Far Beyond the Sun guitar tone
Yngwie Malmsteen · Yngwie Malmsteen
Rising Force (1984)
neoclassical high-gain lead, violin-like sustain
The rig Yngwie Malmsteen used
Researched from interviews, production write-ups and gear histories — not guessed.
Guitar
Fender Stratocaster (1972, scalloped maple fretboard — 'The Duck')
Amplifier
Marshall 1959 Super Lead 100 'Plexi' (Mark II), mains dropped with a Variac
Cabinet
Marshall 1960A 4x12 (Celestion G12T-75)
Microphone
Shure SM57, approx. 1 in, 45 degrees off-axis at the cone edge
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
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Why we think this is right
Signature neoclassical instrumental in F# minor built on F# harmonic minor and diminished-7th figures; E standard on the studio take. Recorded for Rising Force at the Record Plant, Los Angeles, produced by Malmsteen, engineered by Lester Claypool and Peter Vargo, mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound. The rig is unusually well documented: scalloped 1972 Strat with DiMarzio HS-3 into a DOD 250 used as a level boost (Level maxed, Gain barely on) into a Variac'd Marshall 1959 Super Lead and a 1960A 4x12. That head has no master volume and no clean channel, so the same amp covers the whole arrangement and the guitar's volume knob supplies the dynamic range between the chordal comping and the lead statements. Structure taken as intro, main theme, keyboard break with guitar comping, extended guitar solo, slow lyrical middle and recapitulation/coda. Tempo grid 168 BPM (SongBPM's 84 is the half-time reading); 350 s of music is 245 whole bars at 168. Ambience values are reasoned inference, not citation, and are labelled as such.
Sources
- 1980s guitar-magazine interviews (Guitar World / Guitar Player)
- Rig rundowns & gear pages (Ground Guitar, Equipboard, Guitar Lobby, Premier Guitar)
- Album liner notes / discography (Discogs, Metal-Archives)
- Reputable transcriptions/tabs (Songsterr, Ultimate-Guitar)