Even Flow guitar tone
Pearl Jam · Mike McCready
Ten (Epic, 1991) - recorded at London Bridge Studio, Seattle, 1991
cranked non-master Plexi crunch with a wah-driven lead
The rig Pearl Jam used
Researched from interviews, production write-ups and gear histories — not guessed.
Guitar
Fender Stratocaster - black 1962 Japanese reissue, the guitar McCready has named as his Ten guitar
Amplifier
Marshall Super Lead 100 (Plexi)
Cabinet
Marshall 1960 4x12 (Celestion Greenbacks)
Microphone
Shure SM57
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 Even Flow for it — with a preset file you can load, not a list of knob positions.
Why we think this is right
Mike McCready's guitar on Ten's second single: a bright, cranked Marshall crunch under the riff and a wah-soaked solo. The stored record already had the right gear - the black 1962 Japanese-reissue Strat that McCready named in interviews, a Super Lead, a Greenback 4x12, an SM57 and a studio reverb - but it had no control values at all, only two sections, and, most damaging, a Cry Baby that no section ever bypassed. On this platform bypassed is the only field that renders, so the stored record would have produced a wah that was on for the entire song, including the riff. WHAT CHANGED: (1) five sections instead of two, each naming the amp, its channel and absolute knob positions; (2) the wah bound honestly - engaged in the solo, bypassed in the other four sections - and given a real sweep range in hertz rather than a bare on/off; (3) the amp written with the topology stated in words, because a Super Lead's Loudness is not a preamp gain sitting in front of a master; (4) the 'Plate/Room' block resolved to one device; (5) the wah sharpened from a family name to the GCB-95 model. NOT CHANGED: the amp identity. A JCM800 shows up in later McCready rig descriptions but belongs to a different period, and this record does not need it.
Sources
- https://www.guitarworld.com/features/mike-mccready-pearl-jam-ten-30-years
- https://www.groundguitar.com/mike-mccready-guitars-and-gear/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_(Pearl_Jam_album)
- https://www.premierguitar.com/videos/rig-rundown-pearl-jam-mike-mccready
- https://www.jimdunlop.com/gcb95-cry-baby-standard-wah/