For the most part, Jimi Hendrix amp settings aren’t terribly difficult to figure out, especially when you consider that guitar players have continued building on his innovation, sound and style, even decades after his death.
He’s certainly one of the greatest of all time and, as a result, many guitarists have imitated his tone.
If you’re wanting to do the same, perhaps to play "Purple Haze" or "Voodoo Child", what are the best settings to use?
We’ll start by taking a look at some supplemental resources, Hendrix’s own gear from 1969.
Hendrix pioneered the distorted sound, but how can we capture his tone decades later?
What Jimi Hendrix Used
As for the amp settings, I think it's helpful to get a feel for what Hendrix was playing back in the '60s. Guitar gear was vastly different then, which means the way we approach our own rig as an emulation tool should be informed by a knowledge of Jimi's physical setup.
Though I suppose you could easily summarize his rig by focusing on tube amps and fuzz pedals.
Those two elements did most of the heavy lifting.
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Jimi Hedrix's 1969 guitar rig. Image via Guitar.com
What I Used
The gear I have to work with is vastly different. Though with the info I gleaned from the Guitar Tricks course and the settings I've compiled in this article, I was still able to get fairly close.
- 2004 Fender American Telecaster
- Morley Steve Vai Wah Pedal
- Boss DS-1 Distortion
Now, back to Hendrix's gear.
One thing that clearly marked his setup was its simplicity.
If you were looking for something even modestly complicated, you’re going to be disappointed. That is, unless you have a thing for RadioShack-style cable splitters and coiled guitar cables.
Hendrix used Marshall Superlead amplifiers, fuzz effects (mostly the Fuzz Face) and little else.
He had two of these amps and a stack of Marshall speaker cabinets to go along with his fuzz and wah pedal.
Hendrix is showing up everywhere these days Flickr Commons Image via Roel Wijnants
When I was dialing in settings, I used a Boss DS-1 distortion to mimic the classic fuzz tone Hendrix used. It's not perfect, but fairly close since the DS-1 has more of a vintage lean to its overdrive.
Since we don’t have a lot of consensus on how Hendrix had his EQ set, some speculation is necessary.
I’ll use the Amplitube 4 app to illustrate below.
Jimi Hendrix Amp Settings by the Numbers
You can see from the Hendrix Guitar.com Rig page that Jimi used two 100-watt Marshall amps with four speaker cabs.
If you want to get your distortion from your amp and not a pedal, turn the gain knob up to around seven or eight to mimic the saturated distortion tone that Hendrix was known for.
Here’s how I’ve set the rest of the EQ:
Hendrix used a high gain amp model with a fuzz distortion and some extra bass in the EQ.
How your amp’s gain will serve the Hendrix sound is hard to tell, because Hendrix generally got his distortion from the classic fuzz sound (more on that below).
Aim for a heavy distortion that still has some classic rock tonality pushing through.
Hendrix played with a lot of distortion, but he didn’t sound "heavy" the way modern guitar players do. There was still a nice balance in his EQ between highs and lows, whereas today's guitar players tend to gravitate towards distortion with more bass and low-end punch.
Make sure you find that balance when considering how much gain to dial in on your amplifier or pedal.
Numbers
Gain: 7 / Bass: 8 / Mids: 5 / Treble: 5 / Reverb: 3
Jimi Hendrix Effects
Hendrix’s trademark distortion was primarily created by a Dunlop Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face which inspired the creation of the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff distortion pedal, after Hendrix's passing.
Dunlop eventually released a Hendrix signature version of the Fuzz Face.
“Wish I had an EHX pedal down there.”
Despite the fact that Hendrix never used the big muff pedal, it’s a fairly accurate representation of his distortion.
Either one can generate an extremely authentic Hendrix-style fuzz.
Combining the above dials with a Marshall amplifier and one of these two pedals is your best bet for getting an accurate Jimi Hendrix sound.
If you have different gear (like I do), spend some time adjusting the dials on your distortion for high gain and an even balance between the bass and treble end of your EQ. Also, make sure that you don't overpower or "cloak" your amp's tone with your pedal.
Settings for both should be complimentary.
Got more info on the Jimi Hendrix tone?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below if you know something I don't.
Insider info, thoughtful contribution or any kind of "hey, what about this" thoughts are all beneficial to me and future readers.
Flickr Commons Image Courtesy of mirjoran
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A Tele should sound perfect on Purple Haze because that is what Jimi used to record that song, as well as Fire and Foxy Lady. His lone Strat was in the repair shop, according to the late Noel Redding, owner of the Tele that Hendrix used after damaging his Strat’s tuning head. Later he bought backup Strats for touring, and eventually a Gibson Flying V. Not to be picky but he also had the Octavia and other effects boxes custom designed for him.
Good info. Thanks for sharing, Creed. I wasn’t aware that he recorded with a Tele.
I don’t think a Big Muff is anything like a Fuzzface, two totally different flavours of fuzz.
Hi Bobby, the settings for the Hendrix sound make up the guitar sound for Morbid Angel 🙂
Hmm, I dunno about all that.
Hello, great post man! What about a Fender Jaguar Kurt Cobain Signature (that have DiMarzio® humbucking DP103 PAF 36th Anniversary neck pickup and DP100 Super Distortion bridge pickup… and having a Fender Frontman 212R… can I imitate the Hendrix tone with this equipment? Also I have a Boss DS-1.. thank you!!
Hey man – thanks for the kind words.
That gear should work fine, as long as you have some kind of a high gain setting, either on your pedal or the amp. I’d use the settings from the amp model in this post, and kick the gain level on your DS-1 up really high, then move the pickup selector to the bridge position to focus on the DiMarzio.
That should get you close. The simple version is that Hendrix just used a TON of gain. Good luck!
Marshalls had no gain controls back then. And no Y-cords. A cable from one input jack to the other amp did the trick.
Not sure if that’s true or not, but you can use gain knobs to mimic what he got from the fuzz face, or just to pile on the saturation.
There is an Image online of the rig of jimi hendrix woodstock is real?
How do you connect your guitar to your two plexi heads?
There will be an adapter like the one shown in the picture
I hope I solve my doubt
Thank you
I can give some real dope on the late 60s Plexi heads, since I have one, with the matching 4×12″ (Celestion 25watt “greenbacks”) cab! (And it’s a great match!: I don’t know of an amp/cab to this day that has a more beautiful ballsy clean tone, with no breakup in the low end… so smooth!.. And, what is it now?.. nearly 50 years old!)… And on that note I’d like to add, ‘coz it’s not mentioned here, that Hendrix played a lot of pieces with great clean tones, too, sometimes dubbing a clean guitar along with the distorted (unfortunately something he couldn’t do live), such as in All Along the Watchtower. Indeed those early amps had only volume controls, no initial stage gain controls. There is one set of tone controls (4, including presence[basically an extra high treble) and two volumes as the AmpliTube image shows: Volume I for the first pair of inputs, and volume II (mine says “Volume I” and “.. II” not “Loudness 1, 2”) for the second pair of inputs. ALL four inputs sound different! Vol I top input is loudest level and bright; vol I 2nd input is lower level. Vol II, as indicated “Normal” in the image, top input is a lot less bright, bassier, and it’s 2nd input is also lower level. So there are actually 4 different levels to the 4 inputs. And yes you can put a jumper cable from volume I to volume II, called “bridge”, thereby using both volumes simultaneously, primarily for eq-ing between bright and bassy. (There are no “Normal/Hi Treble” and “Bridge” switches: those are becoz that’s an app, so you can’t do it by actually plugging cables in.) There are 2 more switches tho, over next to the power switch: “Standby” for keeping the tubes’ heaters lit while shutting off the rest of the amp, and Ground becoz back then 2-prong ungrounded “mains”(what the Brits call wall outlet power) were most common… And if you ever got shocked(can be severe!) touching your lips to a microphone with reversed ground, you know the importance of that switch!.. Which leads to a tip: I always keep at least one string on my guitars with a long extra end at the peg, to touch against the mic before putting my lips on it: If it sparks and/or makes a crackling noise, flip that ground switch! But, even if using 3-prong grounded equipment sometimes wall outlets are miss-wired, so always do this simple test first!.. That’s why you’ll often see a ground switch even on 3-prong grounded amps.) Ok, I know this is long now, but I gotta tell ya, there are actually 2 more knobs on my Plexi, making this amp actually longer(wider) than normal old Marshalls: Very rare!.. it has a built in tremolo circuit (knobs are Speed and Depth). I’ve never seen another Marshall tube head with (tube)tremolo on it.
Hope all of this is of some interest. Play on!
Hey, thanks for this info. How’d you get your hands on one of these Plexi heads? I bet you’d have Hendrix tone for days with one of those things.
You’ll die: I picked it up for 650 bucks, and that was with the FULL DOUBLE STACK, that’s right, the bottom 4×12″ non-slant cab as well as the top slant cab, at a used gear place in L.A. called Sol Betnun’s. He got them from a pro amp rental company that went out of business, and they were in primo condition! And he gave me $250 trade-in for my Fender Super Reverb against that $650. That should give you a clue about the catch (only $250 for a like-new condition Super Reverb): It was 1971! (but still that was a very good deal!) Yep, I’ve had the Plexi half-stack since then. I eventually sold the bottom cab, along with a later model broken 100 watt Marshall head that I bought cheap and fixed, for a good price that more than covered the initial $650. 2 of those big cabs was just too much to haul around, and I don’t need that kind of speaker power. The half-stack is a very loud amp as it is. For a variety of distortions (and clean), and stereo fx, I use a programmable pre-amp, midi controlled, into the Marshall (and another of several amps for true stereo).
Holy smokes, man. If I’d seen that I probably would’ve passed out haha.
Jimi got a lot of his sound from his fingertips and the attack and articulation of the strings. Jimi Hendrix was not afraid to bend his strings. I am sure he would love to have had a roller nut and modern Whammy. You forgot to mention the use of is Vox wah-wah pedal.
All true. Except the Vox Wah pedal is in the gear list.