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 · 5 blocksLive values · Kemper Profiler
Guitar
ESP Mirage (Custom Shop, 'Gobstopper' finish)
Pickups
HSS
Tuning
bridge
Strings
standard
Compressor
RAT Distortion
Search Rig Exchange for 'Marshall JCM800' or 'Plexi'
Hall Reverb
Compressor
← Studio compression
Intensity
3
Attack
0.1s
Volume
0
RAT Distortion
← Pro-Co RAT
Drive
7
Tone
4
Volume
6
Search Rig Exchange for 'Marshall JCM800' or 'Plexi'
← Marshall + Dean Markley DR150
Gain
6
Bass
5
Middle
6
Treble
7
Presence
6
Hall Reverb
← Skyline room ambience
Decay
0.7s
Predelay
20ms
Mix
0.2
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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