Stranglehold
Ted Nugent
A stuttering, funky riff that stretches into a long, building solo jam.
What is the Stranglehold guitar tone?
The Stranglehold guitar tone is a stuttering, funky riff that stretches into a long, building solo jam, heard on Ted Nugent's 1970s hard rock recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Ted Nugent reportedly tracked it with a Gibson Byrdland, the guitar Wikipedia says Ted Nugent played the long solo on, recorded in one take, though no source read here names the amp on this take; telling the song's story to Blabbermouth, Nugent says that in 1968, after an Amboy Dukes show at the Grande Ballroom, he grabbed his Byrdland at a jam in a church where there was a Fender Twin, which he calls the holy grail of his guitar tone, and started the riff, basically a bastardized Bo Diddley lick in his words, recording it on a cassette; for the later Cat Scratch Fever he told Guitar World he used a 1964 Byrdland through a Fender Twin Reverb pushing a Dual Showman 2x15 cabinet; Epic Records and his production team did not think the song needed recording because it was a jam without a chorus, so, Nugent says, they went in and jammed it, and it was a take one, with Cliff Davies and Rob Grange nailing the groove, the solo only meant as a guide to show where the dynamics went up and down; producer Tom Werman told Songfacts that he recorded what Nugent played and had it played back behind him in time with him, tape slap, creating duets, echoes and answers Nugent did not play, and Wikipedia credits Grange with a unique phase effect on the bass; Derek St. Holmes sings it, with Nugent singing the Sometimes you wanna get higher verse, and it opens Ted Nugent, his debut solo album, released in September 1975. This is a mid-forward sound rather than a scooped one, and it usually sits closer to the edge of breakup than to full saturation.
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.
Stranglehold 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
- Tape-slap echoes and duets added by producer Tom Werman
- The control that matters most
- Headroom and space. The riff was jammed live in one take, so play it through a loud amp that keeps its headroom, as a Twin does, with moderate drive so the stuttering riff stays funky, and add a slapback-style delay for the answering echoes Werman built into the solo rather than more gain.
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. A first plan starts with 7 days free, $0 today.
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.
Does the Stranglehold tone sound off on your amp?
Pick what you hear. You get the knobs to turn from the starting point above, and how far.
What gear did Ted Nugent use on Stranglehold?
A Gibson Byrdland, the guitar Wikipedia says Ted Nugent played the long solo on, recorded in one take, though no source read here names the amp on this take; telling the song's story to Blabbermouth, Nugent says that in 1968, after an Amboy Dukes show at the Grande Ballroom, he grabbed his Byrdland at a jam in a church where there was a Fender Twin, which he calls the holy grail of his guitar tone, and started the riff, basically a bastardized Bo Diddley lick in his words, recording it on a cassette; for the later Cat Scratch Fever he told Guitar World he used a 1964 Byrdland through a Fender Twin Reverb pushing a Dual Showman 2x15 cabinet; Epic Records and his production team did not think the song needed recording because it was a jam without a chorus, so, Nugent says, they went in and jammed it, and it was a take one, with Cliff Davies and Rob Grange nailing the groove, the solo only meant as a guide to show where the dynamics went up and down; producer Tom Werman told Songfacts that he recorded what Nugent played and had it played back behind him in time with him, tape slap, creating duets, echoes and answers Nugent did not play, and Wikipedia credits Grange with a unique phase effect on the bass; Derek St. Holmes sings it, with Nugent singing the Sometimes you wanna get higher verse, and it opens Ted Nugent, his debut solo album, released in September 1975.
Sources: Blabbermouth: Ted Nugent on Stranglehold, more powerful today than in 1975, Songfacts: Stranglehold, Guitar World: Ted Nugent sets the record straight about his Cat Scratch Fever amp, Wikipedia: Stranglehold (Ted Nugent song), Wikipedia: Ted Nugent (album)
Tonelify's tone matcher 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 Stranglehold tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Stranglehold
Get exact knob settings adapted to your rig
Stranglehold tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Stranglehold?
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 stuttering, funky riff that stretches into a long, building solo jam from different positions.
What amp did Ted Nugent use on Stranglehold?
Amp: Not documented; Nugent calls the Fender Twin the holy grail of his tone. Guitar: A Gibson Byrdland, on the one-take solo (Wikipedia). Sources: Blabbermouth, Songfacts, Guitar World and Wikipedia.
What were Ted Nugent's amp settings on Stranglehold?
None of the sources cited on this page gives Ted Nugent's full amp settings on Stranglehold. The numbers here are a starting point for that kind of part, not the settings from the session, and Tonelify rewrites them for the amp and guitar you own.
How do you get Ted Nugent's tone on Stranglehold?
Headroom and space. The riff was jammed live in one take, so play it through a loud amp that keeps its headroom, as a Twin does, with moderate drive so the stuttering riff stays funky, and add a slapback-style delay for the answering echoes Werman built into the solo rather than more gain. Play it with the bridge pickup.
Can you get the Stranglehold tone without the original gear?
Yes. The parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order, and those translate to other equipment. Tonelify's adaptation step works them out for the amp and guitar you own.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
A match for your own gear takes a plan, and a first plan starts with 7 days free with nothing charged that day: 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.
