Riff Tone

Black Flag

King's X

Guitarrock1990s

Original Gear

GuitarFender Elite Stratocaster (early 1980s, CBS era)

AmpLab Series L5 solid-state combo amp

PickupsFender Elite Stratocaster stock pickups (active, single-coil style with dummy coil for hum cancelling)

Amp Settings

gain7.5

bass5

mid7

treble7

reverb1.5

presence6

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1989. Ty Tabor used the Elite Stratocaster with all controls maxed into a Lab Series L5 amp for the heavy rhythm/riff tone on 'Black Flag'. No drive/distortion pedals; distortion comes from amp and picking attack. Effects (chorus, delay) were used sparingly and mostly for solos, not main riff. Chorus occasionally used for rhythm on some tracks, but not confirmed for 'Black Flag' riff.

Tone Character(10)

richly distorted yet crisptight and percussiveclear note separationarticulate attackcutting upper midsmassive rhythm guitar soundsolid-state saturationnot a lot of low end from guitaraggressive pick attackdefined rhythm

Difficulty

The riff requires tight, aggressive picking and precise muting to achieve the percussive, articulate sound, with syncopated rhythms and clarity under high-gain conditions.

Sources

The Secrets Behind Ty Tabor's Guitar Tone on "Out of the Silent Planet" by King's X Ty Tabor on the new King's X album, his greatest riffs, how he picks ...

This tone has been researched 2 times by the community

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