Jimmy Page Marshall Amp Settings
Jimmy Page's tone covers more ground than almost any other guitarist of his era — from the acoustic delicacy of "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" to the raw power of "Communication Breakdown," from the orchestral grandeur of "Kashmir" to the aggressive riffing of "Whole Lotta Love." The amp settings at the centre of most of it are the Marshall Plexi Super Lead, cranked.
Era 1: Led Zeppelin I (1969) — The Supro
Led Zeppelin's debut album used a 1950s Supro amplifier for much of the guitar work — a small American combo amp pushed to its limit. This gives the first album recordings a rawer, less polished character than later Led Zeppelin. The Supro produces a different kind of power tube saturation: thinner, more compressed, with a characteristic upper-mid emphasis.
Supro approximate settings:
- Volume: Max
- Tone: 6–7 (single tone control)
The combination of a Telecaster (Page's primary guitar in this period) through a cranked Supro produces the raw, abrasive tone of early tracks.
Era 2: Led Zeppelin II onwards — Marshall Super Lead 100W
From the second album onward, the Marshall Super Lead 100W became Page's primary amp.
Marshall Super Lead settings (primary):
Volume: 10 (maximised — the Plexi has no master volume)
Treble: 7–8
Middle: 6
Bass: 5–6
Presence: 6
These settings are less extreme than Hendrix's (who ran everything at 10) because Page was playing with a Les Paul — a guitar with warmer, fuller pickups that needs less treble emphasis than Hendrix's Strat to cut through.
Les Paul Tone Settings for Key Songs
Whole Lotta Love (verse/riff):
- Bridge pickup, full volume, full tone
- Marshalls cranked, multiple units
Whole Lotta Love (lead sections):
- Neck pickup, tone rolled back to 6–7
- The "woman tone" — all low frequencies, warm and vocal
Since I've Been Loving You:
- Neck pickup, tone at 8
- Marshall at 7–8 volume (slightly less gain for the cleaner, more controlled tone of this ballad)
Stairway to Heaven (studio solo):
- Telecaster through a Marshall at high volume
- Treble pickup, volume and tone full
1959SLP vs Studio Vintage SV20H
The original 1959SLP Super Lead runs at 100W with no master volume — it must be turned up to be useful. The modern Marshall SV20H shares the same preamp circuit but allows 20W or 5W operation.
SV20H settings for Page tone:
- Pull Volume knob for 5W mode
- Volume at 8–9
- Treble 7, Middle 6, Bass 5, Presence 6
- Run with a treble booster before input
The Telecaster Alternative
Many of Page's most significant recordings — the first album, "Stairway to Heaven" studio version — were recorded with a 1958 Fender Telecaster, not a Les Paul. The Telecaster has a brighter, more aggressive top end.
Settings adjustment for Telecaster:
- Reduce Treble to 6 (less treble needed from the amp; the Tele provides it)
- Increase Middle to 7 (compensate for Tele's natural mid dip)
- Bass at 6 (Tele is thinner in the low end; compensate)
Replicating on Modern Amps
Marshall DSL40 / DSL20
Classic Gain channel, Gain at 6–7, Volume 5–6, Treble 7, Middle 5, Bass 5, Presence 6. Add a treble booster (Dallas Rangemaster style) before the input for the harmonic character of the Plexi era.
Marshall Origin 20H
The Origin is designed to capture Plexi character. Volume at 7, Tone at noon. Not as authentic as the SV20H but accessible.
Fractal/Helix
Use Plexi 100W model. Drive 65%, Bass 5, Mid 5.5, Treble 7, Presence 6, Master 75%. Add Rangemaster treble booster model in chain before amp.
The Bow Technique
Page's bow technique — a cello bow drawn across the strings — creates unique sustained harmonic swells used on "How Many More Times" and "Dazed and Confused." The amp settings for this are similar to standard settings, but Presence is often reduced (to 4) to prevent harsh overtones as the bow creates complex harmonics.
Why Page's Settings Are Less Extreme Than Hendrix's
It's worth understanding why Page's documented settings (Treble 7-8, not maxed like Hendrix's) work for a genuinely similar cranked-Plexi approach: the Les Paul's humbuckers are inherently warmer and fuller-output than a Stratocaster's single coils, meaning less amp-side treble emphasis is needed to achieve clarity and cut. Running Hendrix-style maximum treble through a humbucker-loaded Les Paul would produce a harsher, less controlled result than the guitar and amp are suited for together — the settings genuinely need to match the pickup type driving them, not just the "loud Plexi" formula in the abstract.
This is a useful general principle beyond just Page specifically: a cranked Marshall's ideal EQ settings shift meaningfully depending on whether a single-coil or humbucker guitar is feeding it, since the pickup's own frequency response and output level change how much amp-side shaping is actually needed.
Common Mistakes
Applying identical settings across every song without adjusting for pickup selection. As the "Key Songs" section shows, Page moved between bridge pickup at full tone for aggressive riffing and neck pickup with tone rolled back for the "woman tone" lead sound — a single static amp setting misses this deliberate, song-by-song variation.
Treating the Telecaster and Les Paul eras as tonally interchangeable. As the Telecaster section explains, the brighter, thinner-bodied Tele requires reduced amp treble and increased middle to compensate for its different frequency profile — using Les Paul settings unmodified with a Telecaster produces a notably different, less balanced result.
Overlooking the Supro's role on the first album as distinct from the later Marshall-driven sound. As the era section notes, the Supro produces a thinner, more compressed saturation than the Marshall Super Lead — assuming the first Led Zeppelin album used the same rig as later records misses a genuinely different amp character.
Reducing presence for the bow technique across all playing, not just bowed passages. As the bow technique section specifies, presence is lowered specifically to prevent harsh overtones during bowed passages — carrying that reduced presence setting into standard picked playing produces an unnecessarily dull result for the rest of the material.
ToneStakr's Take
For players chasing this tone, matching guitar type to the specific era and song matters as much as the raw amp settings — a Les Paul into a cranked Marshall at the settings listed here covers most of Led Zeppelin II onward, but reaching for a Telecaster and adjusting EQ accordingly is necessary for the first album's character and for "Stairway to Heaven"'s studio solo. Treating this as one universal setting rather than a small family of related setups tuned to specific guitars misses much of what makes Page's tone so versatile across the catalog.
Frequently Asked Questions
What bow technique does Page use?
A cello bow drawn across the strings, adapted from classical technique, creates unique sustained harmonic swells distinct from conventional picking — heard on "How Many More Times," "Dazed and Confused," and other live performances.
What guitar did Page use for "Stairway to Heaven"?
Live performances used a Gibson EDS-1275 double-neck, allowing him to play the 12-string acoustic intro and 6-string electric solo without a guitar change. The studio recording used a Telecaster or Les Paul, with a standard Les Paul through a cranked Marshall remaining the key reference tone.
What is the Supro amp Page used on the first Led Zeppelin album?
A 1950s American combo amp, inexpensive and largely unknown at the time. Page cranked it to its limit, producing a thinner, more compressed, upper-midrange-emphasized saturation distinct from the Marshall-driven tone of later albums.
What effect creates the guitar sound on "Whole Lotta Love"?
A combination of theremin-controlled backwards guitar and a Univox Uni-Vibe running through a cranked Marshall — this is fundamentally a studio composition and production technique rather than a single reproducible pedal setting.
Should I use the same amp settings for rhythm and lead parts?
Not exactly — as the "Key Songs" breakdown shows, Page frequently switched pickups and rolled back guitar tone for lead passages (the "woman tone" approach) rather than relying purely on amp changes, meaning much of his tonal variation happens at the guitar rather than requiring separate amp presets.
Is a treble booster necessary to replicate this tone on a modern amp?
Genuinely useful, yes — as the modern amp replication section notes, adding a Dallas Rangemaster-style treble booster before the input helps modern amps like the DSL or Origin series capture more of the Plexi era's specific harmonic character than their stock gain structure alone provides.