Tone library / Guns N' Roses / Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Knockin' On Heaven's Door amp settings — Laney Lax15

The Guns N' Roses guitar tone for “Knockin' On Heaven's Door”, dialed in for a Laney Lax15 with a Gibson Slash Les Paul Standard. Studio version, Use Your Illusion II (1991)

Original rig

1959 Gibson Korina Flying V (bridge PAF humbuckers) → Marshall Silver Jubilee 2555 100W head with spring reverb + subtle delay

Warm, singing mid-forward crunch with natural tube compression and sustain

Amp settings — Laney Lax15

BRIGHToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	5
Bass	5
Mid	8
Treble	5
Reverb	3
Master	6

Don’t have a Laney Lax15? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Why these settings

The Laney Lax15 is a Class A/B EL84 amp with inherently more compression and warmth than the Marshall Jubilee's EL34 bite, so gain is dropped from the original's 6.5 to 5 to prevent mushiness. Mids are pushed to 8 (versus original's 7) because the Laney's voicing is slightly more scooped in the upper-mids where the Jubilee barks—this compensates. Your Slash Les Paul with Alnico humbuckers matches the original Flying V's PAF voicing nearly perfectly, requiring no pickup compensation.

PRO TIPHit the strings hard with your pick attack—Slash's tone relies on pushing the power tubes into natural sag and compression, not just preamp gain. The difference between a good and great tone on this song is in the physical attack velocity, not the knobs.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Laney Lax15. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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Song, artist and gear names are used to identify the tone being matched; ToneAdapt is not affiliated with or endorsed by the artists or manufacturers mentioned. Settings are AI-generated starting points — trust your ears.