The Thunderstruck by AC/DC guitar tone is built on a Marshall JTM45 / Super Lead, dialed in at gain 4.5/10, bass 5, mid 6.5, treble 7, presence 6.5 (community-researched baseline). Full breakdown below — then adapt every knob to your exact guitar and amp, free.
🎛️ These settings are for the original rig — re-dial them for YOUR amp in 10 seconds. Free, no signup →Measured against the 70 hard rock tones in our researched catalog: Gain 4.5 sits below the hard rock average (6.0) — cleaner and more dynamic than typical hard rock; mids at 6.5 are right around average (6.1).
Amp: Marshall JTM45 / Super Lead (100W), cranked
Humbuckers (Gibson SG bridge) into a cranked Marshall for a bright, biting classic-rock crunch
Marshall amp tube overdrive (the entire dirt — no distortion pedals), A touch of reverb at most, Cranked volume for the natural crunch
bright, scratchy, mid-forward, cranked Marshall crunch, biting, raw
Hard rock, 1990; Gibson SG into a cranked Marshall, no pedals, standard tuning
electrifying, building hard-rock anthem from the open-string intro to a stomping chorus, mid, driving tempo, builds from solo guitar to full-band stomp dynamics · overdriven distortion. This shapes how hard the amp is pushed and where the EQ sits for the Thunderstruck sound.
3/5
The riff body is simple power chords, but the famous open-string pull-off intro takes coordination, timing and stamina to play cleanly.
🎸 All Thunderstruck guitar tones — every part & section →
Set your amp to roughly: gain 4.5, bass 5, mid 6.5, treble 7, presence 6.5, reverb 1. These are community-researched baselines — GuitarToneAdapt re-dials them for your exact guitar and amp.
Original gear/effects: Amp: Marshall JTM45 / Super Lead (100W), cranked; Marshall amp tube overdrive (the entire dirt — no distortion pedals), A touch of reverb at most, Cranked volume for the natural crunch.
Yes. Different guitars and amps need different knob positions to sound the same. GuitarToneAdapt models pickup output and wood brightness, then compensates so you match the record on your own rig.
Start with Humbuckers (Gibson SG bridge) into a cranked Marshall for a bright, biting classic-rock crunch, the amp EQ above (gain 4.5, bass 5, mid 6.5, treble 7, presence 6.5, reverb 1), and Marshall amp tube overdrive (the entire dirt — no distortion pedals), A touch of reverb at most, Cranked volume for the natural crunch. Then let GuitarToneAdapt compensate for the guitar, amp and pedals you actually own so it sits like the record.
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🎸 How to get AC/DC’s guitar tone → · 🎸 more Hard Rock guitar tones → · 🎚️ Marshall Plexi settings → · 🎛️ best hard rock amp settings → · 🎸 more iconic guitar riffs → · 🎚️ Overdrive tone guide → · 🎚️ Distortion tone guide → · 🎚️ Reverb tone guide → · 🎯 more mid forward tones → · 📖 New to amp settings? What every knob does →