Comfortably Numb

Gilmour used a Hiwatt DR103 into WEM cabs. The Big Muff fuzz is essential for that sustained, singing lead tone. Add generous delay and hall reverb.

David Gilmour recorded the solos with his black 1969 Stratocaster into a high-headroom Hiwatt system, with a Yamaha RA-200 rotating-speaker rig blended in parallel. Compression, a Ram’s Head-style Big Muff and a long, low-mix delay create the sustained voice without sacrificing pick definition. Exact knob positions were not published, so settings are approximated from the documented rig and contemporary tone analyses. Source: Guitar World’s “Secrets Behind the Sound” feature (2020), Gilmourish, and Kit Rae.