No. 0211975·rock·5 blocks
Bohemian Rhapsody
Brian May's tone on Bohemian Rhapsody is built on a unique combination: his homemade Red Special guitar played with a sixpence coin, a Dallas Rangemaster treble booster slamming the front end of a Vox AC30. The treble booster adds gain and upper-harmonic sparkle, pushing the AC30's Top Boost channel into a rich, creamy overdrive. May's multi-tracked guitar harmonies on this song create an orchestral wall of sound, but each individual guitar part has this distinctive bright, singing character.
A Night at the OperaSignal path · input → output · 11 blocksLive values · Line 6 Helix
Guitar
Brian May Red Special
Pickups
SSS
Tuning
bridge
Strings
standard
Volume Pedal
Deluxe Comp
Deranged Master
Kinky Boost
Minotaur
Essex A30
2x12 Blue Bell
Transistor Tape
Dynamic Plate
Tilt
Volume Pedal
← Volume pedal
Pedal
100%
Deluxe Comp
← Studio compressor
Threshold
-34dB
Ratio
3:1
Knee
6dB
Attack
38s
Release
200s
Mix
55
Level
4dB
Deranged Master
← Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster
Boost
8.5
Kinky Boost
← Xotic EP Booster (modern alt to Rangemaster)
Drive
5
Bright
0
Boost
7
Minotaur
← Klon Centaur
Gain
3
Tone
5.5
Level
6.5
Essex A30
← Vox AC30 with Top Boost
Drive
6.5
Bass
4
Mid
5.5
Treble
6.5
ChVol
7
Master
10
Bias
5.5
BiasX
5
Sag
6.5
Hum
5
Ripple
5
Cut
5
2x12 Blue Bell
← AC30 2x12 with Celestion Blue Alnico
LowCut19.9Hz
HighCut20100Hz
Level
0dB
Pan
0.5
Delay
0
Transistor Tape
← Maestro Echoplex (Trident-era studio delay)
Time
350ms
Feedback
25
Mix
20
WowFlutter
0.3
Headroom
0.2
Spread
0.3
Scale
1
SyncSelect1
0
Level
0
Dynamic Plate
← EMT 140 plate (Trident Studios)
LowCut125Hz
HighCut8500Hz
Mix
25
Decay
2.5s
Level
0
PreDelay
30ms
BassFreq
100
BassBoost
0
VarDelayAmpl
0.6
Damping
4500
MatrFreq
0.3
Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
0.5
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0
Engineer's note
File 021
Brian May's tone on Bohemian Rhapsody is built on a unique combination: his homemade Red Special guitar played with a sixpence coin, a Dallas Rangemaster treble booster slamming the front end of a Vox AC30. The treble booster adds gain and upper-harmonic sparkle, pushing the AC30's Top Boost channel into a rich, creamy overdrive. May's multi-tracked guitar harmonies on this song create an orchestral wall of sound, but each individual guitar part has this distinctive bright, singing character.
— Brian May
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