My Experiences Working With Robben Ford 

Phil Bradbury, designer, builder, owner of Little Walter Tube Amps shares his experiences working with guitarist Robben Ford.

Phil Bradbury: I was hanging with Vince Gill in Carters Music in Nashville when I met Robben Ford. He came out of a private demo room and started talking with Vince.   Vince waved me over and introduced me to Robben.  It seems Robben was doing research into the tone stacks and how they worked in guitar amps.  Vince told him that I was always covering this in my amp clinics.  He suggested Robben and I have a conversation.   Let me point out something at this time: Robben explained that he was in a phase where he was concentrating more on the instrument than the song and lyrics.   I loved this, as it causes the artist to understand more about the tools it takes to do the job.  Obviously, he was as good as it gets with his instrument, but you need a few “Peripherals” with the instrument to accomplish the task.  Robben and I had a short and very interesting discussion on passive tone controls.  While we talked, I brought up several factors that needed to work together perfectly (or at least as close to perfect as we could get).  The proper preamp, and power tubes, the proper speaker cabinet, and especially the proper speaker units.   I suggested that we schedule a more detailed meeting where we could spend as much time as we needed and cover all the bases.   Robben was for this and I rented the back of 3rd and Lindsley and brought down several different amp heads and different speaker units (112 cabs loaded with several different speakers, 115 cab, 212 cab, and my new TS310 cab.   

We started with the series 8 chassis (octal preamp sections) which represented the early, or first-generation American guitar amplifiers.  I could tell right away that this was not the right fit for Robben.  Next, we moved to the Series 9 (Noval or 9 pin preamp sections) like the 2nd generation of amplifiers that exhibited more gain than the series 8 units.  I find that when I work with any artist, one series will quickly appeal to them more than the other.  When we switched to the 9 series amps Robben loved the 59’ immediately and referred to it as the Fat, Clean 59’.   NOTE: My 59’ which stands for “50 watt series 9” is a chassis that has three ECC83 (12AX7) tubes, a pair of 6L6 power tubes, and a GZ34 Rectifier tube.   We had a great time testing and comparing amps with different speaker cabinet combinations.   At the conclusion of this private showing/clinic Robben ordered a 59’.

Because I was still learning what Robben needed, we started with the TS310 cabinet.  This is my most articulate cabinet and has three Eminence Legend 1028 10”, 8 ohm speakers.   Robben loved this when we were testing and just playing around.  But as I was to learn he uses a lot of power from the amp as well as a great selection of pedals so after trying the 310 and even a 115 cabinet he ended up with the 212 cabinets.  The two 12” speakers were better suited to loud volume and heavy pedal use than the TS310 for his needs. Note: I have learned that you can’t always know what will be the best for an artist.   It’s interesting how the 59’ / 310 rigs I built for Steuart Smith for the Eagles Hotel California tour was perfect for his needs (providing all the iconic lead licks that we know from the Eagles catalogue) but the 212 cabinet was the perfect solution for Robben.  It’s not a One size fits all scenario when it comes to Artist/Amp/Speaker situations.

The first time I really got to work with Robben in a studio environment was on the PURE album.  He asked me to bring several chassis and speaker cabinets so we could attain the different tones he had in his head for the project.   I remember carting in 5 or 6 different speaker cabinets (several single 12” cabinets with different speakers, 212 cab, TS310, and 115S) and I believe 3 different chassis (59’ with a pair of 6L6’s, and the PB100 which is the 59’ basically with 4 6L6 power tubes rather than two, and a King Arthur which is an 18-watt EL84 chassis that can achieve great overdriven tone).  I remember Robben coming to me and playing an audio clip of Coltrane playing a soprano sax and saying “I need you to get me this tone”.   We ended up using the King Arthur through a single 12” ToneSpeak Austin 1250 speaker with an early SG that had a pair of Humbuckers.  We turned the volume wide open, and used the Tone Valve (Vince Gill asked me to use a Pull-Pot to activate the boost and use the pot to back off the signal going to the power tubes). This lets you go crazy with overdrive, then use the middle knob to “Tame” or back off the signal which is like a “Focus” knob on a video or camera.  It lets you shape the overall drive coming from the amp.   This allowed Robben to get the creamy tone for the title song “PURE”. 

If I remember correctly, we used the 59’ for the bulk of the songs but used the King Arthur for the PURE (title song) lead tone.  

My next project with Robben was to build Robben a PB100 for his next album after the PURE recording “Night in the City”.  This was a live recording at the Nashville City Winery recorded by my friend and front of house guy Rick Wheeler.  We were there for that recording and it was a great show and a great recording.  

My next project with Robben was to set up a speaker test. Robben said he felt he needed to try some different speaker units to see if he could find something he liked better.   NOTE: In the beginning, I used two of the same speakers when using pairs (212 or 2 112 cabs) for several years and then as I matured in my understanding of musical tones I started experimenting with using two different voiced speakers that worked well together.  In my opinion this is like painting with two colors: a blue tone speaker mixed with a red toned speaker.  In my opinion you now get the red tone, the blue tone, and a third color tone purple which is the blending of the two.   During our speaker test session Robben made the statement that he heard a rainbow of frequency colors from the 59’ and the combination of two different voiced speakers.  This approach may not be for everyone but it can give an artist a wider tonal pallet.   We ended up using the ToneSpeak Austin 1250 paired with the Manchester 1290 in the 212 for the 59’ head and the Austin 1250 paired with the Liverpool 1250 in the 212 for the PB100 head.

Next, Robben told me he was moving to Paris France.  So I picked up Robben’s 59’ and 100 watt heads and replaced the U.S. transformers with multi-voltage units and special switches to allow Robben to set the primary voltage for each amp to 100 VAC for Japan, 120 VAC for America, 230 VAC for Europe, and 240 VAC for Australia.  

The last project I was fortunate enough to work on with Robben was his new recording that is coming out in March of this year (2026) entitled “Two Shades of Blue”.   Robben asked me to ship a 59’ head with a 212 cabinet with the combination of speakers he was using to Sweetwater Studios in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  He used this rig for the initial tracking of the songs with some very high-level artists.    Several months later he returned to Nashville to do the Mixing of the album and I shipped my own personal 59’ to Casey Wasners studio for the last-minute touch ups.   

I have enjoyed working with Robben Ford greatly due to his great nature and thirst for knowledge.  He has shown a willingness to experiment and try new things.  With music there are not many absolutes.  Some things work better for some people than others.  You need to keep an open mind so you won’t miss something that may surprise you but end up being your Holy Grail.  I am reminded of something Robben likes to share: Learn the rules like a pro…  So you can break them like an Artist.

Jazz Guitar Today Talks To Robben Ford, March 2026

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!