Riff Tone

High Voltage

AC/DC

Guitarrock1970s

Original Gear

Guitar1963 Gretsch Jet Firebird (modded, bridge pickup only, middle pickup removed, neck pickup disconnected)

AmpMarshall Super Bass 100 (model 1992, late '60s/early '70s, run clean and loud into Marshall 4x12 cabinet with Celestion Greenback speakers)

PickupsGretsch Filter'Tron humbucker (bridge position only, original vintage spec)

Amp Settings

gain6

bass4.5

mid5

treble7

reverb0

presence3.5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1975-1976, rhythm guitar for riff section. Malcolm Young's rig was extremely simple: Gretsch Jet Firebird (bridge pickup only) straight into a Marshall Super Bass 100 head, no pedals, no amp reverb, no effects. Pickup selector always set to bridge. No evidence of pedals or effects on the original studio recording.

Tone Character(10)

tight and percussivebright and articulateraw and uncomplicateddirect attacksurprisingly clean for rockclassic British crunchhigh headroomfocused midrangeslightly scooped lowsno audible effects or ambience

Difficulty

The riff is based on simple open chords and power chords but demands precise, consistent rhythm and muting at high volume for the classic AC/DC punch.

Sources

Malcolm Young's guitar gear: how the AC/DC rhythm machine perfected high-voltage rock 'n' roll tone | Guitar World AC/DC Tone : r/HeadRush - Reddit early ACDC tone - what amp? - The Gear Page

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