You Shook Me All Night Long
A dry, mid-heavy two-guitar Marshall crunch.
What is the You Shook Me All Night Long guitar tone?
The You Shook Me All Night Long guitar tone is a dry, mid-heavy two-guitar Marshall crunch, heard on AC/DC's 1980s hard rock recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and AC/DC reportedly tracked it with Angus Young's Gibson SG through his Schaffer-Vega wireless into 100-watt Marshall Super Leads, the old style without the extra preamp, as he has described them, with Malcolm Young saying his brother also went to a smaller 50-watt Marshall for his solos, for some extra warmth; Malcolm played his 1963 Gretsch Jet Firebird, the guitar he said he recorded everything with apart from High Voltage, through a 1971 Marshall Super Bass, according to Guitar.com; engineer Tony Platt says the album had several Marshall heads and cabinets, 50 and 100 watts, put together differently on each song and turned up only until the cabinets bit, and that the backing tracks were two guitars, bass and drums played together, Malcolm screened off on one side of the drums and Angus on the other, with Angus overdubbing his solo by radio transmitter and then playing rhythm to the end so the dynamics did not drop; Bonedo says it was the first song recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau and that no effects were used; the song is in G major with a G, C and D verse riff, and Guitar World placed its solo at number 80 among the 100 greatest guitar solos; recorded in April 1980 with Mutt Lange for Back in Black, it was AC/DC's first single with Brian Johnson and reached number 35 in the US. 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.
You Shook Me All Night Long 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
- Schaffer-Vega wireless (Angus) → Marshall crunch, no pedals
- The control that matters most
- Gain, kept lower than you think. Tony Platt says the Marshalls were turned up only until the cabinets started to bite, and the record has no pedals, so set a mid-forward crunch where a full chord still rings clearly and dig in with the pick for more. Two guitars play the riff, Angus on an SG and Malcolm on a Gretsch, so one guitar on its own sounds thinner than the record.
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 AC/DC use on You Shook Me All Night Long?
Angus Young's Gibson SG through his Schaffer-Vega wireless into 100-watt Marshall Super Leads, the old style without the extra preamp, as he has described them, with Malcolm Young saying his brother also went to a smaller 50-watt Marshall for his solos, for some extra warmth; Malcolm played his 1963 Gretsch Jet Firebird, the guitar he said he recorded everything with apart from High Voltage, through a 1971 Marshall Super Bass, according to Guitar.com; engineer Tony Platt says the album had several Marshall heads and cabinets, 50 and 100 watts, put together differently on each song and turned up only until the cabinets bit, and that the backing tracks were two guitars, bass and drums played together, Malcolm screened off on one side of the drums and Angus on the other, with Angus overdubbing his solo by radio transmitter and then playing rhythm to the end so the dynamics did not drop; Bonedo says it was the first song recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau and that no effects were used; the song is in G major with a G, C and D verse riff, and Guitar World placed its solo at number 80 among the 100 greatest guitar solos; recorded in April 1980 with Mutt Lange for Back in Black, it was AC/DC's first single with Brian Johnson and reached number 35 in the US.
Sources: Bonedo: AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long, solo workshop, Sound On Sound: Classic Tracks, AC/DC's Back in Black, Guitar.com: the gear Angus and Malcolm Young used on Back in Black, Wikipedia: You Shook Me All Night Long
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 You Shook Me All Night Long tone on your own amp?
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AI researches the original tone of You Shook Me All Night Long
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You Shook Me All Night Long tone questions
What amp settings do you need for You Shook Me All Night Long?
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 dry, mid-heavy two-guitar Marshall crunch from different positions.
What is the most important control for the You Shook Me All Night Long tone?
Gain, kept lower than you think. Tony Platt says the Marshalls were turned up only until the cabinets started to bite, and the record has no pedals, so set a mid-forward crunch where a full chord still rings clearly and dig in with the pick for more. Two guitars play the riff, Angus on an SG and Malcolm on a Gretsch, so one guitar on its own sounds thinner than the record.
Can you get the You Shook Me All Night Long tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with Angus Young's Gibson SG through his Schaffer-Vega wireless into 100-watt Marshall Super Leads, the old style without the extra preamp, as he has described them, with Malcolm Young saying his brother also went to a smaller 50-watt Marshall for his solos, for some extra warmth; Malcolm played his 1963 Gretsch Jet Firebird, the guitar he said he recorded everything with apart from High Voltage, through a 1971 Marshall Super Bass, according to Guitar.com; engineer Tony Platt says the album had several Marshall heads and cabinets, 50 and 100 watts, put together differently on each song and turned up only until the cabinets bit, and that the backing tracks were two guitars, bass and drums played together, Malcolm screened off on one side of the drums and Angus on the other, with Angus overdubbing his solo by radio transmitter and then playing rhythm to the end so the dynamics did not drop; Bonedo says it was the first song recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau and that no effects were used; the song is in G major with a G, C and D verse riff, and Guitar World placed its solo at number 80 among the 100 greatest guitar solos; recorded in April 1980 with Mutt Lange for Back in Black, it was AC/DC's first single with Brian Johnson and reached number 35 in the US, 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 You Shook Me All Night Long a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a riff part with a distorted character, from AC/DC's 1980s 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 it takes a plan, charged when you subscribe: 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.
