Walk This Way
A funky, mid-heavy riff with a percussive crunch.
What is the Walk This Way guitar tone?
The Walk This Way guitar tone is a funky, mid-heavy riff with a percussive crunch, heard on Aerosmith's 1970s hard rock recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Aerosmith reportedly tracked it with a double-cutaway Gibson Les Paul Junior with a single P-90 on Joe Perry's main rhythm track, panned left with Brad Whitford's part hard right, and on the first solo, through an Ampeg V-2, a 60-watt valve head that was a house amp at the Record Plant in New York, with its active midrange set to 800Hz and boosted; that is Chris Gill's account in Guitar World in 2019, which has Perry switching to a late-1950s Fender Stratocaster for the second solo and the outro, on the bridge pickup and then, from about 2:45, the neck pickup with a 1970s Maestro FZ-1S Fuzz-Tone to make the guitar sound like an electric razor; Perry himself, as Bonedo quotes him, remembers a late-'50s tobacco sunburst Stratocaster, an Ampeg V4 on a Marshall 4x12 and a Maestro Fuzz-Tone, so the two accounts differ on the Ampeg model; Perry says the Strat he recorded the song with is the guitar he misses most, lost when he left the band; he wrote the riff at a soundcheck in Honolulu in December 1974 while thinking about the Meters, the band cut it halfway through the Toys in the Attic sessions at the Record Plant in early 1975, producer Jack Douglas took the title from Young Frankenstein, and Steven Tyler's vocal went down first, with Perry's guitar overdubbed around it; the single peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1977. 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.
Walk This Way 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 for the riff, with the bridge pickup, the guitar's only one. There is a second setting for the outro solo below.
- Gain 6
- Bass 5
- Middle 6
- Treble 6
- Presence 6
- Reverb 2
- Signal chain
- Ampeg V-2, midrange boosted at 800Hz
- The control that matters most
- Middle, at the right frequency. Guitar World puts the record's grit in an Ampeg head with its midrange boosted at 800Hz, a honk a Fender or Marshall does not give on its own, so push the mids well up, keep the bass low and the gain moderate, or lift around 800Hz with a graphic EQ.
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, the guitar's only one
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.
Second sound
Walk This Way amp settings for the outro solo
For the outro solo, start at Gain 6.5, Bass 5, Middle 7, Treble 6, Presence 6, Reverb 2, with the neck pickup.
- Gain 6.5
- Bass 5
- Middle 7
- Treble 6
- Presence 6
- Reverb 2
- Signal chain
- Maestro FZ-1S Fuzz-Tone
- Where the song switches
- Guitar World has Perry on a Les Paul Junior for the riff and the first solo, then a Stratocaster for the second solo, moving to the neck pickup and a Maestro Fuzz-Tone for the outro from about 2:45.
- Pickup
- Neck pickup
The same reference as the panel above: positions on a generic five-knob amp, a starting point rather than the settings on the record.
Does the Walk This Way tone sound off on your amp?
Pick what you hear. You get the knobs to turn from the starting point above, and how far. It works from the setting for the riff.
Published settings
What amp settings did Joe Perry use on Walk This Way?
Volume 6, treble 6, midrange 8 with the midrange switch on 800Hz, bass 3 and reverb 0 on an Ampeg V-2, input 1, with the Les Paul Junior's volume and tone on 10; for the outro solo, a Maestro FZ-1S on its Fuzz 1 setting with volume and balance on 10 and sustain on 8, on a Stratocaster's neck pickup. That is Chris Gill's settings box in Guitar World's 2019 feature on the song, built around Perry's 1979 remark that at the Record Plant he used the studio's hot Ampegs; it does not say where the numbers came from, so read them as the magazine's reconstruction rather than a note from the session.
Source: Guitar World: the secrets behind Joe Perry's tone on Walk This Way
What gear did Aerosmith use on Walk This Way?
A double-cutaway Gibson Les Paul Junior with a single P-90 on Joe Perry's main rhythm track, panned left with Brad Whitford's part hard right, and on the first solo, through an Ampeg V-2, a 60-watt valve head that was a house amp at the Record Plant in New York, with its active midrange set to 800Hz and boosted; that is Chris Gill's account in Guitar World in 2019, which has Perry switching to a late-1950s Fender Stratocaster for the second solo and the outro, on the bridge pickup and then, from about 2:45, the neck pickup with a 1970s Maestro FZ-1S Fuzz-Tone to make the guitar sound like an electric razor; Perry himself, as Bonedo quotes him, remembers a late-'50s tobacco sunburst Stratocaster, an Ampeg V4 on a Marshall 4x12 and a Maestro Fuzz-Tone, so the two accounts differ on the Ampeg model; Perry says the Strat he recorded the song with is the guitar he misses most, lost when he left the band; he wrote the riff at a soundcheck in Honolulu in December 1974 while thinking about the Meters, the band cut it halfway through the Toys in the Attic sessions at the Record Plant in early 1975, producer Jack Douglas took the title from Young Frankenstein, and Steven Tyler's vocal went down first, with Perry's guitar overdubbed around it; the single peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1977.
Sources: Guitar World: the secrets behind Joe Perry's tone on Walk This Way, Guitar World: Joe Perry on the Strat he recorded Walk This Way with, Bonedo: Walk This Way guitar workshop, with Joe Perry on his rig (German), Wikipedia: Walk This Way
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 Walk This Way tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Walk This Way
Get exact knob settings adapted to your rig
Walk This Way tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Walk This Way?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 6, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 6, Reverb 2 for the riff, with the bridge pickup, the guitar's only one, and at Gain 6.5, Bass 5, Middle 7, Treble 6, Presence 6, Reverb 2 for the outro solo, with the neck 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 funky, mid-heavy riff with a percussive crunch from different positions.
Does Walk This Way use one amp setting or two?
Two. Guitar World has Perry on a Les Paul Junior for the riff and the first solo, then a Stratocaster for the second solo, moving to the neck pickup and a Maestro Fuzz-Tone for the outro from about 2:45. On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 6, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 6, Reverb 2 for the riff, and at Gain 6.5, Bass 5, Middle 7, Treble 6, Presence 6, Reverb 2 for the outro solo.
What amp did Joe Perry use on Walk This Way?
Amp: Ampeg V-2, the Record Plant's house amp (Perry recalls a V4). Guitar: Gibson Les Paul Junior (riff, first solo); late-1950s Stratocaster (second solo). Sources: Guitar World, Bonedo and Wikipedia.
How do you get Joe Perry's tone on Walk This Way?
Middle, at the right frequency. Guitar World puts the record's grit in an Ampeg head with its midrange boosted at 800Hz, a honk a Fender or Marshall does not give on its own, so push the mids well up, keep the bass low and the gain moderate, or lift around 800Hz with a graphic EQ. Play it with the bridge pickup, the guitar's only one.
What tuning is Walk This Way in?
Standard tuning: E A D G B E, low string to high, according to Guitar World.
Source: Guitar World: the secrets behind Joe Perry's tone on Walk This Way
Can you get the Walk This Way 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.
