Riff Tone

Black Magic Woman

Santana

Guitarrock1970s

Original Gear

Guitar1968 Gibson SG Special

AmpFender Twin Reverb (blackface, cranked)

PickupsP-90 single coil pickups

Amp Settings

gain5.5

bass6.5

mid7

treble6

reverb4.5

presence6

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1970, Abraxas album. Santana used a Gibson SG Special with P-90s into a cranked Fender Twin Reverb for the riff section. No evidence of pedals or effects other than amp reverb for the riff. Live and later eras used different gear, but this is specific to the original studio recording.

Tone Character(10)

warm and smoothsinging sustainround neck pickup soundedge-of-breakup crunchtouch-sensitivenot spiky or harshclassic Santana sustainslightly compressedfull-bodied midsclear note separation

Difficulty

The riff requires intermediate skill due to its expressive vibrato, sustained notes, and dynamic control to achieve the signature Santana tone.

Sources

SANTANA MUST HAVE PEDALS (close to his sound) - The Gear Page Santana Tone? - forum topic - Ultimate Guitar Santana Black Magic Woman gear???Decoding Carlos Santana’s supernatural soloing style | Guitar World [PLAY] Black Magic Woman : r/Guitar - Reddit

This tone has been researched 3 times by the community

Create an account to adapt this tone to your gear

Create Free Account