Riff Tone

Heartbreaker

Led Zeppelin

Guitarrock1970s

Original Gear

GuitarFender Telecaster 'Dragon' (1959, maple neck, hand-painted finish)

AmpSupro Coronado 1690T

PickupsSingle-coil (Fender Telecaster stock 1959 single-coils)

Amp Settings

gain3.5

bass6

mid7.5

treble6.5

reverb1.5

presence5.5

Effects & Signal Chain

fuzzSola Sound Sola Sound Tone Bender Professional Mk II

Notes

Studio recording, 1969. Jimmy Page used his 'Dragon' Telecaster into a Supro Coronado 1690T amp for the main riff section of 'Heartbreaker.' No evidence of Les Paul or Marshall for this section; those were used for other tracks or live. The Telecaster was used with the bridge pickup for the riff. Sola Sound Tone Bender Professional Mk II fuzz pedal was used for the riff, not just the solo. No evidence of modulation or time-based effects in the riff section.

Tone Character(10)

aggressive and bitingmid-forward crunchtight and percussiveraw and uncompressedslightly fuzzy edgearticulate single-coil attackBritish blues-rock flavordynamic response to pickingpunchy low endminimal ambience

Difficulty

The riff requires tight timing, aggressive picking, and control of dynamics to achieve the signature punch and articulation. Octave double-stops and syncopation add to the intermediate-to-advanced challenge.

Sources

20 ways to play guitar like Jimmy Page Led Zeppelin's 50 greatest songs | Guitar World The Recording Guitarist: Recording Electric Guitar—Multi-Mic Options

This tone has been researched 4 times by the community

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