Herzog Sustain Box — Main Riff & One-Pass Lead
Randy Bachman described recording the signature riff and middle solo with a Les Paul through his Herzog system: two Garnet amplifiers, with one overdriven amplifier used as a preamp for the other. He performed the melody and middle solo in one pass, but no complete knob sheet survives, so the values below approximate the documented cascading-amp method. Source: Guitar Player’s Randy Bachman “American Woman” interview (2023).
Signal Chain
Notes
Use strong midrange and long, controllable sustain without turning the attack into fuzzy mush. The second amp should amplify the saturated first amp rather than add a completely separate distortion voice.
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See the same signal chain mapped to another platform. Knob values carry over as starting points — gain ranges differ between platforms.