Gary Moore — £1,000 · Pro-Level Tone

• Wide, slow-starting vibrato that gradually increases in width — mimics a singer's natural swell
• Extreme string bends — Moore bent strings further than almost any other player
• Bridge pickup for scorching leads; neck pickup for smoother, BB King-influenced phrases
• Boss SD-1 as clean boost (gain low, level high) — pushes amp into natural saturation
• Marshall EQ: bass 6, mid 7, treble 6 — mid-forward, not scooped
• Pick hard and then control the note — dynamics come from attack, not the amp
• Blues phrasing over hard rock backing creates the emotional tension central to Moore's style
• Tremolo arm for occasional dive bomb effects — but used sparingly vs pure vibrato

• ✗Not exploring the JCM800 alone before adding pedals — a Les Paul or humbucker guitar into a British amp is already a near-complete overdrive system. Adding drive pedals on top is often unnecessary and muddies the amp's natural character
• ✗Leaving the wah pedal engaged but stationary between rocking it — a cocked wah (fixed position, not moving) acts as a midrange filter that changes the core tone. Either rock it expressively or bypass it completely; a cocked wah changes the sound in ways that are often unintended
• ✗Expecting a Les Paul to sound like a Strat with EQ adjustments — the mahogany body, set neck, and humbuckers produce a fundamentally different character that cannot be EQ'd away.
• ✗Scooping the mids on a Marshall-style amp — the upper midrange emphasis is what makes British amps cut through. Mid-scoop EQ sounds good alone but disappears in a band mix.
• ✗Using too much gain on the drive pedal — pedal-driven tone works best with the amp providing some character and the pedal adding focus and saturation, not replacing the amp entirely.
• ✗Setting gain too high on the overdrive pedal — most overdrive pedals are most useful at gain settings of 2-5, where they add character without dominating the tone. High gain settings on an OD pedal become a distortion, not an overdrive.
• ✗Too many repeats at high mix — more than 3 repeats makes the delay effect accumulate and overwhelm the dry guitar signal. Keep it to 2-3 repeats at a subtle mix level.
• ✗Ignoring the guitar volume knob — rolling back to 6-7 is your rhythm setting; 10 is for leads. Most players leave it at 10 and miss the entire dynamic vocabulary.

If you like Gary Moore's tone, these players use a similar approach — same gear philosophy, comparable sound characteristics.