For every iconic guitar riff and soaring solo, there’s a crucial partnership at play: the guitarist and their amplifier. While a player’s hands, guitar, and pedals are all essential, the amplifier is the beating heart of their sound, shaping every note. Understanding what amps and settings the greats used can offer a fascinating glimpse into the mechanics of their tone.
At Frigginaires.com, we love digging into the gear that defined generations. Here’s a look at the setups of some of the most celebrated guitarists and the secrets to their signature sounds.
Jimmy Page: The Architect of Overdriven Rock
Jimmy Page, the creative force behind Led Zeppelin’s colossal sound, was a master of sonic textures. While many believe he relied solely on a massive wall of Marshalls, his studio work often involved smaller, more nuanced amps.
- The Amp: His most iconic live rig was a Marshall 1959 Super Lead 100-watt head, often paired with Marshall 4×12 cabinets. However, a lot of Led Zeppelin’s legendary studio tone was recorded with a small Supro “Thunderbolt” combo amp.
- The Settings: Page’s settings were never static. For the explosive rock tones on songs like “Whole Lotta Love,” his Marshall’s controls were often dimed. For the delicate, clean tones on “Stairway to Heaven,” he would turn the gain down and emphasize the treble.
- The Secret: A key part of Page’s sound came from his playing style—cranking the amp to the edge of breakup and controlling his tone with the guitar’s volume knob. He also famously used a Tone Bender fuzz box and a Maestro Echoplex tape echo to add grit and space to his sound.
David Gilmour: The King of Clean and Soaring Leads
David Gilmour’s tone is a study in clarity, sustain, and atmosphere. The Pink Floyd guitarist’s sound is less about aggressive distortion and more about a clean, powerful foundation that allows his extensive use of effects to shine.
- The Amp: Gilmour is most famously associated with Hiwatt DR103 100-watt heads and Fender Twin Reverb amps. Both are known for their high headroom, meaning they stay clean even at high volumes. This gives him a perfect clean canvas for his pedals.
- The Settings: Gilmour’s Hiwatt settings were generally about creating a huge, clean sound. A typical starting point would be:
- Volume: 7
- Bass: 6
- Middle: 4
- Treble: 6
- Presence: 6
- The Secret: The real magic in Gilmour’s sound is his pedalboard. He uses an extensive collection of pedals for his dirt and modulation, including the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi for his soaring lead tones and various delays (like the Binson Echorec or its modern emulators) to create his signature ambient textures.
Eric Clapton: The Blues-Rock Pioneer
Throughout his long career, Eric Clapton has experimented with a variety of amps, but two stand out as foundational to his sound.
- The Amp: During his time with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Clapton’s iconic “Beano” tone was the result of a Les Paul and a Marshall “Bluesbreaker” 1962 combo amp, with the volume cranked all the way up. In Cream, he switched to Marshall Super Lead 100-watt stacks, which became the standard for hard rock guitarists.
- The Settings: Early in his career, Clapton was famous for the “everything on 10” approach. He would simply turn his amp and guitar volume all the way up and control his dynamics with his picking hand.
- The Secret: Clapton’s tone is a testament to the idea that sometimes less is more. For his bluesier tones, he relied on the natural breakup of the amplifier itself, without a lot of external effects. His later work saw him use a Fender Tweed Champ amp on classics like “Layla,” proving that massive stacks aren’t always necessary for an incredible sound.
Eddie Van Halen: The Brown Sound
Eddie Van Halen’s sound was groundbreaking—a perfectly balanced mix of distortion, clarity, and sustain that became known as the “Brown Sound.”
- The Amp: Eddie’s sound was built around a stock 1968 Marshall 1959 Super Lead 100-watt head.
- The Settings: The secret to his sound was his use of a Variac, a variable voltage transformer that allowed him to control the voltage going to his amp. He would turn all the amp’s knobs to 10 and then use the Variac to dial the voltage down to around 90V, which created a saggy, compressed, and harmonically rich tone.
- The Secret: Eddie’s entire signal chain was a scientific experiment. He used minimal pedals, but they were critical: an MXR Phase 90 and a MXR Flanger, which he would use subtly to add movement to his sound. The rest was all about his unique guitar modifications and his innovative approach to amplifier settings.