Prince
How session guitar legend Eddie Martinez wound up with Prince’s Purple Rain-era Mesa Boogie Coliseum 300 amp
Songs like “Let’s Go Crazy,” “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain” prove that Prince was a pop-music maestro. But Prince — born Prince Rogers Nelson — was also one hell of a guitarist.
Fellow Eighties hitmaker Eddie Martinez (Run-DMC, David Lee Roth, Robert Palmer, Mick Jagger), who knew Prince before he hit paydirt, plays a mean six-string, too. So it’s kind of poetic that Martinez ended up — albeit unintentionally — with Prince’s most beloved amp from 1984-85 (the Purple Rain era), a heavily modi ed Mesa Boogie Coliseum 300.
Below, Martinez explains how a sudden case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome led him down this Princely path.
When you came upon Prince’s amp, were you even in the market for an amp, let alone an amp with provenance?
It was May 29, 2011. I was at home playing my guitar, and for some reason, acquiring another amp popped into my thoughts. Mind you, this was quite unusual, because when I go to guitar stores, I’m rst looking for guitars; so looking back on that day, I believe it was more of a divine impulse.
Why do you think that is?
I already had killer amps, but I was playing clubs locally with my band and needed a combo that wouldn’t be a backbreaker; plus, I’m big on redundancies. I also needed something practical for small clubs.
Where did you nd Prince’s Boogie amp?
I decided to visit one of my local guitar shops and began looking for amps. I had looked for a good while and didn’t see anything that caught my interest.
As I was exiting, something caught my eye — a Boogie head that reminded me of the Simulclass series from the Eighties that I’d rent along with a Soldano and modded Marshalls from Andy Brauer when recording in L.A. I asked what model Boogie it was, and the salesperson didn’t know. When I saw six 6L6 tubes, I knew it wasn’t a Simulclass. The only thing the salesman said was that they bought it at a Seattle guitar show — and that it was allegedly once owned by Prince.
Did you know Prince in the Eighties, and did you know anything about the amps he used?
I had known Prince a bit from when we shared the bill when I was playing with Lenny White and Twennynine. We both had opened for Rick James in 1980, and we became friends with Dez [Dickerson], Andre [Cymone] and Prince. I recall seeing Boogie amps on that rst tour.
I was becoming familiar with Boogie because Nicky Moroch, my bandmate and a brilliant guitarist, used a Mark 1 when we played with drummer Lenny White. But I digress!
Getting back to the amp in your local guitar shop, how did you con rm that it was Prince’s Boogie?
I took a peek at the back and saw
Prince’s corporate logo, “PRN Music.” It was also written in a marker on the chassis — “PrinceNumber 1.” And there’s a sticker that reads “last tubed 11-88.” There’s also “Prince I” [Roman numeral 1] written on some duct tape. I also knew Prince’s middle name was Rogers and his surname was Nelson, hence the “PRN.” So I called my friend Artie Smith and he suggested I call JD Dworkow.
Why JD Dworkow?
JD worked closely with Prince and Wendy Melovin with stage gear and the guitar tech backline vibe for the entire Purple Rain tour. Plus I’ve known JD for years, and he’s worked with so many huge artists and bands. He’s a total pro. I described the amp to JD and told him the serial number, “K303.” His mind was blown; he said it was Prince’s number one amp on the Purple Rain tour. The dots were starting to connect because it was correlating to everything I was seeing written on the chassis of the amp. After JD told me that, I knew it was the real deal and bought it.
You went from looking for a backup amp to most likely owning Prince’s mostused amp on his most iconic tour.
Yes! And although it wasn’t a backup combo amp that I was looking for, it was quite historically signi cant. I had “fallen upstairs” with such an incredible, iconic nd. [Laughs]
Once you bought it, did you reach out to Mesa Boogie for more info?
I reached out to Mesa Boogie and to my Boogie rep — who shall remain nameless and who is no longer there. He con rmed that it was an amp that — at one time — had belonged to Prince. He also asked if I knew Prince. I told him I did but it had been years since I’d seen him.
My rep suggested that I don’t let Prince know about the amp because [Prince] preferred the clean sound on the amp in my possession.
What did he mean by that?
There was a tone of reticence in his dialog with me about digging deeper into the amp’s history. That’s what I felt, so I stopped communicating with him. Remember, Prince [1958-2016] was very much alive when I rst communicated with Boogie about the amp.
Did you dig deeper after Prince died?
It wasn’t until 2019 that I reached out to Mike Bendinelli at Mesa, and he gave me the full story. The model is in the Coliseum 300 series. It was later modi ed by Mike himself to the 2C+, a coveted mod. It’s a beast, packing 6x6L6s and delivering 180 watts. The clean sound is so good, and I can see why Prince dug it so much.
The crunch side is monstrous. I owe Mike a huge debt of gratitude for providing a letter of provenance and the historical context for such an iconic and important amp.