Young Dirt

To keep up with a classic rock theme for September’s Tone Labs thus far, today we’re going to talk about Angus Young. Specifically, his tone in AC/DC’s 1991 performance of “You Shook Me All Night Long”.

 
The best part about old school rockers is they didn’t use many pedals. (In fact Angus doesn’t use any.) His tone is really just a guitar, a jacked up amp, and mojo. So, how do we mimic the tone of a throttled Marshall (Angus’s amp of choice)? You can try one of the options I’ve suggested in previous post and pick up the AMT M1 or Mad Professor Mighty Red Distortion. But I think we can get something a little more Anugus-y.

As with any famous tone, there is plenty of debate over how to capture the true essence of Angus’s tone. A lot of people will say the ZVEX Box of Rock is perfect; others say the Wampler Plextortion. I agree more with the later. Angus’s tone, to me, has that classic plexi sound to it — so it only makes sense to use a plexi mimicking pedal. I’d go for the Wampler Plexidrive. For a lower-cost option, I’d go with the BOSS Power Stack. There is a quality difference, but I always feel like offering a less expensive alternative.