Nail the ToneAC/DC

Thunderstruck

AC/DC · The Razors Edge · 1990

The riff is Angus Young's SG on the bridge pickup straight into a cranked 100-watt Marshall — no pedals, with all the dirt coming from power-tube breakup rather than a gain stage. Keep the bass low and the mids and treble up so each picked note cuts, and get your distortion from volume, not from a pedal. Malcolm's Gretsch through a Super Bass sits underneath with the bass rolled almost all the way off, which is why the two guitars never turn to mud.

Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record

Tuning

Standard tuning, no capo

Standard tuning at concert pitch — the song sits in B, and the intro riff is played on the B and high E strings around frets 4–9 with the open B string ringing between the fretted notes.

Part: Riff

Guitar

  • Gibson SG Standard · Gibson humbucker · bridge pickup
  • Gretsch 6131 Jet Firebird ("The Beast") · Filter'Tron · bridge pickup

Amp

Marshall 1959 Super Lead 100W

GAIN
8.0
BASS
4.0
MID
6.0
TREBLE
7.0
PRESENCE
5.0

Angus's lead amp: no master volume and no reverb, so "gain" here is Volume I on the High Treble channel run loud enough for power-amp crunch; a Marshall JTM50/JTM45-spec 50-watter has also long been part of his studio setup for leads, and one forum account claims a Mesa/Boogie rack on this album, which no published interview supports.

Amp

Marshall JMP Super Bass 100W (model 1992)

GAIN
7.0
BASS
1.0
MID
5.0
TREBLE
6.0
PRESENCE
3.0

Malcolm's rhythm amp, into a straight Marshall 1960B 4x12; these knob positions are the ones Guitar World published for this specific track, with the guitar in Channel 1's top input and Volume II at 0.

Tone character

cranked plexi crunch · forward mids · tight low end · bright pick attack · no preamp fizz · dry, no effects

hard

The intro is a full minute of relentless alternate picking against left-hand hammer-ons and pull-offs on the B string, and the hard part is stamina plus keeping every note evenly attacked and cleanly separated at tempo.

Want this on your own amp?

These are the record's settings. Tell us what you play through and we'll translate every knob to the amp you actually own — free.

Adapt it to my gear

Sources