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 · 6 blocksLive values · Pedalboard
Guitar
Brian May Red Special
Pickups
SSS
Tuning
bridge
Strings
standard
Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster
Vox AC30 (Top Boost)
Tape Delay (Echoplex)
Plate Reverb (Trident Studios)
Vox AC30 built-in 2x12 (Celestion Blues)
Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster
boost
Boost
8
Vox AC30 (Top Boost)
preamp
Volume
7
Treble
6
Bass
4
Cut
5
Master
7
Tape Delay (Echoplex)
delay · FX loop
Time
350ms
Repeats
3
Mix
25
Plate Reverb (Trident Studios)
reverb · FX loop
Decay
2.5s
Mix
25
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
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