Riff Tone

Paradise City

Guns N' Roses

Guitarrock1980s

Original Gear

Guitar1986 Gibson Les Paul Standard

AmpMarshall JCM800 2203 head (100W, likely with Marshall 4x12 cabinet, studio recording)

PickupsAlnico II Pro humbuckers (stock or Seymour Duncan, era-correct PAF style)

Amp Settings

gain7.5

bass5.5

mid6.5

treble7.5

reverb2

presence6

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording for 'Appetite for Destruction' (1987). Slash used his Kris Derrig-built Les Paul replica (commonly referred to as a '59 Les Paul Standard copy) loaded with PAF-style humbuckers. Amp was a Marshall JCM800 2203 head, cranked for distortion. No evidence of additional drive pedals for the riff section; chorus pedal is used for clean intro, but not for the heavy riff. Studio, 1987.

Tone Character(10)

British crunchaggressive bridge pickuptight palm mutinghigh-output humbuckerssaturated but articulateclassic Marshall bitepunchy midscutting trebledynamic pick attackfull-bodied rhythm tone

Difficulty

The riff requires fast, tight alternate picking with aggressive palm muting and precise timing, making it moderately challenging for intermediate players.

Sources

Slash's guitar gear: everything you need to nail the Guns N’ Roses legend’s sound | Guitar World Guns n' Roses setting - forum topic - Ultimate Guitar The 50 greatest guitar effects moments of all time | Guitar World

This tone has been researched 29 times by the community

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