Nail the ToneHeart

Barracuda

Heart · Little Queen · 1977

The riff is two electrics layered: Roger Fisher's Stratocaster into a cranked Music Man head and a Celestion-loaded 2x12 with a homebuilt Phoenix Systems flanger in the loop set as slow as it goes, and Howard Leese's 1966 Telecaster into a mid-'50s tweed 4x10 Bassman with both channels jumped and wide open. It is moderate power-amp crunch, not high gain — the aggression comes from volume, tight palm muting, and the slow flange smearing the gallop. Knob positions were never published, so the values here are inferred from those documented amps and the sound of the record.

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

Tuning

Standard tuning, no capo

The riff is doubled by two electrics plus Nancy Wilson strumming the same gallop on a Guild acoustic borrowed from producer Mike Flicker, which is part of why the record sounds bigger than one guitar.

Part: Riff

Guitar

  • Fender Stratocaster · stock single-coils · bridge pickup (position not documented)
  • Fender Telecaster (1966) · stock bridge single-coil, added neck humbucker · bridge pickup
  • Guild acoustic (borrowed from Mike Flicker)

Amp

Music Man head into 2x12 with Celestions

GAIN
7.0
BASS
4.0
MID
6.0
TREBLE
6.5

Roger Fisher told WoodyTone he used a Strat into a Music Man head and a small 2x12 with Celestions, run loud for sustain while staying fairly clean; he has elsewhere said simply "Strat and Marshall," and the 50 Greatest Guitar Tones songbook instead claims both guitarists went through Orange OD120 amps, so the amp is contested.

Amp

Fender Bassman 4x10 (tweed, ~1956)

GAIN
8.0
BASS
5.0
TREBLE
6.0
PRESENCE
5.0

Howard Leese told Vintage Guitar his rig on "Barracuda," "Magic Man" and "Crazy on You" was his '66 black Tele into a mid-'50s 4x10 Bassman: "I plugged into both channels and cranked it." Early '56 circuits have no midrange control, so mid is null; on a 5F6-A-style Bassman set Middle around 7.

Pedals

  • Phoenix Systems flanger (rack kit) · flanger · Rate as slow as it will go, shallow-to-moderate depth; Fisher ran it in the Music Man's effects loop
  • Phase shifter (studio, model unspecified) · phaser · Slow sweep; Nancy Wilson recalls phase shifters and reversed tape used on the guitars

Tone character

tight palm-muted gallop · moderate tube crunch · forward mids · slow flange sweep · bright single-coil bite · two guitars stacked wide

medium

The shapes are simple fifths, but the galloping palm-muted picking has to stay tight and even, the open-string pick-scrape harmonics take a specific right-hand attack over the neck pickup, and the arrangement shifts meter under you.

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Sources