Erotomania guitar tone

The rig Dream Theater used

Researched from interviews, production write-ups and gear histories — not guessed.

Signal chain

The order the original sound was built in. The exact settings get dialled for your own amp or modeller when you generate the tone.

1. Ibanez RG (custom, DiMarzio-loaded)

   1

   source

   guitar
2. Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+

   2

   amp

   amp
3. Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head

   3

   second amplifier blended under the Mark IIC+ on the heavy parts

   amp
4. Mesa/Boogie 4x12 (Celestion Vintage 30)

   4

   cab

   cab
5. Shure SM57

   5

   mic

   mic
6. TC Electronic 1210 Spatial Expander

   6

   modulation

   mod
7. TC Electronic TC 2290 Dynamic Digital Delay

   7

   delay

   delay
8. Eventide H3000 Ultra-Harmonizer

   8

   pitch

   pitch
9. Studio hall reverb

   9

   reverb

   reverb

Why we think this is right

Petrucci has stated in Guitar World and Young Guitar interviews that Awake was tracked with a Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ blended with a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier, played on Ibanez RG-style guitars loaded with DiMarzio pickups (Steve's Special bridge) - the JPM100 signature did not reach production until 1995, after this album. 'Erotomania' is an instrumental that alternates chorused clean interludes, tight high-gain unison riffing and legato leads. The Mark IIC+ remains the core voice that every section resolves to, but the Dual Rectifier is now a block of its own rather than a sentence: it was named in the old record's prose and in its section mapping while existing nowhere a preset could reach it, and the same was true of the Eventide H3000 that supplies the detune on the cleans. The clean interludes are the Mark IIC+'s own R1 rhythm channel with the chorus and detune switched in - a channel of the same head, not a second, cleaner amplifier - and every distorted part of the track is dry apart from delay on the leads.

Sources

• John Petrucci interview - Guitar World (1995, Awake gear)
• Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ 'Awake secret weapon' references
• Ibanez / DiMarzio artist documentation (Steve's Special / PAF Pro)
• Rig rundowns and tech accounts of Petrucci's Bradshaw rack (TC 1210, TC 2290, Eventide H3000)
• Ibanez Wiki JPM100 production history (signature model produced from 1995)

More example tones

• The Best of TimesDream Theater
• OneMetallica
• BatteryMetallica
• Sad But TrueMetallica
• Summer of '69Bryan Adams
• Sweet Child O' MineGuns N' Roses