Nail the ToneJoe Bonamassa

Django

Joe Bonamassa · You & Me · 2006

"Django" is the moody minor-key instrumental on You & Me, cut at Unique Recording in New York with producer Kevin Shirley and engineer Mark Gray. No source pins the exact rig for this one track, but Bonamassa published his rig himself weeks before release — Marshall Silver Jubilee and 1972 Super Lead, a Two-Rock Custom Signature Reverb and a Fuchs ODS-100, with a Boss DD-3, a TS808 and a Carl Martin Hot Drive'n Boost — and he has described the Django lead sound as a chimey clean amp with reverb sitting under the dirtier amp. Get a Les Paul on the neck pickup into a crunchy Marshall with the bass wide open and the treble backed off, blend in a clean reverby amp, and ride the guitar volume between the theme and the solo.

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

Tuning

Standard tuning, no capo

Standard tuning with heavy strings (Bonamassa used Ernie Ball .011-.052 in this period), and the melody sits mostly in the middle of the neck rather than in open position.

Part: Solo

Guitar

  • Gibson Les Paul Standard · PAF-style humbuckers · neck pickup for the theme, bridge for the solo climax

Amp

Marshall 2555 Silver Jubilee

GAIN
5.0
BASS
10.0
MID
7.5
TREBLE
4.5
PRESENCE
5.0

These numbers are Bonamassa's own published Silver Jubilee lead-channel settings (he confirmed them on his forum, and Premier Guitar later printed nearly identical values), but they are his general settings for that amp, not documented as this session's. Master 10, channel volume 5, and clean up with the guitar volume for the quiet theme.

Amp

Two-Rock Custom Signature Reverb

GAIN
3.0
BASS
4.0
MID
5.5
TREBLE
6.0
PRESENCE
5.0
REVERB
4.0

Bonamassa listed a Two-Rock Custom Signature Reverb in his rig in a May 2006 forum post, weeks before You & Me was released; he has separately described the Django lead sound as coming from a chimey clean amp with reverb and chorus blended under the dirty amp. Settings here are inferred from that description; a Fuchs ODS-100 was also in the same rig and is a credible alternate for the clean side.

Pedals

  • Boss DD-3 Digital Delay · delay · Short quarter-note repeats, 2-3 echoes, level low under the melody; Bonamassa runs delay in the amp's effects loop
  • Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer · overdrive · Level high, drive low to moderate as a mid-push boost into the amp for the solo
  • Carl Martin Hot Drive'n Boost · overdrive/boost · Boost side only for the peak of the solo, unity-plus a few dB

Tone character

singing neck-pickup sustain · moderate tube crunch · forward mids · spacious reverb and delay · dark minor-key mood

hard

The solo is slow and exposed, so wide bends have to land dead in tune and the vibrato has to be even on long sustained notes, with faster minor-pentatonic runs and volume-knob dynamics at the climax.

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