Brian May reveals the amp-in-a-box that best captures his signature Queen tone
Fans of Brian May’s iconic Queen tones are likely familiar with the guitarist’s Red Special-Vox AC30 combo, but did you know that there’s a way to replicate the rock legend’s signature sound for under $200?
Introducing the Catalinbread Galileo, an amp-in-a-box pedal that May says “does a very good job” of capturing his sonic signature.
READ MORE: Brian May on the prospect of Gibson making a Red Special: “It’s not out of the question”
“I’ve tried modellers, and there are some very good ones now,” the musician says in a new issue of Guitar World. “There’s a great simulator; it’s a pedal that really does a very good job of simulating my sound.”
Billed as a ‘Queen in a box’, the Galileo touts “the regal and soaring tones of a Rangemaster Treble-Booster into a cranked up Vox AC30”. The aim, say creators, is to design a pedal to capture May’s “entire rig” in a single device: “With it you can roll your guitar volume back for jangly AC30 cleans, and crank it up for searing leads and aggressive yet focused rhythm tones.”
Image: Catalinbread
At $170, the Galileo is a lot more affordable than a Red Special, vintage AC30 and Treble Booster put together. Though May concedes that “there’s nothing quite like the original when it comes down to it.”
“In the heat of the battle, all those tiny little peculiarities count, and when I’m at top level and top volume, there’s nothing quite like those amps,” he says. “They have a personality of their own, and I couldn’t swap it for anything. And I wouldn’t like to be on stage with the amps someplace else.”
“I need my amps to interact with my guitar – physically, in the air – and interact with me because I feel it in my body as well. I don’t think I could do the modelling thing live on stage.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
