Documented Artist Guitar Rigs

Jimi Hendrix

Rock · Blues · 1942–1970

Bright Strat neck pickup into a cranked Marshall Super Lead — wide, saturated tone with explosive fuzz overtones from a Fuzz Face, expressive wah sweeps and amp feedback used as a melodic instrument. The sound sits between clean and full distortion, always singing.

Eric Clapton

Blues-Rock · Blues · 1945–

Warm Les Paul into a cranked Marshall Bluesbreaker — thick, singing lead tone with violin-like sustain and a vocal quality unmatched in British blues. In his Strat era: clean Fender tone with subtle push from a Boss CE-1 chorus, sophisticated and restrained.

David Gilmour

Rock · Progressive · 1946–

Fender Stratocaster into a Hiwatt DR103 — clean, wide headroom platform. Big Muff Pi fuzz for creamy, singing lead tones. Long delays (Binson Echorec / HiWatt) for the spacious Pink Floyd atmosphere. Every note breathes with vibrato and controlled string bends.

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Blues · Blues-Rock · 1954–1990

Number One — a beaten 1963 Stratocaster with heavy .013–.058 strings — into a cluster of loud Fender Vibroverbs and Dumble amps. Tube Screamer used as a clean boost pushing already-loud amps harder. The sound is huge, physical and unmistakably Texan.

Slash

Hard Rock · Rock · 1965–

Gibson Les Paul with Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro humbuckers into a cranked Marshall. The tone is mid-forward, warm in the mids, slightly dark in the highs — never scooped or sterile. Touch-sensitive and musical, with controlled feedback for solos.

Jimmy Page

Rock · Hard Rock · 1944–

Vintage Les Paul Standard into a Marshall Super Lead — massive, mid-forward rock tone with singing sustain. On acoustic: open tunings and DADGAD for 'Kashmir' and 'Bron-Y-Aur Stomp'. Legendary for crunching up a Vox AC30 on early Zeppelin and Supro amps on the debut album.

John Mayer

Blues-Rock · Rock · 1977–

Fender Stratocaster into two-Rock Custom Reverb Signature — pristine clean headroom with singing single-coil tone. Klon Centaur for transparent boost. Tube Screamer for blues crunch. Everything is about touch and dynamics — the amp responds to pick attack.

Angus Young

Hard Rock · Blues-Rock · 1955–

Gibson SG into cranked Marshall — raw, mid-heavy crunch with a bite in the upper mids that cuts through everything. The SG's mahogany body and short scale give extra warmth; the Marshall power tubes at full breakup provide natural compression and sag.

Carlos Santana

Rock · Latin Rock · 1947–

PRS guitar with covered humbuckers into Mesa/Boogie — warm, slightly compressed, supremely sustaining tone. The notes bloom and decay with a vocal quality that makes his playing immediately distinctive. Mesa/Boogie was partly designed around his ideal tone.

Mark Knopfler

Rock · Blues-Rock · 1949–

Fender Stratocaster (neck pickup) fingerpicked into a clean Fender or Music Man amp — warm, slightly compressed, woody tone with almost acoustic character. The absence of a pick gives his notes a unique attack envelope — slow to bloom, naturally compressed.

B.B. King

Blues · Electric Blues · 1925–2015

Gibson ES-355 'Lucille' into a clean Fender amp — warm, fat single-note lines with the most expressive vibrato in blues. B.B. never used distortion — his tone was about touch, vibrato width and sustain at clean amp volumes. The f-holes were blocked on Lucille to prevent feedback.

Robben Ford

Blues · Jazz-Fusion · 1951–

Thin-bodied semi-hollow or solid-body guitar with humbuckers into a Dumble amplifier — warm, piano-like tone with extraordinary note separation. The Dumble provides natural sustain without mud; Ford's jazz harmonic vocabulary provides the sophistication.

Jack White

Blues-Rock · Alternative Rock · 1975–

Kay/Silvertone/Airline guitar through a Digitech Whammy into an overdriven amp — raw, buzzy, almost lo-fi distortion. Open G or A tuning. The junk shop guitar aesthetic is intentional — limitation forces creativity.

Jeff Beck

Rock · Blues-Rock · 1944–2023

Fender Stratocaster played fingerstyle into a Marshall — no pick, using thumb and fingers for unique attack. Whammy bar as a melodic device for subtle pitch vibrato and dramatic dives. An almost violinistic approach to sustain and vibrato.

Eddie Van Halen

Hard Rock · Heavy Metal · 1955–2020

Home-built 'Frankenstein' superstrat with a PAF humbucker into a drilled-out Marshall Super Lead — bright, scooped upper-mids, almost nasal quality, with insane speed and clarity. The MXR Phase 90 adds subtle movement; the Echoplex creates natural slapback.

Tony Iommi

Heavy Metal · Hard Rock · 1948–

SG-style guitar tuned down (often C# standard) into overdriven Laney or Marshall — dark, thick, powerfully heavy with minimal treble. The downtuned guitars add weight and darkness; the Laney amps provide a warm British crunch without the bright sheen of American amps.

James Hetfield

Heavy Metal · Thrash Metal · 1963–

ESP/Gibson with active EMG-81 pickups into Mesa/Boogie or Engl amp — tight, scooped modern metal rhythm tone with extraordinary low-end punch. Downpicking with a heavy pick creates the characteristic 'chug'. Lead tone is warmer with EMG-60 in the neck position.

Brian May

Rock · Hard Rock · 1947–

The Red Special (homemade guitar with hand-built pickups) into Vox AC30 — bright, chiming British tone with three-way switched pickups and mechanical vibrato. May uses old sixpence coins as picks for a harder, brighter attack. The tone is simultaneously orchestral and raw.

Tom Morello

Alternative Metal · Funk Metal · 1964–

Axis guitar with single humbucker into a Marshall JCM800 — clean, extended-range platform that becomes chaos through a Whammy pedal, killswitch and toggle switch manipulation. The amp is not the sound; Morello's hands and pedals are the sound.

Steve Vai

Rock · Hard Rock · 1960–

Ibanez JEM with DiMarzio Evolution pickups into Carvin Legacy — refined high-gain tone with extraordinary sustain and clarity. The Floyd Rose vibrato is central to his style — extreme dives and harmonics. Every note is precise and intentional.

Zakk Wylde

Heavy Metal · Hard Rock · 1967–

Les Paul with EMG-81/85 pickups into a wall of Marshall JCM800/JMP stacks — maximum gain, thick sustain, pinch harmonics at will. The EMG active pickups provide the high-output, scooped character that sits in the Marshall high-gain channel perfectly.

John Petrucci

Progressive Metal · Heavy Metal · 1967–

Music Man JP signature guitar with Bare Knuckle or DiMarzio pickups into Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier — tight, precise, scooped metal tone with extraordinary clarity at high gain. Lead tone uses the neck pickup for warmth and vocal quality over the aggressive rhythm setting.

The Edge

Alternative Rock · Post-Punk · 1961–

Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Explorer into Vox AC30 — chiming, jangling clean tone with tempo-synced dotted eighth-note delay repeats. One note becomes a chiming tapestry. Simple chords become swirling ambience.

Kirk Hammett

Heavy Metal · Thrash Metal · 1962–

ESP guitar with EMG-81 into Mesa/Boogie — wah-heavy lead tone with sustained single-note lines. The wah is almost always engaged for solos, adding vocal expressiveness to the tight, high-gain amp tone.