Paul revealed his ‘Little Green Amp’ – the Elpico AC55 – at his Hog Hill Mill Studios, East Sussex in a 1997 video included on his Flaming Pie reissue
The Elpico amp has long been synonymous with the Beatles and was seen onstage with the band in many of their performances
It was designed to amplify one gramophone and two microphones with Paul revealing he used it a guitar amp
The ‘fuzz-guitar’ sound on the Beatles 1966 song Tax Man, the lead single from album Revolver, is said to be Paul playing through an Elpico
Although it is unclear how much the amp would cost in 1956, nowadays the amp sells for £800-£1,000.

Showing off the vintage piece of equipment in the 1997 clip, Paul said:’This is my very first amp I ever had when I was 14, it was called an Elpico. As you can see it is very 50s, it looks like a piece of 50s furniture.

‘Instead of putting guitars into it, it says Mic1, Mic2, Gramophone, anything but guitars really. In those days amps were used more for putting your records through or microphones, for little PAs.

‘That was the first thing and I have kept it ever since. I have now had it fixed up because it is so old.

‘When you put an electric guitar through it now it sounds a bit like a fuzz guitar so it is quite a funky sound that I use sometimes. It is a dear little thing from many years ago.’

The Elpico amp was a favourite among rock’n’roll acts. The Kinks guitarist Dave Davies revealed he slashed the speaker cone of of his ‘little green amp’ with a razor blade which made it sound distorted, contributing to their instantly recognisable sound.

According to Premier Guitar, the Elpico AC55 was first manufactured by British company Lee Products around 1956, and was intended to amplify tape recorders and record players.

Macca’s studio also includes legendary bassist Bill Black’s double bass, which played on Elvis Presley’s songs including Hound Dog and Heartbreak Hotel.
He says: ‘Step this way, here is a very prized item… this is the original Elvis Presley bass. It used to be played by a guy called Bill Black.’ The bass also appeared in the 1957 Elvis film, Loving You.

Paul revealed the double bass was a gift to him from his wife Linda, who died one year after the audio tour in 1998.

He said: ‘Bill Black had died and Linda found out the bass was still around. We were in Nashville at the time and so Linda said to the family ‘would you let me buy it for Paul for his birthday present’.’

‘So they did, they had no other use for it, and they are quite happy it is in my collection. For me it is a very special piece of wood and occasionally I use it when you want a different sound. Nothing complicated but for a very simple bass line.’

During the tour the star also said he preferred records to CDs, saying: ‘When they get stuck it is the worst sound in the world.

‘George Martin had the first CD ever, Sony were bringing out and they wanted everyone to pay a royalty on it.

‘And George was sitting around and said ‘you see chaps the wonderful thing is they are absolutely unbreakable and he was ‘bang'(on table) and it broke.’

Flaming Pie scored the number two positions in both the UK and US charts when it was first released in 1997.

It was reissued in 31 July 2020 as a part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection.

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