Vintage voiced
Marshall Super Lead Plexi
The template for British rock. Little gain on paper, enormous attitude in practice — the crunch happens because the power section is being asked to do something it barely wants to do.
RawMid-forwardVintage
Jimi Hendrix's Sound
The player who turned amplifier noise into a musical language.
Overdriven Marshall stacks, controlled feedback, Fuzz Face and Uni-Vibe swirl
The rig
The gear associated with the sound. Each item opens a live Reverb search — vintage examples where they exist, modern equivalents where they don't.
Guitars
- Fender Stratocaster (1960s, flipped for left-hand play)Find on Reverb
- Gibson Flying VFind on Reverb
- Gibson SG CustomFind on Reverb
Amps
- Marshall Super Lead 100 stacksFind on Reverb
- Fender Twin Reverb (studio)Find on Reverb
- Sunn amplifiers (early US touring)Find on Reverb
Effects
- Dallas Arbiter Fuzz FaceFind on Reverb
- Vox wahFind on Reverb
- Univox Uni-VibeFind on Reverb
- Roger Mayer OctaviaFind on Reverb
Pickups
- Stock Fender single-coils, reverse-slanted by the flipped bodyFind on Reverb
Other
- Curtis Novak-era style capacitor swaps by tech Roger MayerFind on Reverb
- Studio tape flanging at Olympic StudiosFind on Reverb
Why it sounds like that
Purple Haze
Octavia and Fuzz Face stacked into a Marshall — the ring-modulated upper octave on the solo is a studio-era sound almost nobody replicated at the time.
Little Wing
Clean Strat through a rotating Leslie cabinet, played mostly with the neck pickup and the volume rolled back so the chords bloom rather than bite.
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Wah-driven Strat with the tone knob doing as much work as the pedal; the sound moves constantly because his picking hand dynamics are enormous.
Machine Gun (Band of Gypsys)
Uni-Vibe and Fuzz Face at live volume, with feedback used as sustain — the closest thing on record to Hendrix using the amp as a wind instrument.
From the shop floor
The standard
Fender Stratocaster
The most adaptable electric guitar ever designed. Three single coils, a five-way switch and a vibrato that rewards a light touch — it covers Hendrix, Gilmour, SRV and Mayer without ever pretending to be more than a plank, a neck and some wire.
GlassyArticulateVintage
Fuzz
Big Muff Style Fuzz
Enormous, scooped, endlessly sustaining. Solo tone in a box — and a rhythm nightmare in a dense mix, which is precisely the trade you're making.
FuzzyScoopedSustaining
Filter
Cry Baby Style Wah
A moving mid-boost you steer with your foot. Parked halfway it's a cocked-wah lead voice; rocked with the phrasing it's the most expressive pedal ever built.
VocalSweepingExpressive
Similar sounds
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