Mike's Black Effect

Niallbroz · July 2014

Hi, just wanted to ask if anyone knows what effects Mike when he does his solo in Black, also uses same combo on Yellow Ledbetter
Thanks

xtremehardy388 · July 2014

Depends on which version/year you're talking.

Overdrive, delay, rotary unit, and wah.
Try a tube screamer, digital delay, leslie sim, and a wah.
I use a Ibanez TS-5, Digitech XD Digi delay, BBE Soul Vibe/Dunlop JD-4S Rotovibe, and a Crybaby Classic.
What kind of guitar rig do you have? Maybe I/We can help you with settings/placement.

mccreadyisgod · July 2014

The album version of Black is just overdrive and wah, staying mostly in the bottom half of the wah's rocker range. The overdrive itself is probably mostly Marshall amp, but there's probably Tubescreamer in there as well.

As for Ledbetter, album version is clean with reverb, and then overdrive with no (or a lot less) reverb for the solo. It's hard to tell how much of the reverb is from the recording and the room, and how much comes from a pedal or amp sources, but it sounds a lot like Fender tube-driven spring reverb to me. The overdrive, again, is probably 80% Marshall and 20% Tubescreamer. One thing that's definitely common between both songs is that it's a Strat.

As for live versions, Mike has run the gamut for these solos. I would bet Black is one of the top 5 most played Pearl Jam songs in concert (my guess is that it's #2), so he's had a lot of opportunity to mess with the formula. Like xtremehardy388 said, it's a lot of overdrive, a lot of wah, delay, rotary, phaser, and whatever else he has lying around the pedalboard. If you pick a specific live performance, we might be able to help you zero in on the effects.