Myself, in conjuction with my friend, and 2nd pair of ears, Austinbuddy, present
a ‘famous player’ patch written to showcase Firmware 5.0 improvements.
Malcolm Young of AC/DC fame, is not only the true sound of that band, but
one of a tiny handful of players who embody the ‘feel’ of rock rhythm playing.
Guitar Player magazine has stated that the secret to Malcolm Young's guitar technique
is playing open chords through a series of medium-sized amplifiers set to low volume
with little or no gain. Contrary to the common practice among rock guitarists of playing
power chords through high powered, highly overdriven amplifiers.
The Young family was famous in the music world before Malcolm started AC/DC.
His older brother, George Young, had a Pop group called, The Easybeats, which
achieved many number 1 hits in Australia between 1965–1968 and had a huge
international hit with "Friday on My Mind". Malcolm founded AC/DC in November 1973.
Angus was asked to join later after he turned 18.
THE GUITAR:
Malcolm Young plays a 1963 Gretsch Double-cutaway Jet Firebird guitar handed down
to him by Harry Vanda, along with elder brother George Young, of Easybeats fame. He calls
this guitar "The Beast". The guitar has the neck and middle pickups removed and only the
stock Gretsch "Filtertron" bridge pickup remains. For a while, he put socks in the cavities
to prevent feedback.
Malcolm also uses heavy gauge .012 string sets to get his big, punchy sound (in contrast,
Angus uses .009’s).
THE AMPS: Malcolm uses a variety of vintage Marshalls on stage and in the studio.
At various times he uses JTM45’s, Superbass heads, and the ultra rare JTM 45/100.
Interesting AC/DC facts:
In 1980, after singer Bon Scott drank himself to death, the band strongly considered
breaking up. It was Bon’s parent that ultimately convinced them to continue.
The album following Bon’s death, the immortal “Back In Black”, was not only their
most successful album to date, but was the 3rd highest selling album of all time,
by any artist (after “Dark Side of the Moon” and “Thriller”).
AC/DC was named by Malcolm’s sister, Margaret, who saw it printed on the side of a
sewing machine.
Part of their early concert notoriety came from Angus’ habit of ‘dropping trou’
and mooning the crowd at the end of every concert.
This patch will sound best with a mahogany bodied guitar with heavy gauge
strings.
EDIT: 02/13/2012 Sneaky update for those paying attention. Re-edited the patch
directly comparing to an original vinyl LP (Powerage). I think this version pretty much nails it.