Sweet Child O' Mine amp settings — Vox Da5
The Guns N' Roses guitar tone for “Sweet Child O' Mine”, dialed in for a Vox Da5 with a Aiersi Stratocaster. Studio version, Appetite for Destruction (1987)
Marshall Silver Jubilee 2555 / modded JCM800, Gibson Les Paul replica (Kris Derrig) with Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro humbuckers, Dunlop Cry Baby wah in fixed cocked position
| Knob | Setting (0–10) |
|---|---|
| Gain | 7 |
| Bass | 4 |
| Mid | 6 |
| Treble | 5 |
| Presence | 0 |
| Reverb | 2 |
| Master | 6 |
01Dunlop Cry Baby Wah (or any wah)
RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Leave wah in fixed 'cocked' position (~60-70% travel) for the nasal mid-honk. Do not rock it. This is critical to the intro tone.
02Tube Screamer style overdrive (TS9, Boss SD-1, or clone)
RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. The DA5 lacks the Marshall midrange punch and gain structure. A TS-style pedal with low drive and high level pushes the front end into singing sustain territory while adding the mid-hump the Vox lacks.
The Vox DA5 is a small practice amp with limited gain and a Vox-style chime that sits far from Marshall crunch. I raised gain to 7 (near max) and boosted mids to 6 to compensate for the DA5's naturally scooped voicing. Your Strat's single coils are brighter and lower output than Slash's humbuckers, so I dropped treble to 5 and rolled the tone knob to 6 to approximate the warm, vocal Les Paul neck pickup sound. Without an overdrive pedal, you will get a thinner, cleaner version of this tone — the TS-style pedal is strongly recommended to reach the sustain and compression of the original.
Get this tone on your amp
These settings are for a Vox Da5. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.
Get ToneAdapt on Google PlaySong, 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.