The former Led Zeppelin guitarist had a lot of different sounds and is still renowned for his influential playing styles.
But since you’re probably just looking for the “classic” Jimmy Page amp settings and tone, we’ll dial that in and leave the rest to chance. When I write up an amp settings post I usually do a combination of researching what other people have come up what I discover with my own tinkering.
From what I saw other people suggest, it seemed like the main inconsistency was centered around how high to keep the treble, while most everything else was fairly reliable.
For more general tone help, checkout our guitar amp settings roundup.
Gear Jimmy Page Used
GEAR | Title | Rated | Browse |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Fender Jimmy Page Signature Telecaster | n/a | |
 | Gibson 1959 Les Paul Standard | n/a | |
 | Marshall JCM 800 Amp Head (Page's was heavily modded) | n/a | |
 | Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah Pedal | n/a |
Budget Friendly Alternatives
GEAR | Title | Rated | Browse |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Fender Player Telecaster | n/a | |
 | Epiphone 1959 Les Paul Standard | n/a | |
 | Marshall DSL40CR Combo Amp | n/a | |
 | Dunlop GCB95 Cry Baby Wah Pedal | n/a |
What are the best Jimmy Page amp settings to get started with? Flickr Commons Image via SandFlash
My Jimmy Page Amp Settings
On my Line 6, I found that the higher treble configurations worked a bit better. That being said, you should try a few different things with this setting, depending on what kind of amp you have and what your rig looks like.
Smaller tube amps might need to have bass and treble dialed back with a little more of a mid scoop.
Otherwise, look for a moderate amount of gain, high bass and just a touch of reverb.
Start with high bass, high treble, and a moderate amount of gain
In the example I might have the bass a little higher than what Page would have on his Marshall amps. On my amp, the tone was just way too shrill with the treble pushed so high. I countered that by bring the bass up as well.
On a tube amp you might be able to leave the bass low, since tubes give off a smoother and more warm response.
Start with these numbers and then make you own adjustments:
Gain: 5 / Bass: 8 / Mid: 6 / Treble: 8 / Reverb: 4 / Presence: 8
Effects
Jimmy Page used effects sparingly, getting most of his sounds from the back end of amplifiers and process. In some cases he would use the scripted MXR Phase 90 and was often photographed on stage with a Vox wah.
However, the meat of his sound came from the Marshall and Les Paul combination, which means the effects he used are more so for added flavor and not foundational to his tone.
Conclude
If you have a Marshall amp it definitely gives you an edge in terms of imitating his sound. If you don’t have any of that stuff (like me) you can still carve out a classic Page tone if you work carefully with your gear. Use the settings as a base camp and branch out from there until you find something that sounds similar to Page’s guitar.
After that, it’s all up to you and your technique.
If you have questions about the settings or gear feel free to get in touch via Twitter and the comments section below.
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Written by Bobby on Amps Settings
Written by Bobby on Amp Settings
To be honest, I’m really only familiar with the DSL series, though the Origin looks similar after just eye-balling the features and specs. The DSL is definitely one of the more stylistically versatile options, so I would think getting a Zeppelin tone out of it would be a safe bet.
Just so I can speak from experience, I’d go with the DSL.
Hello there, I’m a big jimmy page/led zeppelin fan and I always wanted to get his tone, espeacially the live tone from “The song ramains the same”. I was thinking of buying any marshall dsl tube amp like the 15c or the new 20cr, but then origin series came up and now Idk which one should I buy, if the dsl 20cr or the origin 20c, I read many comments about their differents and ppl say mainly that the dsl is more versatile and the origin sounds darker; the other doubt that I have is about the reverb, the origin dosn’t have reverb, would that be a problem to emulate the jimmy page live tone? I know that many amps that jimmy used live didn’t have reverb but in many cases the atmosphere helped to have that reverb sound, like for example at the Madison Square Garden, and I don’t think that I would play in big closed places like that, maybe just buying a reverb pedal would solve everything but idk.
In conclusion I wanna know which amp should I buy and why, maybe there are other amps that I don’t know and would be good for my case, but for the moment I’m just thinking between those two amps, the dsl20cr or the origin20c, It should be noted that maybe if I get extra money I could buy the dsl40cr or the origin50c, but the problem to choose would remain the same I think.
Thanks in advance.
I got a Marshall digital amp and been trying to get that Jimmy Page sound, but not having much luck. Getting close, but nothing beats a tube amp. What is your take on any effects pedals being used on a digital amp, are they worth trying?
I think it can definitely be worth a try. Here’s a piece I did that focuses on pedals that can mimic the JCM 800: https://www.guitarchalk.com/marshall-amp-jcm-800-pedal/
Although in a lot of the samples they were using tube amps. You’re right about tube amps. There’s just nothing that can replace it.