The guitar sound itself can be the source of inspiration. Fender Strat through an old and loud Marshall amp delivers The Sound. It has been an adventure to get a tonal variety out of a non master volume amp, '76 Super Lead.

With 6550 power tubes, instead of usual EL34, a louder clean sound can be achieved before distortion. Different pre amp tubes have been tested but 12AX7 has the punch. The '76 Super Lead amp also has a modified feedback cirquit to give even louder clean tone. The guitar pickups should not be too strong to prevent the signal from getting too hot. With single coil pickups the sound is sparkling.

Xotic RC Booster fattens up nicely the clean tone of the Super Lead amp. The original Pro Co RAT distortion pedal gives a powerful, sustaining overdriven tone with this setup. Occasionally Mad Professor Fire Red Fuzz is turned on for a screaming fuzz effect. Electro-Harmonix delay is used on the recordings for stereo delay effects with the Fender Vibrolux '67 amp on the left channel. Eventide Modfactor gives very smooth modulation effects.

guitars: Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul DeLuxe (1969)
amps: Marshall 1959 MK II (1976), JMP 2203 (1983),
Fender Vibrolux (1967)
cab: Marshall 1982
power tubes: 6550 (1959), EL34 (2203)
overdrive: Xotic RC Booster, Pro Co RAT, Ibanez Tube Screamer,
Mad Professor Fire Red Fuzz, Boss DS-1
delay: Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man, Boss DD-5, plug-ins
modulation: Eventide Modfactor
wah wah: Morley Classic Wah
volume pedal: Morley Volume Plus
gate: ISP Decimator
mike: Shure SM57
DI: Palmer ADIG-LB, Digitech GSP1101

 

Marshall Super Lead MK II 1976

 

Svetlana 6550 tubes

Fender Vibrolux Reverb-Amp 1967

Fender American Stratocaster

Gibson Les Paul DeLuxe 1969

Effects, from left to right: Xotic RC Booster, Mad Professor Fire Red Fuzz, Pro Co RAT, Morley Classic Wah, ISP Decimator, Eventide Modfactor, Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man.