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 OperaSignal 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
Pedal
100%
Deluxe Comp
← Studio compressor
Threshold
-34dB
Ratio
3:1
Knee
6dB
Attack
0.0s
Release
0.2s
Mix
0.6
Level
4dB
Deranged Master
← Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster
Boost
0.8
Kinky Boost
← Xotic EP Booster (modern alt to Rangemaster)
Drive
0.5
Bright
0
Boost
0.7
Minotaur
← Klon Centaur
Gain
0.3
Tone
0.6
Level
0.7
Essex A30
← Vox AC30 with Top Boost
Drive
0.7
Bass
0.4
Mid
0.6
Treble
0.7
ChVol
0.7
Master
1
Bias
0.6
BiasX
0.5
Sag
0.7
Hum
0.5
Ripple
0.5
Cut
0.5
2x12 Blue Bell
← AC30 2x12 with Celestion Blue Alnico
LowCut19.9Hz
HighCut20100Hz
Level
0dB
Pan
0.5
Delay
0
Transistor Tape
← Maestro Echoplex (Trident-era studio delay)
Time
0.3ms
Feedback
0.3
Mix
0.2
WowFlutter
0.3
Headroom
0.2
Spread
0.3
Scale
1
SyncSelect1
0
Level
0
Dynamic Plate
← EMT 140 plate (Trident Studios)
LowCut125Hz
HighCut8500Hz
Mix
0.3
Decay
2.5s
Level
0
PreDelay
0.0ms
BassFreq
100
BassBoost
0
VarDelayAmpl
0.6
Damping
4500
MatrFreq
0.3
Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
0.5
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0
Engineer's note
File 021
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.
— Brian May
Sources · Verified by
Field notes for this tone
All field notes →When the V30 Is Still the Right Speaker: Medium-Gain Rock and the Case Against Modern
The Celestion V30 takes a beating in modern djent contexts, and that criticism is fair. But in the medium-gain rock zone (Marshall plexis pushed to breakup, Bluesbreaker-stacked Twin Reverbs, AC30 territory), the V30 is still the speaker its 1990s reputation was built on. Here is when to choose it, and what it does that nothing else quite does.
Hybrid Picking for Rock and Blues: Ghost Notes Without the Country Context
Hybrid picking isn't a country-only technique. Mark Knopfler, Albert Collins, and Scotty Moore built careers on it in rock and blues. Here's the technique, where it applies, and the specific moments where using your middle finger changes a phrase from good to right.
Boss Blues Driver BD-2 Settings: Sweet Spots for Blues, Rock, and Country
Boss BD-2 settings for blues, classic rock, country, and stacking. Clock-position sweet spots, amp pairing, the Tube Screamer comparison, and Keeley mod notes.
