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
Dunlop · Filter
Cry Baby Style Wah
The TGP take
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.
Best for
FunkBluesRock lead
Tone character
VocalSweepingExpressive
Players associated with it
Often used alongside
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
The standard
Gibson Les Paul Standard
Mahogany, maple and two humbuckers — the recipe behind most of the riffs you learned first. Heavier and darker than a bolt-on, but it pushes an amp's front end in a way nothing else quite replicates.
WarmThickSustaining
More from the Pedal Case
Overdrive
Ibanez Tube Screamer
Not really a distortion — a midrange lens. Set the drive low, the level high, and it turns a decent amp into a focused one. Half the blues and metal tones you love have one in front of the amp.
Mid-forwardCompressedFocused
Modulation
MXR Phase 90
One knob, one job, instantly recognisable. Sitting after the gain it adds that swirling movement to a rhythm part that flat DI-style tones never get.
SwirlingVintageAnimated
Time
Analog Delay
Dark, degrading repeats that sit behind the note instead of on top of it. Set short for slapback thickness, long for atmosphere, and never louder than the dry signal.
WarmDegradedSpacious