No. 0211975·rock·5 blocks

Bohemian Rhapsody

Brian May's tone on Bohemian Rhapsody is built on a unique combination: his homemade Red Special guitar played with a sixpence coin, a Dallas Rangemaster treble booster slamming the front end of a Vox AC30. The treble booster adds gain and upper-harmonic sparkle, pushing the AC30's Top Boost channel into a rich, creamy overdrive. May's multi-tracked guitar harmonies on this song create an orchestral wall of sound, but each individual guitar part has this distinctive bright, singing character.

A Night at the Opera coverA Night at the Opera
Settings for
Signal path · input → output · 11 blocksLive values · Line 6 Helix
Guitar
Brian May Red Special
Pickups
SSS
Tuning
bridge
Strings
standard
Volume Pedal
Deluxe Comp
Deranged Master
Kinky Boost
Minotaur
Essex A30
2x12 Blue Bell
Transistor Tape
Dynamic Plate
Tilt
Volume Pedal
← Volume pedal
Volume/Pan
Pedal
100%
Deluxe Comp
← Studio compressor
Dynamics
Threshold
-34dB
Ratio
3:1
Knee
6dB
Attack
38ms
Release
200ms
Mix
55
Level
4dB
Deranged Master
← Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster
Distortion
Boost
8.5
Kinky Boost
← Xotic EP Booster (modern alt to Rangemaster)
Distortion
Drive
5
Bright
0
Boost
7
Minotaur
← Klon Centaur
Distortion
Gain
3
Tone
5.5
Level
6.5
Essex A30
← Vox AC30 with Top Boost
Amp
Drive
6.5
Bass
4
Mid
5.5
Treble
6.5
ChVol
7
Master
10
Bias
5.5
BiasX
5
Sag
6.5
Hum
5
Ripple
5
Cut
5
2x12 Blue Bell
← AC30 2x12 with Celestion Blue Alnico
Cab
LowCut19.9Hz
HighCut20100Hz
Level
0dB
Pan
0.5
Delay
0
Transistor Tape
← Maestro Echoplex (Trident-era studio delay)
Delay
Time
350ms
Feedback
25
Mix
20
WowFlutter
0.3
Headroom
0.2
Spread
0.3
Scale
1
SyncSelect1
0
Level
0
Dynamic Plate
← EMT 140 plate (Trident Studios)
Dynamics
LowCut125Hz
HighCut8500Hz
Mix
25
Decay
2.5s
Level
0
PreDelay
30ms
BassFreq
100
BassBoost
0
VarDelayAmpl
0.6
Damping
4500
MatrFreq
0.3
Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
EQ
Tilt
0.5
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0

What we checked

Computed by a program, on this recipe, every time this page is built. How this works

Preset files — 1 of 3 complete
  • Helix builds complete — every block in the recipe is in the file
  • Quad Cortex 6 blocks replaced with a stand-in model
    Which ones

    Replaced with a stand-in: Studio Comp, Rage Booster, UK 30 TopBoost, 2x12 AC30 Blue, Plate, Tilt EQ. These load cleanly but are not the model named above — the file will sound wrong here until we map them. Set these blocks by hand.

  • Katana 2 blocks replaced with a stand-in model
    Which ones

    Replaced with a stand-in: Crunch, Plate. These load cleanly but are not the model named above — the file will sound wrong here until we map them. Set these blocks by hand.

Helix DSP
57.8% of one chip — fits (1 block has no published cost and is counted as zero)
Sources
2 cited, 1 from publications that do original gear reporting
Attribution
Not yet rated — This recipe predates the attribution-confidence field and hasn't been reviewed for it.
What we didn't check
  • Nobody played this through a real amp. There is no human listening test behind any number on this page.
  • The settings are reasoned from the sources below, not measured off the record.
  • No audio has been rendered for this recipe yet, so you cannot hear it before you load it.
  • 3 platforms on this page (TONEX, Kemper, Fractal) get a model pointer, not a preset file — nothing was built or checked for them.

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