No. 0911983·blues-rock·4 blocks
Sharp Dressed Man
The grinding, sustaining crunch behind ZZ Top's 1983 MTV smash. The folklore says Pearly Gates Les Paul into a Marshall — but engineer Terry Manning documented the real Eliminator rig: a custom Dean solidbody with a single DiMarzio Super Distortion humbucker into a small 'Legend' hybrid combo (tube preamp, solid-state power, one 12-inch Celestion), close-miked with an AKG C414 straight into a UA 176 limiter. No Rockman, no Marshall, no pedals — the thick sustain is the hot pickup, a cranked little combo, and that limiter.
EliminatorSignal path · input → output · 4 blocksLive values · Boss Katana
Guitar
Custom Dean solidbody (Z/Moderne-style)
Pickups
single
Tuning
bridge
Strings
standard
Crunch
Booster
Reverb
Crunch
← 'Legend' hybrid combo
Gain
55
Volume
60
Bass
50
Middle
65
Treble
60
Presence
55
Master
60
Booster
← Treble booster (FRFR option)
Drive
30
Bottom
50
Tone
60
Level
80
Reverb
← Studio ambience (subtle)
Time
6ms
PreDelay
10ms
Tone
55
EffectLevel
8
Engineer's note
File 091
The grinding, sustaining crunch behind ZZ Top's 1983 MTV smash. The folklore says Pearly Gates Les Paul into a Marshall — but engineer Terry Manning documented the real Eliminator rig: a custom Dean solidbody with a single DiMarzio Super Distortion humbucker into a small 'Legend' hybrid combo (tube preamp, solid-state power, one 12-inch Celestion), close-miked with an AKG C414 straight into a UA 176 limiter. No Rockman, no Marshall, no pedals — the thick sustain is the hot pickup, a cranked little combo, and that limiter.
— Billy Gibbons
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