Scatterbrain guitar tone

The rig Jeff Beck 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. 1954 Gibson Les Paul 'Oxblood' (humbuckers)

   1

   source

   guitar
2. Marshall 1959 Super Lead 100 'Plexi'

   2

   amp

   amp
3. Marshall 1960 4x12 (Celestion G12M Greenback)

   3

   cab

   cab
4. Shure SM57 (on cab)

   4

   mic

   mic

Why we think this is right

'Scatterbrain' from 'Blow by Blow' (1975) is a virtuosic jazz-rock-fusion instrumental with an intricate unison head and a searing, vocal lead tone. In this era Jeff Beck's signature instrument was his 1954 Gibson Les Paul 'Oxblood' (refinished oxblood, humbuckers), his main guitar through the Blow by Blow period. The driven-but-articulate lead tone is most consistently attributed to cranked Marshall 100W Super Lead ('Plexi') amplification into Marshall 4x12s; some accounts of the sessions also mention Fender amplification, but the dominant documented Beck rig of the period is the Marshall stack, so it is committed here as the canonical studio voicing. Fingerstyle (no pick) dynamics and guitar-volume control shape the gain. Guitar identity is strongly supported; the specific amp/cab carry the era's normal ambiguity and are scored accordingly.

Sources

• Documentation of Jeff Beck's 1954 Gibson Les Paul 'Oxblood' as his Blow by Blow-era guitar
• Guitar World / Guitar Player retrospectives on Blow by Blow (1975) tones
• Producer George Martin session accounts for Blow by Blow

More example tones

• Blue WindJeff Beck
• OneMetallica
• BatteryMetallica
• Sad But TrueMetallica
• Summer of '69Bryan Adams
• Sweet Child O' MineGuns N' Roses