Muscle Shoals Clean Marshall — Signature Intro & Rhythm
Ed King recalled recording the signature part with a 1972 Fender Stratocaster into a 50-watt Marshall turned fully up, with no effects and only possible studio reverb. The Strat’s relatively weak pickups kept the result cleaner than the amplifier setting suggests. Only the volume position is directly described, so the EQ and microphone settings are approximated from the documented rig. Source: Guitar-Muse’s Ed King interview and the archived Fractal Audio discussion quoting King.
Signal Chain
Notes
Use firm picking and let the low strings remain tight. The sound should be loud and lightly hairy, not compressed into a thick classic-rock distortion.
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See the same signal chain mapped to another platform. Knob values carry over as starting points — gain ranges differ between platforms.