Re: slash's lead tone
A few basics...
-Slash himself admits to being somewhat of a tone snob, mainly when it comes to guitars. He goes through many to just one one or two that fit his needs/wants.
-Duncan Alnico II Pros-The ones MJ in the custom shop makes
Those two factors will are pretty important. Having a guitar with a nice resonate acoustic tone and pickups that will let the true voicing shine through when plugged in.
-Slash Jubilee heads-Slash suggests the following settings:
"For distorted sounds: Presence: 8, Bass: 7, Mid: 7, Treble: 4 1/2, Output Master: 10, Input Gain: 6 1/2"
"For the clean sounds Slash replaces the EL-34 power tubes with KT88 tubes: Presence: 0, Bass: 9, Mid: 3, Treble: 5 1/2, Output Master: 10, Lead Master: 0, Input Gain: 4. "
Volume is also an important factor to consider when plugged in. Slash plays EXTREMELY loud and a lot of his tone/control over things like sustain/feedback comes from this.
-Tone controls-As mentioned above, get to really know your tone controls and even consider upgrading your pots/capacitors. This really helps to get that creamy smooth sound.
-EQ PEdal-Slash usually uses an EQ pedal only during solos as a mid boost.
MJ