Riff Tone

Thunderstruck

AC/DC

Guitarrock1990s

Original Gear

Guitar1963 Gretsch 6131 Jet Firebird

Amp1971 Marshall JMP Super Bass 100W head (model 1992)

PickupsGretsch Filter'Tron humbucker (bridge position)

Amp Settings

gain0

bass3.5

mid6

treble7

reverb0

presence5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1990; Malcolm Young's rhythm guitar for the main riff. No pedals or effects used. Cabinet: Marshall 1960B 4x12 with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers. Guitar plugged into Channel 1 top input. All info specific to studio recording, not live.

Tone Character(10)

tight and percussivebright and articulatedry (no reverb)clear note separationminimal sustainpunchy attackslightly mid-forwardno breakup or crunchfocused low endno ambience

Difficulty

The riff requires fast, accurate alternate picking with no effects to mask mistakes, making clean execution at tempo challenging even for experienced players.

Sources

The Secrets Behind Malcolm Young's Guitar Sound on AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" | Guitar World

This tone has been researched 2 times by the community

Create an account to adapt this tone to your gear

Create Free Account