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We Will Rock You Riff Guitar Tone Settings — Queen
Queen · 1970s · rock
studio
Original Recording
Guitar
Homemade Red Special (Brian May's Red Special)
Pickups
Tri-Sonic single coils (wired in series, in-phase, custom modded)
Amp
Vox AC30 (Top Boost, 1970s, three-amp wet-dry-wet setup, studio modded with reverb/tremolo removed)
Pickup Position
Bridge + Middle pickups in series, in-phase (Red Special custom wiring)
Studio recording, 1977. Main riff recorded by Brian May stamping, clapping, and then overdubbing a single, massive guitar line with the Red Special through a cranked Vox AC30 and a Dallas Rangemaster-style treble booster. No other pedals or effects used for the riff. No delay or modulation on the riff section. The triple-amp setup is referenced for both live and studio, but for the riff, the sound is dry and direct.
Amp Settings
Mids7.5
Bass6
Gain7.5
Reverb0
Treble7.5
Presence6.5
Effects Chain
- Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster (or Fryer Treble Booster, model varies by era) · boost
Red Special → Treble Booster → Vox AC30 (no reverb, no delay, no modulation)
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Tone Character
- tight and percussive
- aggressive attack
- crunchy British overdrive
- harmonically rich
- dry and focused
- midrange-forward
- distinctive, massive presence
- no ambience or reverb
- saturated but not fuzzy
- articulate and punchy
Notes & Caveats
- No direct numeric amp settings for 'We Will Rock You' riff found in sources; settings estimated based on typical Brian May AC30/treble booster setup for 1970s studio recordings.
- All sources agree on Red Special, treble booster, and Vox AC30 for riff, but no pedal or modulation effects are used on the riff section.
- Triple-amp wet-dry-wet setup is referenced, but the riff is a single, dry, percussive guitar overdub with no delay or reverb.
- No evidence of delay, chorus, flanger, phaser, or reverb on the riff section; these are used in solos or live, not on the studio riff.
- Settings cross-referenced with genre and era conventions for accuracy. Brian May's 'We Will Rock You' solo/riff tone is classic British rock: mid-forward, crunchy, and dry, using his Vox AC30s cranked with the treble booster. The tone is aggressive but not high-gain, with strong mids and little to no reverb, matching the raw, in-your-face production of the era.