No. 0921988·funk-metal·4 blocks
Cult of Personality
Living Colour's 1988 breakout — a hyperactive funk-metal riff built on staccato pull-offs and a wild, improvised solo. Vernon Reid cut it on his multi-colored ESP Mirage (EMG 81 bridge humbucker plus two EMG SA single-coils) through a Pro-Co RAT into a wall of Marshalls blended with a Dean Markley DR150; the solo adds a Fender Showman to the amp stack. Standard tuning. The famous A/DA MP-1 rack rig came later, on Time's Up — on Vivid the bite is the RAT and the EMGs, recorded by Ed Stasium at Skyline.
VividSignal path · input → output · 7 blocksLive values · Fractal Axe-Fx
Guitar
ESP Mirage (Custom Shop, 'Gobstopper' finish)
Pickups
HSS
Tuning
bridge
Strings
standard
Studio Comp
RAT Distortion
Brit 800
4x12 Brit T75
Hall
Filter Tilt
Studio Comp
← Studio compression
Threshold
-34dB
Ratio
2:1
Attack
6s
Release
200s
Mix
0.5
Level
0dB
RAT Distortion
← Pro-Co RAT
Drive
7
Tone
4
Level
6
Brit 800
← Marshall + Dean Markley DR150
Drive
6
Bass
5
Mid
6
Treble
7
Presence
6
MV
6
Cut
4
4x12 Brit T75
← Marshall 4x12
LowCut90Hz
HighCut10000Hz
Level
0dB
Hall
← Skyline room ambience
Mix
0.2
Decay
0.7s
Predelay
0.0ms
Filter Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
0.6
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0
Engineer's note
File 092
Living Colour's 1988 breakout — a hyperactive funk-metal riff built on staccato pull-offs and a wild, improvised solo. Vernon Reid cut it on his multi-colored ESP Mirage (EMG 81 bridge humbucker plus two EMG SA single-coils) through a Pro-Co RAT into a wall of Marshalls blended with a Dean Markley DR150; the solo adds a Fender Showman to the amp stack. Standard tuning. The famous A/DA MP-1 rack rig came later, on Time's Up — on Vivid the bite is the RAT and the EMGs, recorded by Ed Stasium at Skyline.
— Vernon Reid
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