Menu
Suede·Social·Issue No. 20
Tone recipes·2026 · JUL
Rock1973

01Pink Floyd

Time

The defining big-amp rock solo tone. Black Strat with a Big Muff in front of a Hiwatt DR103, plus an Electric Mistress flanger for the swirly mid-saturation. Notes bloom and sustain forever. The tone is fat in the mids with a slight wool from the Muff. Gilmour's bends finish on the target pitch — every single time. The lead voice cuts through Pink Floyd's spacious mix because the midrange is locked in around 800Hz, where the band leaves room.

02Signal chain

Guitar to amp, 3 pedals between.

  1. In
    Guitar

    Black 1969 Fender Stratocaster ('Black Strat')

  2. 01
    Main fuzz for the lead — set for sustain not extreme gain
    Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi (Ram's Head)

    Sustain: 1 o'clock, Tone: noon, Volume: above unity

  3. 02
    Slow flanger adding the signature warble
    Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress

    Rate: very slow, Range: noon, Color: 1 o'clock

  4. 03
    Subtle compression for sustain consistency
    MXR Dyna Comp

    Sustain: 1 o'clock, Output: above unity

  5. Out
    Amp

    Hiwatt DR103 Custom 100 + WEM Super Starfinder cabinet

03Field note

The secret sauce

The Big Muff is on the floor; the Hiwatt is clean. Reverse-engineer this with a dirty amp and the tone collapses into mud. The Muff needs a clean platform to make sense.