John “Dawk” Stillwell has been working with Deep Purple and Rainbow in 1970-80s as a technician. Check out his company’s Dawk Sound Limited website and also the forum where he answers fan’s questions about Purple and Rainbow gear at the time.
Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/paice3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/gillan2.jpg)
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Here’s a question.
December 10th, 2007 at 14:39Has ANYONE in the Official Deep Purple camp EVER acknowledged that DAWK was ever anything to do with them at all. I’ve read all the claims about what he did, BUT Ritchie Blackmore has NEVER mentioned him and there is nothing on the internet that actually links him to Deep Purple or Blackmore, that I’ve seen. Is he the real deal or not ? Fergie and all the other guys are linked to Purple and get a mention, but never Dawk. How come ?
Hey Jon Clark AKA MIJFenders,
December 20th, 2007 at 14:12Knock off your games. You know Dawk is the real deal and he did work for them. Ritchie never metions who cooked his food either, but someone fed him. Get a life! Go try to sell your ripoff Master Tone Circuits you’re trying to steal from Dawk.
If you really wanna know Mr. Knowitall, go ask them. You pretend you have all the connections, use them. Ask Ronnie, he was there with Dawk and probably know Dawk’s past better than anyone.
Don’t be foolish. Look on the albums, his name is there. Where did he get the pictures on his website? HE TOOK THEM!
Dawk worked for Ritchie and you know it. Ask Fergie, ask Ritchie, ask any one that was there.
We all know who you are and we all know your hidden agenda.
If you’re going delete this post, delete the one above it too! This is common knowledge for anyone that bothers to look and do the research. Stop trying to slander this man.
December 20th, 2007 at 17:11Dawk certainly worked for Ritchie no matter if you have heard about him or not.
Why don’t you ask Ritchie, Roger or Dio? Or look at some interviews (hint: Dawk has been mentioned a couple of times)
Everyone! Keep away from Mijfenders as it’s run by a liar and a thief!
December 21st, 2007 at 11:15It’s pure scamming business. Now he tries to sell an imposter circuit. There is only ONE real MTC, and it’s built by Dawk. Go to http://www.dawksound.com for more information.
Dawk is the real deal, and he doesn’t have to fake reviews of his own products!
This is indeed an interesting debate.
DawksRealFan, do you happen to remember on which albums Dawk is credited?
November 24th, 2008 at 12:24Yea, i’ve been thinking about this topic for a long time.. Blackmore himself said that he scalloped his guitars on his own, but Dawk says he did it. Any evidence that proves Dawk worked for Rithie are welcome
May 18th, 2009 at 17:17Dawk Sound is credited on a few albums (THOBL, S&M and TBRO)
There is also an interview with Ritchie (German magazine “Gitarre & Bass”, May 2005) where he mentions Dawk as his technician:
“Welche Pickups waren dann in der weißen Strat, die Ende der 70er Jahre zum Einsatz kam? Gerüchten zufolge sollst du mal welche von Schecter benutzt haben.
Ritchie Blackmore: Ja, diese Gerüchte sind wahr. Diese Pickups waren von Schecter, und zwar vom Typ F500 (Dieser Pickup wird heute nicht mehr hergestellt. Eine alternative ist der Seymour Duncan SSL-5, der ähnliche Daten aufweist d.Verf) Der Body war zusätzlich mit Leitlack intern abgeschirmt, der mittlere Pickup war bei dieser Gitarre ein Dummy zum Entbrummen; außerdem bekam die Gitarre einen Master-Ton-Regler. Übrigens: Mein Techniker Mr. Dawk weiß viel mehr Details zu diesen Themen, warum fragst du nicht ihn? (www.dawksound.com)”
roughly translated:
Which pickups were in the white strat that you got in the late 70s? There are rumors that you used Schecters.
RB: Yes, these rumors are true. The pickups were Schecters and of the type F500. (editors note: These pickups are no longer manufactured. One alternative is Seymour Duncan SSL-5). On the inside, the body was shielded with conductive shielding paint, the middle pickup on this guitar was a dummy to cancel hum and a Master Tone Circuit was installed. By the way, my technician Mr Dawk knows far more about these things. Why don’t you ask him? (www.dawksound.com)
Is this proof enough for you?
June 11th, 2009 at 19:05The credits on the Deep Purple Albums for “Dawksound – Maintenance” may refer to work done for Jon Lord and Glover, and not necessarily for Blackmore at all. The credits are not specific and Dawk says on his site he worked for Glover in the first instance.
Ritchie was famous for his hoaxes and very many practical jokes, so you can’t read anything into the throw away comment “…my technician Mr Dawk ..”. It’s hardly confirmation of anything at all. Ritchie is also famous for saying whatever comes into his head, real or imagined, and feeding interviewers with whatever they want to hear and amuses him at the time. In the next interview he’d just deny it all. The article proves nothing.
It’s claimed Dawk worked with Ritchie from 1975-1993, all through Rainbow and Purple, tho Ritchie’s personal assistant EnglishRob, never saw him, nor heard of him. The pictures on Dawks web site are all taken from front of stage and prove absolutely nothing except perhaps he was at a gig. All the other people like EnglishRob and Jim Manngaard, who really did work with Ritchie, have posted many many pictures to prove it, pictures of them with Ritchie!
Did Dawk work for Ritchie ? There’s much to suggest he didn’t and little to really prove he did, beyond general rummour and internet hearsay. The only reference you will find here, the “official” Deep Purple site, is this topic, but not a single “official mention”.
Draw your own conclusions, but at least ask some question before you just accept these claims as fact.
June 27th, 2009 at 23:08@8 This is not the official Deep Purple site. The official site can be found at deeppurple.com.
June 29th, 2009 at 18:26It’s definitely proof enough for me Michael. Ritchie may have said a few things in interviews that weren’t true, but I fail to see how his words here on Dawk could be a “practical joke”. Also, Ritchie has said many things in interviews that were true, so I don’t think it’s fair to reject anything he says just because he has joked in the past.
Judging from the tone of the whole interview, it looks like this is Ritchie in a helpful and honest mood. It’s far from the joke- and half serious interviews he sometimes does. (And interestingly enough, I never saw the magazine make any correction…and I haven’t seen Ritchie say anything that contradicts the statement either. I’m really surprised….not!)
Ritchie’s own words isn’t “official” enough? LMAO.
Read the magazine! You won’t regret it!
“insider” sounds like a holocaust denier . He uses the same type of argumentation and just refuses to accept evidence that points in a different direction than his opinion. These people often throw false statements around and tries to spread doubt and make people forget the obvious and clear evidence that is in front of us all the time!
July 1st, 2009 at 16:20Hey Guys…I have been a touring live engineer for 25 years and am well acquainted with the crew guys that have worked for rainbow
September 9th, 2015 at 01:27and purple, and i still work with some of them. I myself Gungi for a few shows on the Stangers in us all tour in 95 and
97 when Gingi wasn’t feeling well (we sadly lost gungi – gordon patterson – to cancer,,,rip) …Gungi was the FOH engineer for
rainbow and purple in the 80s/90s. I just want to chime in and tell you everything Dawk says is very true. Everything he claimed to
do is the truth. So if you have any doubts/fears over any of that, you can put them to rest. In fact, I was very surprised people
questioned it….i don’t know the basis of why anyone would question it. When I was working for the Masters Of Reality and the
Mars Volta, we had Dawk do his “John Lord” mods to the Hammond and Leslie…spectacular work,,,,its really quite exciting to
fire those up and hear “that” sound…really satisfying. Anyway, Dawk is the real deal.
Enjoy everyone.
….sorry guys, in my above comment, i dropped a word….i meant to say “I myself subbed for Gungi on the Strangers in Us All tour in 95 and 97 when Gungi wasn’t feeling well…”
September 9th, 2015 at 18:01Apologies, I dropped the word “Subbed”, which made the sentence make no sense,,,,
I can attest to the notion that John worked with whomever anyone said he had.
February 3rd, 2019 at 02:12I personally worked with him with a couple Upstate New York bands including The Cindells, Ronnie Dio and the Prophits and Elf, as a partner roadie foe around five years. If you ever rode woth him in a van on the way to a gig…you would know there is no other to ride with…hmmm.
He was a graduate of Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y. with a B.S. in E.E.
First thing first, anyone who discounts his contributions to electronic upgrades and enhancements are ignorant. That doesn’t indicate stupidity…just lack of direct information. He recircuited many aspects of reverb as well as compression. He replaced stock tubes with KT-88 gold-plated tubes to clean up power.
Above all, Dawk was an unquestionably honest man. I never saw him take a drink or have a toke or any other mal-behavior.
He is…was everything HE… not necessarilly what anyone else says to be factual…says to be the truth…you can count on Dawks’ account.
Steve Burns…aka boomer
1967-1978…Dawk partner on the road