Still Got the Blues
Gary Moore
A slow blues ballad carried by a long, singing Les Paul lead.
What is the Still Got the Blues guitar tone?
The Still Got the Blues guitar tone is a slow blues ballad carried by a long, singing Les Paul lead, heard on Gary Moore's 1990s blues rock recording. It is a distorted solo tone, and Gary Moore reportedly tracked it with a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, which Moore told Vintage Guitar was first used on this song, the first one recorded that day, and which he kept using from then on; Ground Guitar identifies it as the Les Paul nicknamed Stripe, serial 9-2227, bought in 1988 with the help of his guitar tech Graham Liley, and says that for Still Got the Blues Moore played it through a Marshall Guv'nor pedal into a Marshall JTM45 head and a Marshall 1960B 4x12 cabinet with Electro-Voice speakers, quoting him telling Metallica they should skip the preamps and processors and buy a '59 Les Paul, a Guv'nor pedal and a JTM45; Kirk Hammett told Guitar World in 1991 that he gave producer Bob Rock one of the breaks from Oh Pretty Woman, from this album, as the main reference for his own guitar sound; the album marked Moore's turn from hard rock to electric blues, with guest spots from Albert King, Albert Collins and George Harrison, came out in March 1990, and its title track is his only single to reach the Billboard Hot 100. This lives right on the edge of breakup, where the volume knob on the guitar does the real work between clean and dirty.
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.
Still Got the Blues amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 4.5, Bass 5, Middle 7, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut.
- Gain 4.5
- Bass 5
- Middle 7
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- Marshall Guv'nor overdrive → Marshall JTM45 (Ground Guitar)
- The control that matters most
- Sustain from a pedal, not the amp. By Ground Guitar's account the drive came from a Marshall Guv'nor in front of a JTM45, so set the amp just short of breakup and let an overdrive pedal give the long bends their sustain, rather than winding up the amp's own gain. Keep the mids in: the lead has to sing over the band, and a scooped sound thins the bends out.
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
- Neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut
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 Gary Moore use on Still Got the Blues?
A 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, which Moore told Vintage Guitar was first used on this song, the first one recorded that day, and which he kept using from then on; Ground Guitar identifies it as the Les Paul nicknamed Stripe, serial 9-2227, bought in 1988 with the help of his guitar tech Graham Liley, and says that for Still Got the Blues Moore played it through a Marshall Guv'nor pedal into a Marshall JTM45 head and a Marshall 1960B 4x12 cabinet with Electro-Voice speakers, quoting him telling Metallica they should skip the preamps and processors and buy a '59 Les Paul, a Guv'nor pedal and a JTM45; Kirk Hammett told Guitar World in 1991 that he gave producer Bob Rock one of the breaks from Oh Pretty Woman, from this album, as the main reference for his own guitar sound; the album marked Moore's turn from hard rock to electric blues, with guest spots from Albert King, Albert Collins and George Harrison, came out in March 1990, and its title track is his only single to reach the Billboard Hot 100.
Sources: Vintage Guitar: Gary Moore, Still Got the Blues, again, Ground Guitar: Gary Moore's 1959 Les Paul Standard, Still Got the Blues, Guitar World: Hetfield and Hammett on solos and gear, 1991, Wikipedia: Still Got the Blues
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 Still Got the Blues tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Still Got the Blues
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Still Got the Blues tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Still Got the Blues?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 4.5, Bass 5, Middle 7, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut. 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 slow blues ballad carried by a long, singing Les Paul lead from different positions.
What is the most important control for the Still Got the Blues tone?
Sustain from a pedal, not the amp. By Ground Guitar's account the drive came from a Marshall Guv'nor in front of a JTM45, so set the amp just short of breakup and let an overdrive pedal give the long bends their sustain, rather than winding up the amp's own gain. Keep the mids in: the lead has to sing over the band, and a scooped sound thins the bends out.
Can you get the Still Got the Blues tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, which Moore told Vintage Guitar was first used on this song, the first one recorded that day, and which he kept using from then on; Ground Guitar identifies it as the Les Paul nicknamed Stripe, serial 9-2227, bought in 1988 with the help of his guitar tech Graham Liley, and says that for Still Got the Blues Moore played it through a Marshall Guv'nor pedal into a Marshall JTM45 head and a Marshall 1960B 4x12 cabinet with Electro-Voice speakers, quoting him telling Metallica they should skip the preamps and processors and buy a '59 Les Paul, a Guv'nor pedal and a JTM45; Kirk Hammett told Guitar World in 1991 that he gave producer Bob Rock one of the breaks from Oh Pretty Woman, from this album, as the main reference for his own guitar sound; the album marked Moore's turn from hard rock to electric blues, with guest spots from Albert King, Albert Collins and George Harrison, came out in March 1990, and its title track is his only single to reach the Billboard Hot 100, 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 Still Got the Blues a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a solo part with a distorted character, from Gary Moore's 1990s blues 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.
