In My Darkest Hour guitar tone

The rig Megadeth 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. Jackson King V Custom

   1

   source

   guitar
2. Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive

   2

   boost into amp

   drive
3. Marshall JCM800 2203 100W

   3

   rhythm crunch

   amp
4. Marshall 1960B 4x12 Cabinet

   4

   rhythm crunch

   cab
5. Shure SM57 Dynamic Microphone

   5

   studio

   mic
6. Rackmount Digital Delay

   6

   lead ambience

   delay

Why we think this is right

During the recording of 'So Far, So Good... So What!', Dave Mustaine primarily used his early custom 24-fret Jackson King V loaded with Seymour Duncan pickups. His core amplifier was a late-1980s Marshall JCM800 2203, which was pushed with a Boss SD-1 to tighten up the bass response and saturate the high-gain thrash crunch. Jeff Young tracked his parts, including the second guitar solo, using a white Tom Anderson Classic S Strat-style guitar that he acquired just the day before the session.

Sources

• seymourduncan.com - https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQEgkN-h6ryjOXMMje85GBMDvtWzwmYT7vVZwiqcovB6a2B23h0OwNy5U_1gBc7PjoMxcvGerog-Jspo-sOqmW9Jr8JZCXw5E28uLtclC18taiwfZrG4_z8n-EJmqZ09KXrxMIzwkh7GPuTwxJy8BHRPeAGRDcxpk9BM1oX8M48cJv77-KF1vVyy_0I=
• youtube.com - https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQFSFyYzHJtoPMtQAiTsbK1St_-ZcuNmq_0U0LU-ELpVlW-qFhtF7Fv6yrS72sbygRYZ__32EsgjJ2s9DU99nbqCrFO-5Gg0ABxmX9qB79A6fS55hvkcZJATk7OTdohzsblV
• youtube.com - https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQFOfmI9_kM1rbH3sOumKCK-Kse7d7foLhQMY2aUei1STaQ-9wwA_yTXyXLNwZYiBjsbezw4gOi4f2_1Pcc6F5KXDJcMJ4YHXI39UN5k27vYPZZR3KPlIKa5fPcaeBppvuM3
• facebook.com - https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQFRLSTLphseEYedPRajeNGPZlHb7zz0JAzW4MMjSSwarbvZ19RKD-aF4EDSYJU9YYS0AWgfdsnUEzSrKKAnNATIJx_lyBTnaGo6ZUtLGOy9gTf4vRs4F83UB1fZzX8TsLvTXT-inxVltE4I4zrzMeUQMKEZH5IqyNCicmJ3iQoliwUFhRGaKhi2Ee5pItdkF8122DKMDwBaH6qTabT611WaYmDXuGZkgzqwt-rIQYKveK_jbnOZFMI_EqcoM4I=
• Seymour Duncan Forums Megadeth Gear Discussions
• Premier Guitar Dave Mustaine Rig Rundown & Gear History
• Jeff Young Official Gear & Facebook Archive
• Guitar World Interviews with Dave Mustaine

More example tones

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