Slash is a self-proclaimed Marshall man. But what if–and this is the second time this has happened on our tone journey–what if we got down to comparing sounds it was just easier to get there with a Mesa Boogie? Less tweaks, no fuss, and the tone is just there.
The last time this happened was with the Ride the Lightning Tone, where all accounts pointed to a Marshall amp being used, but after hours of listening tests, again we just could not deny that it was easier to get closer with a Mesa amplifier… the Mark IIC+ of course. And it’s no different for this tone. But now, we have some evidence. Oh the evidence:
Here it actually is. For the Use Your Illusion sessions, Slash, or more specifically Adam Day, his guitar tech, explained for Guitar Player how Slash used two amplifiers, one in the studio and one in the control room. The amp in the control room was intended to allow feedback to occur between the guitar and amplifier, something that could not happen if Slash was playing in a different room from his studio setup.
If you read between the lines, what we really think is happening is that the Marshall needed to be near full volume to achieve the best tone, without pedals, however the Mesa Boogie could be overdriven at lower volumes. It would make sense then that the Marshall would be in the studio, and the Mesa would accompany Slash in the control room for better separation, as well as to enable the aforementioned feedback. Additionally, since the Mesa could achieve good tone at lower volumes, the amount of desired feedback could be controlled by changing the master volume.
We think most of the tracking on these sessions used a blend of the Marshall and Mesa setups. In fact, it’s undeniable during listening tests. Why did Slash end up using a Mesa? Maybe Slash liked the sound of Izzy’s setup and wanted to try it out for himself, maybe they needed a second amp to experiment with live feedback and didn’t want to rent another one, or maybe Slash–who lost his favorite SIR Marshall from the first record–didn’t necessarily like the sound of the new one and wanted to spice things up. Who knows. But what we do know is that you now have this tone at your fingertips, so hot it’ll bring you right next door to hell.
Preset: Uzi
Though Diagram #1 mentions the Mark III, the VG802C Amplifier comes in extremely close, being only a few tweaks away. When run through the VG 4x12HBA 250W ’85 Cabinet blended with the VG 4x12A 100W ’67 Cabinet, the sound is unmistakable.
Preset: Uzi Lead
In order to get enough separation from the core tone, we dialed in to the VG 4x12HBA 250W ’85 Cabinet exclusively, you could also experiment with the other cabinet as well. We then added the AMB400 Plate Reverb to bring out your leads in the mix and voilà.
1 Diagram 1. Slash’s Live Feedback Studio Setup. From “Welcome to the Equiment Jungle,” by Rick Eberly, 1991, December, Guitar Player, p. 44. Copyright 1991 by Guitar Player.
The Musicology Group 