Riff Tone

Black

Pearl Jam

Guitarrock1990s

Original Gear

GuitarGibson Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar (cherry sunburst, standard tuning)

AmpMarshall 1960A 4x12 Cabinet with Marshall head (exact model not specified, likely JCM800 or similar, as used on 'Ten' era recordings)

PickupsGibson humbuckers (stock Les Paul Custom pickups, likely 490R/498T or similar for early 90s models)

Amp Settings

gain4.5

bass6

mid7

treble6.5

reverb3

presence5.5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1991, for the album 'Ten'. Stone Gossard played the main riff on a Les Paul Custom through a Marshall stack. No explicit pedal use for the riff section is documented for the studio recording; most sources reference live rigs or general gear. No evidence of modulation or time-based effects on the riff section in the studio version.

Tone Character(10)

warm and mid-richclassic British crunchopen and dynamicarticulate attacksmooth decayfull-bodied low endpresent but not harsh highsorganic and unprocessedslightly compressedresponsive to picking dynamics

Difficulty

The riff requires clean chord changes and dynamic control, but does not involve advanced techniques or fast playing. The main challenge is capturing the feel and articulation of the original recording.

Sources

Pearl Jam – Ten - Gear & Equipment Used on the Album | Equipboard Stone Gossard | Equipboard Mike McCready's Guitar Gear, Pedalboard & Amps | Equipboard

This tone has been researched 8 times by the community

Create an account to adapt this tone to your gear

Create Free Account