Tone library / Led Zeppelin / Over the Hills and Far Away

Over the Hills and Far Away amp settings — Fender Princeton Reverb

The Led Zeppelin guitar tone for “Over the Hills and Far Away”, dialed in for a Fender Princeton Reverb with a Fender American Ultra Stratocaster. Studio version, Houses of the Holy (1973)

Original rig

1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard → Marshall Plexi 1959 Super Lead (cranked)

Crunchy, mid-forward classic rock with warm low-end and smooth breakup
Amp settings — Fender Princeton Reverb
GAIN 7 BASS 6 MID 7 TREBLE 5 PRESENCE 0 REVERB 2 MASTER 6
KnobSetting (0–10)
Gain7
Bass6
Mid7
Treble5
Presence0
Reverb2
Master6
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Guitar
PICKUPbridge TONE7 VOLUME10
Signal chain

01Tube Screamer (TS9 or clone)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Essential to push the Princeton into Marshall-style breakup. Set Drive moderate; Level does the heavy lifting to saturate the preamp.

Drive 4 · Tone 5 · Level 7
Why these settings

The Princeton is a scooped, bright American amp with clean headroom — the opposite of a cranked Plexi. To compensate: treble dropped from 7 to 5 (Fender's treble shelf is higher and harsher), mids pushed to 7 (Princeton naturally scoops where Marshall barks), bass at 6 for warmth. A TS-style pedal is critical — the Princeton won't produce Plexi crunch on its own at any reasonable volume. Your Strat's single coils are brighter and lower output than Page's Les Paul humbuckers, so rolling the tone knob to 7 warms the attack.

PRO TIPDig in with your pick near the bridge for that aggressive Page attack, but use your guitar's volume knob at 7-8 for the verse sections to clean up dynamically — Page rode his volume constantly for light-to-heavy transitions within the song.

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

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