You know how the Amish are basically a people frozen in time, basing their entire existence around the idea that the world was at its most perfect in the mid 19th century? That's sort of the same idea behind the recently announced Marshall AFD100 "Appetite For Destruction" guitar amplifier head, except their contention is that 1987 was the year western civilization reached its apex.

You may remember 1987 as the year a little band called Guns 'N Roses released a little album called Appetite For Destruction -- a Wagner-like song cycle that told the story of an innocent young man (Axl Rose) who travels to the big city (L.A.) hoping to make his dreams (dance with Mr. Brownstone) come true. Of course, our hero would never have made it alone**, and this album was the world's introduction to a Mr. Saul Hudson, a.k.a. Slash. Not since Abraham Lincoln had a man wearing a top-hat so dramatically changed the course of history, and he did it with not much more than a steady diet of cigarettes and Jack Daniels, a Gibson Les Paul, and a Marshall Stack.

That amplifier, and its amazing tone as captured on the album, are the subject of this latest collaboration between Slash and the Marshall Amplification company. The legendary Marshall head used on the session was a one-off, heavily modded 100-watter. Unfortunately, the amp itself has been lost to history, stolen during one of G'NR's legendarily debaucherous tours, so recreating its famous tone isn't just a matter of copying the schematics or looking under the hood. The goal of the AFD100 project is to attempt to resurrect that amp even without the actual unit as guidance, and the efforts are being reported in real-time on the official AFD100 mini-site. You can bet we'll be there just about every day until it's finished.

Slash with Artist Relations Liason Paul Marshall

All of which begs the question: when's the Contraband amplifier gonna be released?

*not really.
**though he might beg to differ.