No. 0491975·progressive-rock·4 blocks
Shine On You Crazy Diamond
The four-note opening motif of Shine On You Crazy Diamond is one of the most recognizable guitar phrases ever played. Gilmour's Stratocaster through a Hiwatt with a compressor and delay produces a tone of infinite sustain and crystalline clarity. The notes ring out with an almost vocal quality, each one sustaining until the next is played. The tone relies on precise gain staging: enough sustain to carry each note but not so much distortion that clarity is lost.
Wish You Were HereSignal path · input → output · 11 blocksLive values · Line 6 Helix
Guitar
Fender Stratocaster (Black Strat)
Pickups
SSS
Tuning
neck
Strings
standard
Volume Pedal
Deluxe Comp
Heir Apparent
Triangle Fuzz
Scream 808
WhoWatt 100
4x12 Greenback 25
Transistor Tape
Dynamic Plate
Tilt
Volume Pedal
← Volume pedal
Pedal
100%
Deluxe Comp
← Studio compressor
Threshold
-32dB
Ratio
3:1
Knee
6dB
Attack
0.0s
Release
0.2s
Mix
0.6
Level
5dB
Heir Apparent
← Colorsound Power Boost
Gain
0.5
Tone
0.6
Level
0.7
Presence
0.5
Clipping
0
GainMod
1
Triangle Fuzz
← Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi
Tone
0.6
Level
0.8
Sustain
0.6
Scream 808
← TS808 (transparent boost stand-in)
Gain
0.2
Tone
0.6
Level
0.7
WhoWatt 100
← Hiwatt DR103 Custom 100
Drive
0.4
Bass
0.5
Mid
0.6
Treble
0.6
Presence
0.6
ChVol
0.7
Master
1
Bias
0.6
BiasX
0.5
Sag
0.7
Hum
0.5
Ripple
0.5
4x12 Greenback 25
← WEM 4x12 with Fane Crescendo
LowCut19.9Hz
HighCut20100Hz
Level
0dB
Pan
0.5
Delay
0
Transistor Tape
← Binson Echorec
Time
0.5ms
Feedback
0.5
Mix
0.3
WowFlutter
0.4
Headroom
0.2
Spread
0.3
Scale
1
SyncSelect1
0
Level
0
Dynamic Plate
← Studio plate (EMT 140)
LowCut100Hz
HighCut9000Hz
Mix
0.3
Decay
3s
Level
0
PreDelay
0.1ms
BassFreq
100
BassBoost
0
VarDelayAmpl
0.7
Damping
3500
MatrFreq
0.3
Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
0.5
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0
Engineer's note
File 049
The four-note opening motif of Shine On You Crazy Diamond is one of the most recognizable guitar phrases ever played. Gilmour's Stratocaster through a Hiwatt with a compressor and delay produces a tone of infinite sustain and crystalline clarity. The notes ring out with an almost vocal quality, each one sustaining until the next is played. The tone relies on precise gain staging: enough sustain to carry each note but not so much distortion that clarity is lost.
— David Gilmour
Sources · Verified by
Field notes for this tone
All field notes →David Gilmour Tone Recipe: Pink Floyd Settings for Comfortably Numb, Time, and the Wall
David Gilmour's Pink Floyd tone decoded: amp settings, Big Muff dials, delay chains, and song settings for Comfortably Numb, Time, and Shine On.
David Gilmour's Animals Era Tone: How The Wall Sound Evolved
The Animals album tone is darker, more aggressive, and less studied than Comfortably Numb, and it's a different rig. Here's what Gilmour was running in 1977 and how to get there.
Dotted Eighth Delay Without a Tap Tempo: A Reference Card for Live Use
A complete BPM-to-milliseconds reference table for dotted eighth delay, plus three methods for setting the time by ear when you don't have a tap tempo pedal.
