Queen

When I’m working on a Tone Lab post, I usually spend the first 5 or so minutes trying to think of a catchy or funny title. Everything I’ve come up with has been unworthy of a band like Queen. This past Monday was Freddie Mercury’s birthday. The internet has been buzzing with all kinds of tributes and Queen-related content. It’s reminded me how much I loved Queen growing up and how influential they’ve been for me. So today, I’m going to focus on Brian May and his effectology in “Some Body to Love”.

Pedal variety is a relatively new craze, so it’s no shock to hear that Brian May doesn’t use much in his signal chain. May’s most commonly used pedals are a Foxx Foot Phaser, dual custom delays and his treble booster. Only the boost is active in this song. The key to Brian’s tone here is in the combination of his driven Vox AC30 and his Red Special guitar. So there’s the question: How do we emulate an AC30 set to 10 with a treble boost pedal in front? Well if there was a commonly agreed upon answer, you wouldn’t be reading.

That being said, there are plenty of pedals on today’s market that can be used to push your amp (or make it sound like it’s being pushed). Even the BOSS SD-1 would work for this tone. The SD-1 has made its way onto many pro pedal boards not only because it’s built like a tank, but because it can hit such a wide range of overdriven tones. (It just takes some tweaking.) If you are not into BOSS and have some extra cash, try the Carl Martin AC-Tone pedal. This pedal has gotten great reviews for offering AC30 style drive. And remember, if you need to adjust for more treble, dial down the bass in your tone knobs or use an EQ for a slight low end scoop.