound. ‘ —Brian May
‘Rory’s death is a tragic loss of a great musician and a very good friend.’ —Van Morrison
‘The man who got me back into the blues.’ —Eric Clapton
‘A beautiful man and an amazing guitar player. He was a very sensitive man and a great musician.’ —The Edge (U2)
‘It was all about him playing the guitar, it got into your soul.’—Cameron Crowe (Writer/Film
Director)
‘In the 70s he built himself a reputation as a live performer of tremendous vitality.He was even
headhunted to join The Rolling Stones.’—Niall Stokes (Editor, Hot Press)
‘One of the things that was crucial for me I got from Rory Gallagher, which was the idea of, like,
being a guitar player for life and living it.’ —Johnny Marr (The Smiths)
‘An uncompromisingly serious musician.’ —The Times, 16 June 1995.
Rory’s Hawk
In march 2008 we ew down to London on a mission to try and recreate Rory Gallagher’s
favourite booster, the ‘Hawk®’. With help from Rory’s brother (and band tour manager)
Donal Gallagher, Tom O’Driscoll (band roadie) and Daniel Gallagher (Donal’s musician
son) we took Rory’s Hawk apart, meticulously photographed and carefully measured every
component. It was from these sketches and photographs that the Rory Gallagher signature
Hawk booster was born.
Powered internally by two 9V batteries the original Hawk featured bass, middle and treble
faders, a treble boost switch, a power on/off switch and a volume boost switch.
Designed as a multi-purpose device, the Hawk was intended to be used with guitars, keyboards, vocals and mixing desks. The 18V power supply meant that the Hawk was capable
of massive output levels and Rory discovered that it could overdrive the input of any valve
amp he used it with. Rich harmonics, wide dynamics, smooth sustain and a biting edge
are all controlled from the guitar volume control. Rory used his primarily with his Tweed
Fender amps but it can drive most valve amps into classic Rory tones. The Hawk was a ‘set
and forget’ device that would normally be left on all the time and for guitar use it would be
used last in the effect chain driving the amp hard.
From around 1973 onwards you can hear Rory use the Hawk almost exclusively, both live
and in the studio. It’s a clear yet highly driven guitar tone that is precise, natural and completely unique to Rory’s music.
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