What Pedals Does Gary Moore Use?
Gary Moore's pedalboard was built to support his amps rather than replace them — a boost pedal to push his Marshall and Soldano further into saturation, plus a small number of modulation and wah effects for specific textures.
The Core Pedalboard
1. Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS808 / TS9)
Type: Overdrive/boost
The Tube Screamer sat in front of Moore's Marshall JCM800 and Soldano SLO-100 during the Still Got the Blues era, pushing the amps' input stage into further saturation and adding the mid-forward compression that smooths out pick attack — a technique widely used by blues-rock players chasing amp-like sustain without relying purely on amp gain.
Settings: Drive 6–7, Tone at 12 o'clock, Level unity or slightly above.
2. Boss CE-2 Chorus
Type: Chorus
Used sparingly on clean and ballad sections for subtle shimmer rather than a heavy modulation effect — the chorus is present but not obvious in the mix, thickening single-note clean lines.
Settings: Rate at 9 o'clock, Depth at 9 o'clock — a light, understated setting rather than a lush, wide chorus.
3. Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Type: Wah
Appears on selected tracks and live solo sections, used with the expressive, vocal-style sweeps typical of blues-rock lead playing rather than rhythmic on/off wah.
Signal Chain
Les Paul → Dunlop Cry Baby Wah → Ibanez Tube Screamer → Boss CE-2 Chorus → Marshall JCM800 / Soldano SLO-100
Why the Tube Screamer Matters Most
Of the three pedals, the Tube Screamer does the most tonal work. See Gary Moore's amp settings guide for how it interacts with the JCM800 and Soldano combination — the boost is a key reason the Still Got the Blues tone has the smooth, singing sustain it's known for, on top of the natural vibrato technique that defines Moore's playing.
The specific mechanism worth understanding: a Tube Screamer's mid-hump EQ curve pushes harder in the exact frequency range where an already-driven tube amp is most sensitive to extra input signal. Rather than simply adding volume, it reshapes what the amp's preamp tubes receive, nudging them further into saturation in a way that's genuinely different from just turning the amp's own gain knob higher. This is why the pedal sits in front of the amp rather than in an effects loop — it needs to interact with the preamp stage directly, not just add gain after the fact.
Common Mistakes
Running the Tube Screamer at low drive as a "clean boost" only. Moore's Drive 6–7 setting is meaningfully higher than the near-zero, pure-boost setting many blues players favor (see John Mayer's or SRV's Tube Screamer technique elsewhere on this site). At this level it's contributing real compression and mid-forward saturation, not just pushing amp volume.
Setting the chorus too lush. The Boss CE-2's low rate and depth settings here are deliberately understated — a wider, more obvious chorus setting pulls the tone toward 1980s clean-pop territory rather than the subtle shimmer Moore used on ballad sections.
Treating the wah as a constant texture. Like most blues-rock players on this site, Moore used wah for specific expressive moments in solos, not as an always-on effect layered into rhythm playing.
Forgetting the guitar's contribution to how these pedals sound. The Tube Screamer's mid-push interacts differently with a PAF-loaded Les Paul than with a lower-output guitar — see our guitar guide for what's actually feeding this pedalboard.
ToneStakr's Take
The Tube Screamer is genuinely the pedal that matters here — set at a real drive level (not just unity-gain boost), it's doing meaningful tonal shaping alongside the amp. The chorus and wah are authentic but secondary; a player with a limited budget should prioritize a good Tube Screamer-style overdrive and a decent amp before adding the modulation pedals.
Frequently Asked Questions
What pedal did Gary Moore use for Still Got the Blues?
An Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS808 or TS9), used as a boost into a Marshall JCM800 and Soldano SLO-100 run together — set at a real drive level (6–7) rather than as a pure clean boost.
Did Gary Moore use a chorus pedal?
Yes — a Boss CE-2 Chorus, set subtly for clean and ballad sections rather than a heavy, obvious modulation. The rate and depth are both kept low for a shimmer rather than a wide, lush effect.
Do I need a Tube Screamer to get Gary Moore's tone?
It helps significantly. Set the drive around 6–7 with the tone flat and run it into a moderately gained Marshall-style amp — the boost is central to the smooth sustain in his sound, more so than in players who use the Tube Screamer purely as a clean boost.
Where does the wah fit in the signal chain?
First in the chain, before the Tube Screamer and chorus — placing wah early lets it shape the tone before the boost and modulation are applied, which is the standard ordering for expressive blues-rock wah use.
Is the Boss CE-2 essential, or can I skip it?
It's skippable for most players chasing the core Gary Moore sound — the Tube Screamer-into-amp combination carries the majority of his tonal identity. The chorus is a refinement for specific ballad and clean-section authenticity, not foundational.
What amp should this pedalboard run into?
A Marshall JCM800-style amp is the essential piece; adding a Soldano-style smoother amp in parallel gets closer to the exact Still Got the Blues blend. See our amp guide for the full breakdown.
Did Gary Moore's pedalboard change much between his hard rock and blues periods?
Yes, meaningfully — his earlier Thin Lizzy-era hard rock work relied much more heavily on amp-driven saturation with minimal pedal assistance, while the Still Got the Blues era and later pure blues albums brought the Tube Screamer boost and subtler modulation into more consistent use as his playing shifted toward expressive, sustained blues phrasing that benefited from that added mid-forward push.