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.
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.
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.