Pulled from the net...
"There are two distinct periods in Queensryche's guitar sound: pre-Empire, and post-Empire.
Chris' tone was noticeably warmer than Wilton's, even in the band's early recordings. His sound has less upper midrange, more low end, and is much smoother. He got his sound using Kramer super strats through Marshall JCM800 100 watt heads, and Marshall 4x12 bottoms with Celestion Vintage 30s. Around the time of Operation: Mindcrime both DeGarmo and Wilton switched to ESP guitars. Chris also obtained an ESP custom doubleneck (shown above) which he used for Silent Lucidity. Effects from this period were rack mounted Roland and Yamaha digital processors. The sound was very bright and edgy. Says Chris: "On Mindcrime, I went for a colder, icier approach. We were going for a brutal sound — almost annoying, really."
On Empire, however, the guitars became noticeably warmer and fatter, courtesy of huge Bradshaw rigs. DeGarmo began using a Soldano preamp around this time which really fattened his sound. He also began using a Les Paul to compliment his ESP's. In the studio, he began using smaller 1x12 cabinets. Chris continued to rely on various digital processors for delay, chorus, and reverb."
The Soldano preamp & JCM 800 are models within the Axe II. Try them instead of the Recto as a good starting point. You should end up being worlds closer.
