Humbucker Sized P90

Rock © 2020 Axesrus Limited

Lead Drive Pedal : Ibanez® TS808

Lead Amp: Marshall® JVM410HJS

Cab: 1960 Marshall® TV 4x12

Guitar: Fender® Stratocaster®

Electronics: 500k CTS Pots, 0.022 caps, Switchcraft Mono and switch

This is about as generic as an upbeat rocking rock track gets. There’s big open chords, pronounced palm muted rhythms, and a bunch of power chords.

Although the lead guitar line has often been the jewel in the crown of the Axes recordings through the years, we really wanted to make sure that the rhythm guitars weren’t just there to support, but rather feature in their own space. This is especially the case for both the rock and metal tracks. This is why we've opted to begin each of these tracks exclusively with rhythm guitar parts.

This way the listener can hear the character of each pickup when executing musical practices more associated with rhythm guitars. As much as everyone likes AC/DC and Led Zep, this track also needs to apply to the pop punk players, the pub rockers, those of us who aren't listening to "classic rock" all that often - so opening a track with some roaring rhythm guitars certainly helps with that.

Because we are covering such a massively diverse style that features literally hundreds of sub genres, it seemed logical to go with the Marshall JVM410HJS. It has been a stalwart of rock ‘n’ roll for decades now, and its versatility suits many styles. We did experiment with other Marshall® amps, namely the Plexi models. (...Yes, we absolutely love a Plexi! It was the defacto amp on most of the "old" Axes recordings!), but after much consideration, the Plexi was too characterful in its own right to use as the default amp model for this particular track - so the JCM won out.

For this track the rhythm guitars are double tracked and panned hard left and hard right. The rhythm guitars are recorded using a bog standard JCM800, whereas the lead guitar is recorded using the red channel on Joe Satriani’s signature Marshall® amp. This is essentially still just a modified JCM800 with a boost between 500-650hz and a tighter bass response. Technically, the rock lead line is fairly simple pentatonic lines, double stops and unison bends.