Riff Tone

Mississippi Queen

Mountain

Guitarrock1970s

Original Gear

GuitarGibson Les Paul Junior (single P-90 pickup, sunburst, late 1950s)

AmpSunn Coliseum PA head (late 1960s/early 1970s, used as guitar amp)

PickupsGibson P-90 single coil

Amp Settings

gain0

bass8.5

mid5

treble5.5

reverb0

presence5.5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1970, Climbing! album. Leslie West plugged his Les Paul Junior directly into the Sunn Coliseum PA head. No pedals or effects are documented for the clean or riff sections. All sources confirm this was the studio setup.

Tone Character(10)

fat and roundfull bass responsemid-scoopedclear and punchytouch-sensitivedynamic (volume knob cleans up tone)no reverb or ambienceraw and unprocessedarticulate attackslightly compressed from amp

Difficulty

The riff is straightforward but requires dynamic control and touch sensitivity to achieve the clean tone; the main challenge is in the player's technique, not technical complexity.

Sources

Interview: Leslie West Discusses Tone, Offers Advice, Answers Readers' Questions | Guitar World Leslie West tells the the story of Mountain's Mississippi Queen: "If only every song was that easy, man!" | MusicRadar Mississippi Queen Tone | Guitar Forum [QUESTION] I'm looking for some info on Leslie West from ...Leslie West (Mountain) tone | Guitar Forum

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