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
Jimmy Page's Sound
Session-hardened producer who built rock guitar as an architecture, not a solo.
Layered Les Paul into small amps, recorded with distance-miking and heavy stereo staging
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
- 1959 Gibson Les Paul StandardFind on Reverb
- Gibson EDS-1275 doubleneckFind on Reverb
- Fender Telecaster ('Dragon')Find on Reverb
- Danelectro 3021 (DADGAD material)Find on Reverb
- Martin D-28Find on Reverb
Amps
- Supro (early studio work)Find on Reverb
- Marshall Super LeadFind on Reverb
- Vox AC30 (session era)Find on Reverb
- Orange (later live)Find on Reverb
Effects
- Sola Sound Tone BenderFind on Reverb
- Vox wahFind on Reverb
- Echoplex EP-3Find on Reverb
- Maestro Echoplex-style tape delayFind on Reverb
- ThereminFind on Reverb
Pickups
- Gibson PAF humbuckersFind on Reverb
- Telecaster single-coils on 'Stairway to Heaven' soloFind on Reverb
Other
- Violin bowFind on Reverb
- Distance miking technique credited to Page and engineer Glyn JohnsFind on Reverb
Why it sounds like that
Whole Lotta Love
A small-amp sound recorded huge — the riff's grind comes from a driven Supro-style circuit and room ambience rather than a wall of gain.
Stairway to Heaven (solo)
Telecaster into a Supro, with a sound far thinner and more urgent than the Les Paul most players assume it is.
Since I've Been Loving You
Les Paul neck pickup with the volume rolled back into an amp on the edge of breakup; every dynamic in the solo is hand-controlled.
Kashmir
Detuned, layered guitars stacked with strings and brass so the guitar becomes part of an orchestral wall.
From the shop floor
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
The standard
Fender Telecaster
Two pickups, a bridge plate and zero excuses. The Tele's snap sits in a mix without EQ surgery, which is why it never left country, indie, punk or session work.
SnappyBrightDirect
Similar sounds
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