Wild Side guitar tone

The rig Mötley Crüe 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. Custom Kramer (Seymour Duncan JB bridge)

   1

   source

   guitar
2. Marshall Plexi rebuilt by Jose Arredondo

   2

   amp

   amp
3. Marshall 1960A 4x12 (Celestion G12T-75)

   3

   cab

   cab
4. Shure SM57 (close, dynamic)

   4

   mic

   mic

Why we think this is right

Two corrections to the stored chain. The amp is not a stock JCM800 2203: Mars's tone on this album comes from a Marshall Plexi rebuilt by Jose Arredondo, a cascaded gain modification that reaches well past what the stock circuit can do. That distinction matters, because mapping this to the plain namesake leaves the riff audibly under-driven. The Boss SD-1 is rejected: Mars is documented as taking his gain from the amp, with little or no pedal in front on this record. The guitar is corrected from a Charvel superstrat to the custom Kramer he used through the Girls, Girls, Girls period. The record is also tuned down a whole step, which is part of why it sounds as heavy as it does at a fairly moderate preamp setting.

Sources

• Equipboard - Motley Crue, Girls, Girls, Girls album gear listing (custom Kramer, Jose-modified Marshall Plexi)
• Guitar Lobby - Mick Mars guitars and gear
• Seymour Duncan forum thread on the Girls, Girls, Girls guitar tone
• Soldano SLO adoption chronology (Dr. Feelgood period, 1989) - excluded as later

More example tones

• Girls, Girls, GirlsMötley Crüe
• OneMetallica
• BatteryMetallica
• Sad But TrueMetallica
• Summer of '69Bryan Adams
• Sweet Child O' MineGuns N' Roses