Cranked Marshall + Boss SD1 = 80s Rock!!

Just some 80s Rock style noodling

Signal chain

Harley Benton SC400 (les paul copy)
Tonerider Alinco ii Classic Pickups (P.A.F. style)
Marshall SV20 Head
Fryette Power Station

Marshall 4X12 Cab
Celestion G12m 25w Greenback Speakers
SM57 Mic

[KCOR_Official]

Nothing like the Guitar + SD1+ Marshall. So simple, powerful and the sound is rich!

[jasonlee]

The Boss SD 1 was a secret weapon pedal for many guitar players in the 80s . It sounds great into any amp already slightly overdriven, and it cuts that boomy bass frequency.

[fartzerelli]

This sounds so fucking good, there's just no other way to say it.

[angusorvid]

You could record a full Dokken or Ratt album in 1985 with this setup. Seriously. Totally captures the ultimate tone of that era. This was it. Still is. I played a lot of gigs in L.A. in that era and this literally was the most common setup, either a plexi, or more likely a JCM, boosted with an SD-1. It was literally that simple 80% of the time. Besides this setup you'd see a lot of Randalls, Laneys, maybe Parks, and the rest were your odd Peavey classic or Boogie. Now, Boogies were VERY rare in those days because of how exceedingly expensive they were. And the fact was you couldn't really get a Boogie to sound like a Marshall. They just didn't.

[jackslayers]

Cranked Plexi with sd1 is the sound that give me smile everytime I listen to it.... especially with Les paul(PAF).

[MrSpeed-ltgr]

Dam!!!! That’s the Van Halen Brown Sound right there!!!

[angusorvid]

Absolutely superb tone. It doesn't get better than this. Excellent. This is why I've always advocating getting a good tube amp and boosting it. You don't need a high gain amp. You need a pedal that can deliver the goods. Those sweet Marshall harmonics are something you just can't get from a Boogie. I owned one and you could not get those sweet, popping harmonics with all the gain in the world, because it's about the TYPE of gain. Too much compression and you lose those great overtones. It's all about teasing just enough tone out of the amp so your fingers and picking dynamics can do the rest.

[jimmyz]

Wow! What a cool little vid! You nailed that huge 80s sound so many of us fell in love with, and still love to this day! Great playing and tone! Rock on!

[flowjesticmotion]

Nice chops! Also, love the tone of an overdriven all to Marshall.

[ironageamplification]

Hey man I've been trying to design a tube gain stage circuit that sounds like you're boosting a Marshall style circuit for that 80's sound. Because it's tube based it has more of the natural crunchy harmonics and note definition. Great sounds all around, good job! The 80's were the end all for guitar tone for me, especially the rare mods that really push them into high gain territory.

[markfrasier]

Awesome tone. Does it still have the bright cap?

[Ouzo]

The tone is awesome, it s what it should be !!! But can you yell me, on a modelling amp marshall 102cfx, will I need a noise supressor? If I need the sd1 just to crank ..boost...push a little bit the overdrive on red channel ? Thanks 👍👍👍killer tone !!!

[stricknine]

What a great riff !

Are you playing the Alnico 2 PAFs here ??

[BigJohnDeere]

mmmmhmmmm, stick a GE-7 in the effects loop w the delay and instant You're welcome (jk) thks for the awesome sounds \M/ brother

[cyberpunk]

Are these the actual amp settings from your demo? I've got that amp and I'm getting that pedal later this week. I'll be dialling in your settings, it sounds wicked!!!

[LOZi]

EVH used this pedal as a secret weapon from 1985 till he got his Peavey 5150.

[renato_effects]

I've the same amp and I experience a background hum/hiss, especially when I put an overdrive, in your case it seems not present at all, do you confirm??

[donnareedfan]

Bass mushes out a bit there … if you want tight bass the TS pedals are the way to go. But nice glassy high notes with the delay/reverb … VH would be proud.

[tristandrew]

Literally about to buy this setup! Is that running through your attenuator here? Is the reverb coming from another pedal?

[paulbeharrell]

Great stuff Matt! Love the SD-1, it works so well in most setups. There’s no school like the old school!

I’m partial to using chorus after the drive pedal and before the amp. This is dismissed as heretical practice, but this avoids that cliché 80s brittle, washy, overly bright chorus.

It helps to use a lush, rich analog chorus pedal here as you want the modulation to be slow, medium depth and focused on the lower frequencies with just enough high end shimmer. Mix it in so it thickens things up nicely and adds a metallic edge to the tone. Some examples :-


Cheers! 😎🤘🏻🎸