Black Dog
A stop-start riff in shifting time, answered by Robert Plant's unaccompanied vocal lines.
What is the Black Dog guitar tone?
The Black Dog guitar tone is a stop-start riff in shifting time, answered by Robert Plant's unaccompanied vocal lines, heard on Led Zeppelin's 1970s hard rock recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Led Zeppelin reportedly tracked it with Jimmy Page's Number One Gibson Les Paul, a 1959 sunburst he bought from Joe Walsh in 1969, with no amp at all: Page told Guitar World they put the guitar through a direct box into a microphone channel of the mixing desk, used the desk's mic preamp to get the distortion, then ran it through two UREI 1176 compressors in series; engineer Andy Johns says he had long chased a sound from Buffalo Springfield's records until someone told him the trick, two 1176s in series, one with its compression buttons pushed out so it works like an amp, hitting the second one hard while making the mic preamp distort a little, with some bottom added on the EQ to make it sing; Johns says his own contribution was triple-tracking the riff, and that with all that gain the noise rushed in as soon as Page stopped playing, and Page later said the guitars almost sound like an analogue synthesizer; John Paul Jones wrote the riff, which he and Page play in unison, and the band cut the first backing tracks on 5 December 1970 at Island Studios in London, their first session there, with more work at Headley Grange in January 1971 and back at Island in February; the song opens Led Zeppelin IV, released on 8 November 1971. Here there was no amp at all: the distortion came from a mixing desk's mic preamp and two compressors in series, so a dense, compressed crunch gets closer than a loud, open amp.
You do not need that exact gear to land in the same place. What carries this sound is the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup choice and the order of the effects, and all four can be rebuilt on equipment that costs a fraction of the original. The numbers change from amp to amp, because a high-gain head and a small practice amp reach the same voicing from different knob positions. That translation is what Tonelify works out for the rig you actually own.
Black Dog amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 6, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 6, Reverb 2, with the bridge pickup.
- Gain 6
- Bass 5
- Middle 6
- Treble 6
- Presence 6
- Reverb 2
- Signal chain
- Direct box into a mic channel of the desk, its preamp driven into distortion → Two UREI 1176 compressors in series, the first used like an amp → The riff triple-tracked
- The control that matters most
- Compression and low end. There is no amp on the record: the distortion is a desk preamp and two compressors in series, so on an amp go for a dense, compressed crunch with some bottom rather than an open, airy one, and put a compressor in front if you have one. The riff was triple-tracked and doubled by the bass, so one take sounds thinner than the record; double it if you can and keep it tight with the bass line.
These positions are free and they are a starting point. A Katana, a Spark and a valve head reach this voicing from different knob positions, so Tonelify rewrites every value above for the amp and guitar you own. Your first match is free with an account, and needs no card.
Adapt these to my amp- Pickup
- Bridge pickup
These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. If you tell Tonelify which amp you own, it rewrites every value above for the controls that amp actually has.
What gear did Led Zeppelin use on Black Dog?
Jimmy Page's Number One Gibson Les Paul, a 1959 sunburst he bought from Joe Walsh in 1969, with no amp at all: Page told Guitar World they put the guitar through a direct box into a microphone channel of the mixing desk, used the desk's mic preamp to get the distortion, then ran it through two UREI 1176 compressors in series; engineer Andy Johns says he had long chased a sound from Buffalo Springfield's records until someone told him the trick, two 1176s in series, one with its compression buttons pushed out so it works like an amp, hitting the second one hard while making the mic preamp distort a little, with some bottom added on the EQ to make it sing; Johns says his own contribution was triple-tracking the riff, and that with all that gain the noise rushed in as soon as Page stopped playing, and Page later said the guitars almost sound like an analogue synthesizer; John Paul Jones wrote the riff, which he and Page play in unison, and the band cut the first backing tracks on 5 December 1970 at Island Studios in London, their first session there, with more work at Headley Grange in January 1971 and back at Island in February; the song opens Led Zeppelin IV, released on 8 November 1971.
Sources: Guitar Player: Jimmy Page on Led Zeppelin's Black Dog, Guitar.com: how Jimmy Page used two 1176s on Black Dog, MusicRadar: engineer Andy Johns on recording Led Zeppelin IV, Wikipedia: Black Dog (Led Zeppelin song)
Tonelify reads that chain and translates it to the amp and guitar you already own, returning gain, bass, mids, treble and presence values along with a pickup position.
How do you get the Black Dog tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Black Dog
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Black Dog tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Black Dog?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 6, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 6, Reverb 2, with the bridge pickup. These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. Tonelify rewrites the same values for the specific amp and guitar you own, because a high-gain head and a small solid-state combo reach the same stop-start riff in shifting time, answered by Robert Plant's unaccompanied vocal lines from different positions.
What is the most important control for the Black Dog tone?
Compression and low end. There is no amp on the record: the distortion is a desk preamp and two compressors in series, so on an amp go for a dense, compressed crunch with some bottom rather than an open, airy one, and put a compressor in front if you have one. The riff was triple-tracked and doubled by the bass, so one take sounds thinner than the record; double it if you can and keep it tight with the bass line.
Can you get the Black Dog tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with Jimmy Page's Number One Gibson Les Paul, a 1959 sunburst he bought from Joe Walsh in 1969, with no amp at all: Page told Guitar World they put the guitar through a direct box into a microphone channel of the mixing desk, used the desk's mic preamp to get the distortion, then ran it through two UREI 1176 compressors in series; engineer Andy Johns says he had long chased a sound from Buffalo Springfield's records until someone told him the trick, two 1176s in series, one with its compression buttons pushed out so it works like an amp, hitting the second one hard while making the mic preamp distort a little, with some bottom added on the EQ to make it sing; Johns says his own contribution was triple-tracking the riff, and that with all that gain the noise rushed in as soon as Page stopped playing, and Page later said the guitars almost sound like an analogue synthesizer; John Paul Jones wrote the riff, which he and Page play in unison, and the band cut the first backing tracks on 5 December 1970 at Island Studios in London, their first session there, with more work at Headley Grange in January 1971 and back at Island in February; the song opens Led Zeppelin IV, released on 8 November 1971, but the parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order. Those translate to other equipment, which is what the adaptation step does.
Is Black Dog a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a riff part with a distorted character, from Led Zeppelin's 1970s hard rock catalogue.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
Your first match for your own gear is free with an account, and needs no card. After that both plans start with a 7-day free trial: Stage is $6.99 a month for 20 matches, Headliner is $10.99 a month for unlimited matching within a fair use limit of 150 new matches a day, and yearly billing works out cheaper on both. Reading this page and the rest of the library costs nothing and needs no account.
