It isn't very hard to have a similar sound to Slash's sound. Basically all you need is a Gibson Les Paul plugged into a Marshall tube amp.
Here's his most relevant equipment:
Guitars:
I'm not going to list here all the guitars he owns - they're over 90! - but he mainly uses a Gibson Les Paul Standard, Gibson Les Paul Slash Signature Model (a
Custom Shop Les Paul model with Slash image carved into top, cranberry finish and a coffin case that was produced in 1997 in a limited run of only 50!), BC
Rich Mockingbird SL (the Slash Model), Gibson SG Double neck, Guild Crossroads Double Neck (designed by Slash) and a Travis Bean electric (for slide
guitar). His acoustic guitars are mainly Guild Jumbo design guitars.
Most of his electric guitars have Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro pickups which are low output pickups.Amps:
During the 80's Slash was using a Marshall JCM 2555 Silver Jubilee Anniversary amplifier made in 1987. This model was produced from 1987-1989 and
it was built to celebrate 25 years of Marshall Amplification and 50 years of Jim Marshall's personal involvement in the music business. It featured four EL34'spower tubes and three ECC83 preamp tubes. This was the only amp Slash was using around that time and he only had a few Jubilee heads.
"I've been using the same Marshall Jubilee heads at every gig and session since I got them in 1987.
A bunch of those got badly damaged at the riot we had in St. Louis in 1991. After that, I was really
nervous about my amplifier situation because I knew that if anything happened to the Jubilees I
had left, I would be totally screwed."
Since this model was no longer in production and aware of Slash's concerns about his sound, the Marshall company approached Slash and they worked on a
reissue of this amp. The result came in 1996 when the Marshall JCM 2555 SL Slash's signature model was released, the only signature model Marshall ever
produced! This amp was a reissue of the Silver Jubilee series of amps that Slash had always use. What distinguishes the Slash signature model from the original
model is a snakeskin cover, Slash's signature along with Jim Marshall signature in the front of the amp and the Snakepit logo (the same as the featured in the It's
Five O'Clock Somewhere album cover). The Slash signature amp was only made in 1996 and only 3000 were ever produced so is very hard to find one.
The JCM 2555 SL comes with a footswitch and it features 2 channel: Rhythm and Lead.
The knobs on this amplifier are the Presence, Bass, Middle, Treble, Input Gain, Output Master and finally the Lead Master. The 2 channels share the same
equalizer which means you can't separate your Rhythm equalizer settings from your Lead equalizer settings (Slash solves this problem using 2 amps, one with the
equalizer set up for the Rhythm channel and the other for the Lead channel - a A/B switch is used to select between the amps).
The input gain is a push / pull knob: if you pull it out it distorts the Rhythm channel and by turning the input gain knob clockwise you can increase the amount of
gain for the rhythm and lead. The output master is also another Push / Pull knob and is basically the master volume for the amp. By pulling this knob out you can
switch between the Rhythm and the Lead channels (you can also use the included footswitch to switch between the channels). The Lead Master adjusts the
volume of the Lead channel compared to the rhythm channel.
Some other features are the 50/100 watt switch (pentode / triode modes) on the front of the amp and the standby and power switch.
On the rear panel of the amp there's an output select switch to switch between 4, 8, and 16 ohms and a mains select switch to switch between 110v, 220v, and
230v. Finally, there's an effects loop and a DI jack.
This amp comes loaded with three GT12ax7 (also known as ECC83) pre-amp tubes and four EL-34 power tubes.
Slash's recommended settings for his amplifier are:
For distorted sounds: Presence: 8, Bass: 7, Mid: 7, Treble: 4 1/2, Output Master: 10, Input Gain: 6 1/2
For the clean sounds Slash replaces the EL-34 power tubes with KT88 tubes: Presence: 0, Bass: 9, Mid: 3, Treble: 5 1/2, Output Master: 10, Lead Master: 0,
Input Gain: 4.
When Slash uses the talk box he plays trough the 2555 Silver Jubilee amp in the 50 watt mode.
All his amps are plugged into Marshall 1960A and 1960B (full stack) 4 x 12 cabinets loaded with four 70W Celestion Vintage speakers.
Slash uses Monster Cable Studio Pro 1000 in front of all the amps when playing live.
If you listen carefully to all of Slash's related discography you'll notice that Slash's sound has changed trough the years. His sound on the Snakepit records is
clearly different than the one he used on the Use Your Illusions records. They're also both different than the sound used to record the Appetite For Destruction
record although the main differences are between the Use Your Illusions and the Snakepit records: just listen to that distinctive sound featured on Don't
Damn Me, Right Next Door To Hell, You Could Be Mine, Locomotive, ..., solos. Personally, that's my favorite guitar sound ever and since I had many
requests from Slash fans asking for more info on the differences in Slash's gear for that particular sound I've contacted Jennifer Day, Adam Day wife, who was
very kind and passed my questions to Adam Day and then answered me back:
"Slash used to use a Marshall mid-80's JCM 800 with 6550 output tubes (Ed: you can see that amp in the picture above where the JCM 800 is on pair with
the JCM 2555 Slash signature model) through Marshall cab's with 25 watt greenbacks using more master volume than preamp volume (very loud). What he's
done more recently is incorporate it with a 2550 model amp (Ed: 50 watt version of the JCM 2555 Silver Jubilee head) so that the 2 sounds are blended
together". That's the trick we were wondering for so long but could never find the answer anywhere! Adam and Jennifer were so kind that they even asked me
what sound did I prefer, the old featured on the Illusions records or the more recent sound (needless to say, I answered the old one with the JCM800 only)!
On the forth coming album featuring Slash, Izzy and Duff, Slash blends the 2 amp's together using a little bit more of the JCM 800 & vintage 30 speakers.
Since the tracks of the album were being recorded in different sessions there's a slight variance in tone (different engineers, different recording equipment,...).
We would like to thank Jennifer and Adam Day for helping us with all this info on Slash's amps!
Effects:
The only effects Slash uses are a Dunlop DCR-ISR Crybaby Rack, Dunlop Heil Talk Box, Boss DD-5 Digital Delay and a
Boss GE-7 Equalizer (to boost his amplifier volume in the solos when playing live).
Slash uses Ernie Ball strings RPS 11 set and he likes to play with heavy picks (he favors the Jim Dunlop Tortex 1.14 mm picks)
All of Slash's equipment is taken care and set up by Adam Day, his guitar tech, who has been a very important part in creating Slash's famous trademark sound
trough all this years.
Anyway, the best advice I can give you is try to find your own sound. Don't buy a specific product just because your guitar hero uses it.If you're into hard rock than a Les Paul plugged into a Marshall is a good choice but it's not the only one. Remember that Les Pauls are very heavy, expensive
and they don't have a floating tremolo bridge. Also, Marshall amps are very popular along hard rock players but they're not the best amps to play clean sounds
or to play at home levels. Always buy the equipment that suits your playing better.
For beginners I strongly recommend starting with a strat shaped guitar (the double cutaway body format allows you to reach the higher frets much more easily)
and starting with a good amplifier. Believe me, a good amp will affect much more your tone than a good guitar will. The best way to have a good sound withoutspending much money is to buy a multieffects processor unit. These kind of units allow you to choose between famous amplifiers (Marshalls, Fenders, Peaveys,
...). Of course no matter how good these simulations sound they're never the same as the real thing but they'll help you to choose the sound you're looking for
and they'll give you lot's of effects depending on the unit.
All in all it's like Slash said, "The most important thing is to learn how to play the guitar before you get fucking 50,000 dollars worth of fucking complicated gear"!
The equipment that I own and that you'll listen here in the sound files is a Ibanez and a Gibson guitar and a Marshall tube amplifier. Eventually you'll ear a Jim
Dunlop slide, a Cry Baby Wah pedal and a talkbox.