The Real Scoop On AC/DC’s Angus Young’s Guitar Sound

If you were to place one electric guitar sound up on a pedestal as the one to copy, it would probably be the one from AC/DC’s Angus Young. “Back In Black” is still looked upon as an iconic record and sound, and guitar players, engineers and producers have been using a variety of methods to reproduce it every since. The fact of the matter is that his sound in some ways is dead simple, with just a guitar and amp and no pedals, and in another way pretty complex, as you’ll see in this video.

One of the things I liked here is that every aspect of Angus sound is detailed, right down to the amp settings (which are not what you might think), strings and pots on the guitar. It all comes from Angus guitar tech Trace Foster as interviewed by Premier Guitar’s Chris Kies. At the end of the video, guitar tech Greg Howard goes over rhythm guitar player Stevie Young’s very unique (at least guitar-wise) rig as well. You can find out more details about their touring rigs here.

Now let’s all go back to basics by working with the guitar and amp first to get the sound before you introduce those pedals.

[photo: weatherman90]