# What Pedal for Angus Young Sound ?



## Maverick (Oct 21, 2009)

With out going and buying a $4000 SG and matching Marshall amps , what pedal would give that fine sound with a Strat or Tele ? Or can it even be done with these axes ?

Brent


----------



## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

That sound is pretty much cranked amp. That's how I achieve it as well. My Traynor YBA1 cranked nailed that tone, but was insanely loud. My Traynor YBA2 which was about 22 watts nailed it at a more reasonable jam volume. There are plenty of amps you can get that tone from without even needing a pedal. What is your current amp?

The biggest part of their sound is actually Malcom, who uses a Gretsch with Filtertons, not an SG.

I have never used pedals to get that sound, but someone else can likely give you some suggestions.


----------



## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

A Proco Rat can get close, although you would get closer with humbuggie pickups as mr. gearmandude would put it.


----------



## weener (Apr 9, 2009)

Hey there,any distortion or overdive can get you close,the trick with the ac dc tone is a lot less dirt than what you might think.If your playing a strat or tele set the tone knob a little on the dark side,crank the level,distortion level very low and there you go.You have probably heard it before but a lot of that tone comes from the artists hands,phrasing,attack,vibrato etc..


----------



## Samsquantch (Mar 5, 2009)

You won't get too close to that tone with single coils. The best AC/DC in a box I've ever played was the Wampler Plextortion. Sounds very amp-like and I nailed AC/DC tones with it no problem with a humbucker equipped guitar.


----------



## KoskineN (Apr 19, 2007)

I can get some great Marshall tones with my Fulltone OCD. Even with a Telecaster, the OCDcan gives some AC/DC kind of tones. 
You should also try a Catalinbread Dirty Little Secrets, it's supposed to sounds like a Plexi.


----------



## Maverick (Oct 21, 2009)

I use a VibroChamp XD for my amp . Don't require a lot of juice for home use at this time.


----------



## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

+1 to what Torndownunit said. If you have a tube amp that you can crank up, try that first. Maybe an attenuator is more what you need than a pedal, because that will let you crank up your amp without blowing your ears out. I use a THD Hotplate with my JTM45 and I can nail all sorts of AC/DC tones.

On the other hand, I used to own a ZVex Box of Rock that was absolutely perfect at getting those cranked Marshall tones. I still can't believe I got rid of it (anyone out there have one for me?!?!). Like Weener said, it's more about volume than dirt. It's surprising how clean Angus and Malcolm's tones really are if you listen to them closely. A Box of Rock turned up with a bit of gain, or maybe even an OCD will get you there. I have a V3 OCD now and I love it, but to me, it's a bit too dark and pronounced in the midrange to sound like AC/DC, but then again, I haven't tried to dial in an AC/DC sound with it. It's a great pedal too and might be the ticket.


----------



## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Z Vex Box of Rock + You can get pretty close with a strat or tele on the neck pickup.


----------



## Maverick (Oct 21, 2009)

I tried the the Overdriven Blackface setting on my amp , heavy gain with the next pick up and tone down to zero . Pretty close . Thanks for the ideas guys .


----------



## paraedolia (Nov 26, 2008)

Hao Rust Driver.
Sounds like Angus lives inside

There was one on HC last night for cheap BTW (no affiliation etc.)


----------



## Wilfridddd (Jun 25, 2009)

I know this is Left Field, but a Traynor YCS 50 and just about anything w/ a good humbucker in it can absolutely nail Angus' Sound. Also, A Dano Cool Cat Overdrive w/ a humbucker into anything decent gets very close.


----------



## Stevo (Apr 3, 2008)

I think the key is too not overdue the gain amount. Everybody covers their stuff with too overdriven a tone and you lose all the clarity.


----------

