The Mysterious Gear Used on AFD - Ultimate Guitar article

[BlueJean Baby]

The Mysterious Gear Used on Guns N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction

UG unravels the mystery and dispels the myths surrounding the gear used by Slash to record Appetite For Destruction.

4h ago by JustinBeckner [w] 1,190  ·  4,375 

Tone chasers have long searched for the secret to Slash’s iconic tone on the Appetite For Destruction (AFD) record. AFD had a tone that stood out, not only because of Slash’s unquestionable abilities as a guitarist, but because the gear that was being used was somewhat unique as well. A lot of people have done a lot of research on the subject and there is a lot of information out there – some correct, some incorrect. In the following article we will discuss the general consensus on what went into creating the tone on the record and the story of the mysterious amplifier Slash used to lay down the tracks.

Mythology is an essential part of culture. When we think of the AFD tone, we think – a Gibson Les Paul plugged into a Marshall Amplifier. But the reality is that Slash wasn’t playing a Gibson Les Paul on that record and the Marshall wasn’t a stock Marshall. He was playing a replica of a Les Paul made by Kris Derrig, a luthier out of California. So when Gibson released the “Slash Appetite Les Paul” it was actually a replica of a replica of a Les Paul (I suppose you could turn them in…).

The Guitars

Prior to the recording of AFD, Slash was broke. He was playing B.C. Rich Warlocks and Mockingbirds and had even borrowed a black Stratocaster from someone for a show or two. Some accounts of the guitars used on the album are conflicting but as Slash stated in an interview in 2010 with Noisecreep “I was really broke and I hocked all my decent guitars before we went into the studio to make Appetite for Destruction, all I had left were a B.C. Rich Warlock and two Jackson guitars, a Firebird, and a prototype archtop Strat-style guitar. I brought them all into the recording studio for the Appetite session and they all sounded horrible. I was like, ‘Fuck, what do I do? I have to do the overdubs and I have no instrument.” Slash goes on to say that his manager brought him the Les Paul the next morning.

In his memoir (great book) Slash states, “It was made by the late Jim Foot[e], who owned MusicWorks in Redondo Beach.” However, Foote shared a shop space with another luthier named Kris Derrig – Foote did own the shop but Kris built most of the guitars. Casting further doubt on the authenticity of Slash’s comment in the book is the fact that Jim Foote was still alive when the book was written and Kris Derrig was not. So, it would seem, by all credible accounts, that Slash’s Les Paul that he recorded AFD with was, in fact, a replica built by Kris Derrig. This story has since been confirmed by Foote.

Kris’ replica of a ’59 Sunburst featured a jaw-dropping flame top that was something that was rarely seen, even in the Gibsons of that day. Kris’ guitars were not exact replicas, Slash’s was fitted with Seymour Duncan Alnico II Zebra pickups and had a thinner neck than Gibsons. Kris’ son, Dale, estimates that his dad made “about 20, maybe more” of these Les Paul replicas. Slash later tracked one down and now owns two of them. Many of the replicas were most likely passed off as Gibsons (they did feature the “Gibson” logo on the headstock) and lost to the world. Lenny Kravitz and Charlie Daniels are both said to own one. Frankly, Kris made Les Pauls better than Gibson did at that time. We all know that Gibson has a major distaste for forgeries and replicas, the irony here is that one of their most iconic signature series guitars is actually a replica of a replica. Tragically, Kris passed away due to throat cancer in 1987, a few months prior to the release of AFD.

The Amp(s)

On March 26th, 1986, Guns & Roses signed to Geffen Records. The budget they were given to record their debut album (including advances) was $370,000. According to Slash’s book, rather than shopping for gear, he spend his advance on heroin. As a result, Slash ended up renting gear for the recording of AFD – this was a pretty customary practice in those days. Some believed that Slash used a Marshall Silver Jubilee for recording AFD, but since the Silver Jubilee wasn’t available until 1987, this turned out to be untrue, although Slash did use a Silver Jubilee on subsequent tours. So in the spring of 1986, Slash went into S.I.R. (Studio Instrument Rentals) to test out amplifiers to use on the album. As I already mentioned, Slash was broke and didn’t have an amp he felt was good enough to record with.

He came across an amp that he fell in love with – A Marshall Model 1959T Super Lead Tremolo – pre-master volume, and post-Plexi (it had a metal faceplate). The amp had stenciled lettering that read: “Stock #39”. When the band went in to record the album (between August and December of 1986) Slash specifically requested Stock #39 from S.I.R. But there was a problem, someone else had also fallen in love with that exact amplifier, George Lynch had used the amp in the studio for the recording of Under Lock and Key in 1985. He tried everything to get them to sell it to him, the company would not part with it so he rented the amp for $2000 to use it on Dokken’s 1986 tour – that tour ended September 13th in Irvine, California. So, based on this timeline, it would appear that amp was not available for Slash to use during the recording session, but the company still had an obligation to deliver a comparable amp.

Stock #39 was not a stock Super Lead Tremolo - it had been modified by a tech who worked for the company named Tim Caswell. Tim modded the amp by taking the amp’s unused tremolo circuit which had an additional pre-amp tube and turning it into an extra preamp stage. The amp sported EL34 power tubes (they were typically shipped to the US with 6550s in those days). He also added a master volume. In short, Tim was a great tech with an affinity for gain stacking. Unfortunately, Tim left the company in 1985. The guy who took his place was a guy named Frank Levi. After Tim left, his modded “Stock #39” had become a favorite among those looking to rent gear. So, Frank was tasked with making more amps like the “Stock #39”.

Frank’s first test subject was an amp dubbed “Stock #36” which was a Model 1959 (Super Lead) but was not a Tremolo, therefore, it didn’t have the existing tube and circuit to convert, so a hole was drilled and the extra gain stage (tube & circuit) was added right next to the existing three preamp tubes. The sound still wasn’t quite correct so Frank kept tinkering and ended up swapping out some capacitors from “donor amps” some of which were allegedly, old Fenders. There were only a couple ways to notice the difference between #39 and #36 (aside from the stenciled numbers painted on the tolex). In #39, you could switch the fourth pre-amp tube on and off via a toggle switch mounted in place of one of the input jacks (#36 was just “on” all the time). #36 also had a master volume knob mounted in a different spot.

So, according to a supervisor at S.I.R. at the time, Glenn Buckley, S.I.R. sent Slash #36, although they never told him that, leading to many false tales of the legendary Stock #39 being used on AFD. Slash never seemed to notice and was very happy with #36. So much so, that he began to scheme on how to keep the amp after the sessions. He offered to buy it and the company refused. So he ducked their calls for a while and finally told them it had been stolen. Glenn suspected that Slash still had the amp and had his people looking everywhere for it.

Eventually one of Glenn’s employees called him up and said they had seen the amp at Stage 6 (a rehearsal space owned by S.I.R.) where the band was rehearsing for their 1987 tour with The Cult. Glenn personally went down to Stage 6, with some extra muscle of course, to get his amp back. In what turned out to be a rather anti-climactic end, the band wasn’t there when he arrived and he simply grabbed the amp and walked out with it.

According to Glenn, Slash never said anything to him about the amp after that. But Slash has publicly decried his “idiot” tech at the time for bringing it to the rehearsal space, Telling Guitar Magazine in 1992,

I had [a perfect amp] when I did Appetite, which was great. I stole it from S.I.R., and when we were rehearsing at S.I.R. after the record came out, my idiot roadie at the time brought that amp down by mistake, and they took it back. When we went back into the studio a couple years later, I had to find the ultimate amp again…

So, thanks to some good investigative journalism from J.R. Rymas, who hunted down Glenn to tell the story, it would seem that the amp used on the bulk of the tracks on AFD was a Marshall Model 1959 modded by Frank Levi, not the Stock #39. That’s not a mark against Caswell in any way - #36 was a recreation of Caswell’s #39 and the “AFD Mod” is often referred to as a #39 Mod. That amp was later replicated by Marshall for what became sold as the Marshall AFD100 – the process of replicating that amp took over 8 months and also featured its own Slash inspired design. Only 2,300 of those were ever made – why 2,300? When it came out, it had been 23 years since the release of AFD (That’s not including the 100 Special Edition Amps that were signed by Slash). As for Tim Caswell, he started his own amp company in 2008. George Lynch reportedly hunted Tim down after the 1986 tour and had Tim modify every Marshall amp he owned and now has at least 6 Marshalls with the “#39 Mod”. Slash also has a 1959 Super Lead that he later had Tim Caswell mod for him – he used that amp for the second Velvet Revolver record and all of his solo records.

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/the_mysterious_gear_used_on_guns_n_roses_appetite_for_destruction-92565

[MaskingApathy]

4 minutes ago, BlueJean Baby said:

Slash also has a 1959 Super Lead that he later had Tim Caswell mod for him – he used that amp for the second Velvet Revolver record and all of his solo records.

This part is incorrect. That amp is a Marshall JCM800 2203 that was modded by Frank Levi, and it hasn't been used on all of the solo records, only the self titled one and Apocalyptic Love. I think he used it a little on the 1st VR album as well.

[BlueJean Baby]

23 minutes ago, MaskingApathy said:

This part is incorrect. That amp is a Marshall JCM800 2203 that was modded by Frank Levi, and it hasn't been used on all of the solo records, only the self titled one and Apocalyptic Love. I think he used it a little on the 1st VR album as well.

Lol...I didn't write it, just posted it. 😊

[SoundOfAGun]

Nice find @BlueJean Baby, I always thought the AFD ampwas a Super Trem.

[Powderfinger]

7 hours ago, BlueJean Baby said:

Prior to the recording of AFD, Slash was broke. He was playing B.C. Rich Warlocks and Mockingbirds and had even borrowed a black Stratocaster from someone for a show or two. Some accounts of the guitars used on the album are conflicting but as Slash stated in an interview in 2010 with Noisecreep “I was really broke and I hocked all my decent guitars before we went into the studio to make Appetite for Destruction, all I had left were a B.C. Rich Warlock and two Jackson guitars, a Firebird, and a prototype archtop Strat-style guitar. I brought them all into the recording studio for the Appetite session and they all sounded horrible. I was like, ‘Fuck, what do I do? I have to do the overdubs and I have no instrument.” Slash goes on to say that his manager brought him the Les Paul the next morning.

Does this mean Slash did all his rhythm parts on the guitars mentioned above and “overdubs” only with the Les Paul style guitar? I assume he means overdubs and solos? 

[MaskingApathy]

7 hours ago, BlueJean Baby said:

Lol...I didn't write it, just posted it. 😊

I know, just clearing it up for everyone reading it.

59 minutes ago, Powderfinger said:

Does this mean Slash did all his rhythm parts on the guitars mentioned above and “overdubs” only with the Les Paul style guitar? I assume he means overdubs and solos? 

Yes that's correct.

[ZoSoRose]

That's not what it necessarily means. An "overdub" can be pretty much any track when multitracking. If he laid a rhythm track over drums and bass, that is an overdub

[El Guapo]

1 hour ago, ZoSoRose said:

That's not what it necessarily means. An "overdub" can be pretty much any track when multitracking. If he laid a rhythm track over drums and bass, that is an overdub

Yep. Pretty sure all guitars on the final versions are overdubs in that sense.

[Silverburst80]

 

Classic Album Show: So Slash walk us through this track

Slash: I don't remember my gear but I think Axl had sex with someone at some point...Izzy brought the smack

[Ant]

8 hours ago, Silverburst80 said:

 

Classic Album Show: So Slash walk us through this track

Slash: I don't remember my gear but I think Axl had sex with someone at some point...Izzy brought the smack

Us:

Edited June 28, 2019 by Ant

[ZoSoRose]

My little amateur band records sometimes. I could not tell you all the shit I used on our first EP. Honestly, its entirely possible most of these guys don't remember what the hell they played on what

[appetite4illusions]

I love how "legend" Slash's AFD amp is.

There's been so much written/spoken/speculated upon that particular piece of gear and there's all these elaborate stories about which mod it really is. People totally get into it. 

 

At one point, the story went that Slash's amp was the same amp that George Lynch used to rent, so that became its own urban legend. Go watch the Jonesy Jukebox with Adler and George Lynch. It's hilarious. Steven won't shut up and George keeps looking at this guy like he's going to need a jaw replacement. At one point, Adler starts listing all of Lynch's accomplishments and is putting him over huge - which further makes Lynch uncomfortable. Adler then launches into the story of how Slash and George have the same legendary amp and George just looks at Adler like he's crazy. Which he is.

[MaskingApathy]

2 hours ago, appetite4illusions said:

I love how "legend" Slash's AFD amp is.

There's been so much written/spoken/speculated upon that particular piece of gear and there's all these elaborate stories about which mod it really is. People totally get into it. 

 

At one point, the story went that Slash's amp was the same amp that George Lynch used to rent, so that became its own urban legend. Go watch the Jonesy Jukebox with Adler and George Lynch. It's hilarious. Steven won't shut up and George keeps looking at this guy like he's going to need a jaw replacement. At one point, Adler starts listing all of Lynch's accomplishments and is putting him over huge - which further makes Lynch uncomfortable. Adler then launches into the story of how Slash and George have the same legendary amp and George just looks at Adler like he's crazy. Which he is.

Fun fact: not only did they use the same amp but before Adam Day came to work for Slash he used to be Lynch's tech.