As part of an upcoming project as well as a lifelong Queen obsession I’ve been working on capturing Brian May’s guitar tone with the Line 6 Helix.
There are many variants of this at large on the Internet but I haven’t found one that worked particularly well for 1980s era and later Queen nor one that actually works well with a Brian May type guitar.
Many of the tones use the Helix’s Essex 30 model which is actually a simulator of the Top Boost Circuit when Brian uses amps reduced to the Normal Channel.
Similarly, there is no dedicated treble booster in the Helix though the KWB Distortion which came in a recent update does a very passable impression.
Finally, Brian May’s stage sound is the result of three amps with two panned handling the effects (chorus and delay) and another unaffected.
This tone follows that scheme virtually.
Check out my video below to hear it in action or click to button to download it from customtone.com
