We Belong guitar tone
Pat Benatar · Neil Giraldo
Tropico (1984)
chiming chorused clean verses with driven power-chord choruses, all from one Marshall
The rig Pat Benatar used
Researched from interviews, production write-ups and gear histories — not guessed.
Guitar
Fender Stratocaster (custom Seymour Duncan single-coils)
Amplifier
Marshall JMP 2104 (50W master-volume 2x12 combo) - one head for the whole song, clean verses and driven choruses alike
Cabinet
Marshall 2x12 combo (Celestion G12-65)
Microphone
Shure SM57 (close-miked on the grille)
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.
Get this tone on your rig
Pick your amp or modeller and we’ll build We Belong for it — with a preset file you can load, not a list of knob positions.
Why we think this is right
Neil Giraldo's core rig - a Stratocaster into a vintage Marshall JMP master-volume combo with a chorus pedal for the glassy movement - is documented in Premier Guitar's Neil Giraldo Rig Rundown and Seymour Duncan interviews. The recording pairs bell-like chorused clean verses with fuller, pushed power-chord choruses. The important structural fact, and the fault graded against the previous version of this record, is that both voices come from ONE amplifier: the Marshall JMP 2104 is a single-channel master-volume combo, so the clean verses are the same head with the guitar's volume rolled back and the chorus pedal in, and the driven choruses are the same head with the volume back to full and the chorus out. It is not a second amp and it is not a channel switch, and any device rendering this song needs to know that. No Leslie and no rotary speaker is credited on 'We Belong' - the shimmer is a mild analog chorus - and there is no wah, no phaser, no flanger and no distortion pedal on the track. Exact 1984 studio cab, mic, delay and reverb are period-standard inferences and are named at low confidence.
Sources
- Premier Guitar - Rig Rundown: Pat Benatar's Neil Giraldo
- Seymour Duncan - Neil 'Spyder' Giraldo Talks Tone (interview)
- Marshall JMP 2104 documentation (50W master-volume 2x12 combo, single channel; JMP badge discontinued 1981)
- Lexicon PCM 42 and Lexicon 224 product histories (both in studio service by 1984)