Diary of a Madman
The most ambitious thing Rhoads recorded, and a tone that has to work clean and savage inside the same take. Producer Max Norman remembers him using the polka-dot guitar on essentially all the album's guitar tracks, into a 100-watt Marshall Super Lead with an MXR Distortion+ and a 10-band EQ pushing the midrange. There is no channel switch anywhere in that chain, so the classical-flavoured arpeggios and the tritone riff are the same amp with the guitar's volume doing the work.
Diary of a Madman
What we checked
Computed by a program, on this recipe, every time this page is built. How this works
Preset files — 0 of 3 complete
- Helix 1 block missing from the file
Which ones
Not in the file: 10 Band Graphic EQ. The recipe calls for this block, but we have no verified model ID for it on this platform, so the preset is written without it. Add it by hand using the settings above.
- Quad Cortex 6 blocks replaced with a stand-in model
Which ones
Replaced with a stand-in: Studio Comp, Rat Dist, Plexi 100, 4x12 Greenback, Chorus, Hall Reverb. These load cleanly but are not the model named above — the file will sound wrong here until we map them. Set these blocks by hand.
- Katana 2 blocks missing from the file; 5 blocks replaced with a stand-in model
Which ones
Not in the file: Delay, Reverb. The recipe calls for these blocks, but we have no verified model ID for them on this platform, so the preset is written without them. Add them by hand using the settings above.
Replaced with a stand-in: Crunch, Booster, FX, Delay, Reverb. These load cleanly but are not the model named above — the file will sound wrong here until we map them. Set these blocks by hand.
What we didn't check
- Nobody played this through a real amp. There is no human listening test behind any number on this page.
- The settings are reasoned from the sources below, not measured off the record.
- No audio has been rendered for this recipe yet, so you cannot hear it before you load it.
- 3 platforms on this page (TONEX, Kemper, Fractal) get a model pointer, not a preset file — nothing was built or checked for them.
Affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. The mic is listed because the chain uses it, not because anyone paid for the placement.
