No. 0911983·blues-rock·4 blocks
Sharp Dressed Man
The grinding, sustaining crunch behind ZZ Top's 1983 MTV smash. The folklore says Pearly Gates Les Paul into a Marshall — but engineer Terry Manning documented the real Eliminator rig: a custom Dean solidbody with a single DiMarzio Super Distortion humbucker into a small 'Legend' hybrid combo (tube preamp, solid-state power, one 12-inch Celestion), close-miked with an AKG C414 straight into a UA 176 limiter. No Rockman, no Marshall, no pedals — the thick sustain is the hot pickup, a cranked little combo, and that limiter.
EliminatorSignal path · input → output · 7 blocksLive values · Line 6 Helix
Guitar
Custom Dean solidbody (Z/Moderne-style)
Pickups
single
Tuning
bridge
Strings
standard
Deluxe Comp
Deranged Master
Tweed Blues Brt
1x12 Open Cream
Room
Tilt
Deluxe Comp
← UA 176 tube limiter
Threshold
-30dB
Ratio
8:1
Knee
3dB
Attack
80s
Release
400s
Mix
100
Level
0dB
Deranged Master
← Treble booster (FRFR option — not on the record)
Gain
3
Tone
6
Level
7
Tweed Blues Brt
← 'Legend' hybrid combo
Drive
6.5
Bass
5
Mid
6.5
Treble
6
Presence
5.5
ChVol
6
Master
9
Bias
5
BiasX
5
Sag
5.5
Hum
5
Ripple
5
1x12 Open Cream
← Single 12-inch Celestion (Legend combo)
LowCut80Hz
HighCut11000Hz
Resonance
0.5
Level
0dB
Pan
0.5
Delay
0
Room
← Studio ambience (subtle)
LowCut200Hz
HighCut7000Hz
Mix
8
Decay
0.3s
Predelay
10ms
Level
0
Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
0.6
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0
Engineer's note
File 091
The grinding, sustaining crunch behind ZZ Top's 1983 MTV smash. The folklore says Pearly Gates Les Paul into a Marshall — but engineer Terry Manning documented the real Eliminator rig: a custom Dean solidbody with a single DiMarzio Super Distortion humbucker into a small 'Legend' hybrid combo (tube preamp, solid-state power, one 12-inch Celestion), close-miked with an AKG C414 straight into a UA 176 limiter. No Rockman, no Marshall, no pedals — the thick sustain is the hot pickup, a cranked little combo, and that limiter.
— Billy Gibbons
Sources · Verified by
