No. 1021958·rock-and-roll·4 blocks
Johnny B. Goode
The double-stop intro that launched a thousand bands — the founding statement of rock 'n' roll lead guitar. Cut at Chess Studios in Chicago in January 1958, Chuck Berry's tone is a thinline Gibson ES-350T strung with flatwounds, driven into a cranked Fender tweed combo at the edge of breakup. There are no pedals; the space and slap come entirely from Chess's basement echo chamber. Standard tuning, played in B♭ — the bite is in the flatwound 'twop' and the right-hand attack.
Chuck Berry Is on TopSignal path · input → output · 6 blocksLive values · Fractal Axe-Fx
Guitar
Gibson ES-350T (1957)
Pickups
HH
Tuning
bridge
Strings
standard
Studio Comp
5F8 Tweed
4x10 Tweed Bass
Chamber
Filter Tilt
Studio Comp
← Studio level control
Threshold
-30dB
Ratio
2.5:1
Attack
8s
Release
200s
Mix
0.6
Level
0dB
5F8 Tweed
← Fender tweed combo (cranked)
Drive
5.5
Bass
5
Mid
6
Treble
6.5
Presence
5.5
MV
10
Cut
4
4x10 Tweed Bass
← Tweed combo speaker
LowCut80Hz
HighCut8000Hz
Level
0dB
Chamber
← Chess basement echo chamber
Mix
0.2
Decay
0.8s
Predelay
0.0ms
Filter Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
0.6
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0
Engineer's note
File 102
The double-stop intro that launched a thousand bands — the founding statement of rock 'n' roll lead guitar. Cut at Chess Studios in Chicago in January 1958, Chuck Berry's tone is a thinline Gibson ES-350T strung with flatwounds, driven into a cranked Fender tweed combo at the edge of breakup. There are no pedals; the space and slap come entirely from Chess's basement echo chamber. Standard tuning, played in B♭ — the bite is in the flatwound 'twop' and the right-hand attack.
— Chuck Berry
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