Hiwatt DR103 Custom 100

Arguably the most famous guitar solo tone ever recorded. Gilmour's tone on the second solo of Comfortably Numb is built on a Big Muff Pi fuzz into a cranked Hiwatt, with delay adding depth and sustain. The Hiwatt provides clean headroom while the Big Muff does the heavy lifting for gain and sustain. The result is a singing, vocal-like lead tone that sustains endlessly.

Pete Townshend's windmill-strumming attack through a cranked Hiwatt is one of the most powerful rhythm guitar sounds in rock. On Won't Get Fooled Again, the SG's humbuckers hit the Hiwatt DR103 at full volume, producing a massive, ringing power chord tone with incredible clarity and sustain. The Hiwatt's enormous clean headroom means it stays articulate even when pushed hard, preventing the mush that a Marshall might produce at similar volumes.

The blistering solo on Time features one of the most aggressive tones in Gilmour's catalog. A Stratocaster through a Big Muff Pi into a cranked Hiwatt DR103 creates a thick, sustaining fuzz tone with singing upper harmonics. The Binson Echorec delay adds rhythmic repeats that fill the sonic space. Gilmour's precise bending and vibrato bring the notes to life over the massive sustain.

The four-note opening motif of Shine On You Crazy Diamond is one of the most recognizable guitar phrases ever played. Gilmour's Stratocaster through a Hiwatt with a compressor and delay produces a tone of infinite sustain and crystalline clarity. The notes ring out with an almost vocal quality, each one sustaining until the next is played. The tone relies on precise gain staging: enough sustain to carry each note but not so much distortion that clarity is lost.