Back in Black
Angus's tone is a nearly-clean Marshall pushed just past the edge of breakup — way less gain than it sounds like. The attack comes from your pick, not the preamp. Keep all pedals off for rhythm; the GE-7 is your solo boost.
Front of amp: Cheeky Pint → TS Mini (both bypassed) · FX loop: GE-7 → Spark Mini. Rhythm: everything off. Solo: Spark Mini + GE-7 on.
Marshall DSL20H Classic Gain — Crunch
If chords smear together, back the gain down to 6. Open-position chords should ring with every note audible. Bridge pickup, pick hard.
Tube Screamer Mini Bypassed
Off for this song — the TS midrange hump ruins the open AC/DC chord clarity.
Cheeky Pint Compressor Bypassed
Off. The whole AC/DC sound lives in pick dynamics; compression kills it.
TC Spark Mini — FX Loop Solo boost
In the loop this is a pure volume lift — no extra gain, your crunch stays identical, just louder. Stomp it with the GE-7 for the solo.
Flashback Mini — FX Loop Bypassed
Off — AC/DC is famously bone dry. The groove IS the ambience.
Hall of Fame Mini — FX Loop Bypassed
Off. Angus's sound is a loud amp in a room, nothing else.
Boss GE-7 — FX Loop Solo boost only
Kick on for the solo together with the Spark Mini: the Spark does the volume lift, this adds the Angus mid bite. Being in the loop, it EQs the already-distorted tone — more effective than in front.
Squier P Bass PJ pickups
Neck pickup does the work; a touch of bridge keeps the straight 8ths from going woolly.
Bass — Ashdown Perfect Ten Squier P Bass
Cliff Williams: dead-straight 8ths with fingers, totally supportive. Tone ~50%. The discipline IS the part — resist every fill you can think of. (Mix stays at min — it's the line-in blend, not part of your tone.)
The Solos
The main solo (~2:55) lives in E minor pentatonic — it opens down in the 5th-position "blues box" with double-stops and G-string bends, then climbs to 12th position for the fast stuff. Kick on the Spark Mini + GE-7 together right before the first note. The outro solo (over the riff, from ~3:58 to the fade) is Angus vamping in the same 12th-position box — steal any licks from the main solo and keep them coming.
Main solo, opening phrases — E minor pentatonic, 5th position. Dig in, wide vibrato. e|------------------------------------5-----------------------------| B|---------------------8--5--------------8--------------------------| G|--7-7~--7-7---7b~~~----------7--7b----------7b~~--7b--5~~---------| D|--7-7~--7-7-------------------------------------------------------| A|--5-5~--5-5-------------------------------------------------------| E|------------------------------------------------------------------| ...then the climb to 12th position — the 10th-fret B-string bends are the money notes: e|------------10--------10------------------------------------------| B|--------10b~~~--10br~~~~--10-8--10b-r10p8-------------------15----| G|--5--7------------------------------------9----12-----12-14b~~-14-| D|----------------------------------------------12---14-------------| A|------------------------------------------------------------------| E|------------------------------------------------------------------|
The full main solo as tab, line by line (standard tuning, ♩=94 — click any line for full size, or open the whole page):
Two lessons that cover the full solo with on-screen tabs:
Songsterr Tab
Open "Back in Black" tab on Songsterr ↗Opens in a new window — Songsterr blocks embedding in other sites (X-Frame-Options), so it can't be shown inline. Use the "Angus Young | Lead Guitar" track.