Riff Tone

Mistreated

Deep Purple

Guitarrock1970s

Original Gear

Guitar1971 Fender Stratocaster (rosewood fretboard, stock single coils, scalloped fretboard)

AmpMarshall Major 200-watt head (customized with extra output stage, late '60s/early '70s model)

PickupsFender single-coil (stock 1971 Strat pickups)

Amp Settings

gain5.5

bass6.5

mid7.5

treble7

reverb2.5

presence6

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1973 for Deep Purple's 'Burn' album. Blackmore used a Stratocaster with stock single coils and a heavily modified Marshall Major head. No evidence of pedals or additional effects for the riff section. Pickup selector likely in bridge or bridge+middle position for riff. No evidence of effects loop or outboard pedals for the main riff. All evidence points to a straight guitar-to-amp setup for the riff section.

Tone Character(10)

British crunchOpen and dynamicSinging sustainBright and articulateSlightly scooped midsWarm but aggressiveDefined low endTouch-sensitiveAmp-driven overdriveNo pedal coloration

Difficulty

The riff requires intermediate technique due to expressive vibrato, dynamic picking, and sustaining notes with controlled feedback, but does not involve fast runs or complex chord shapes.

Sources

Why Ritchie Blackmore’s Marshall stacks were actually Vox | Guitar World Ritchie Blackmore on Deep Purple and his Rainbow revival | Guitar World The Melodic Side of Ritchie Blackmore - Premier Guitar

Create an account to adapt this tone to your gear

Create Free Account