Purple rain amp settings — Marshall mg30gfx
The Prince guitar tone for “Purple rain”, dialed in for a Marshall mg30gfx with a Ibanez gio grgr131ex bkf. Iconic outro lead solo, studio/First Avenue recording (Purple Rain, 1984)
Hohner HG-490 MadCat Telecaster into Boss SD-1, Boss DS-1, Boss BF-2 Flanger, Boss DM-2 Delay into Mesa/Boogie Mark II head and Bag End D12-M cab
| Knob | Setting (0–10) |
|---|---|
| Gain | 7 |
| Bass | 5 |
| Mid | 7 |
| Treble | 6 |
| Reverb | 5 |
| Master | 5 |
01Boss BF-2 Flanger
RECOMMENDED — not currently owned; set onboard MG30GFX FX to Flanger/Delay to approximate
02Boss DS-1 Distortion
RECOMMENDED — not currently owned; amp OD-2 carries the primary distortion today
The Marshall MG30GFX on OD-2 replicates the cascaded preamp gain of Prince's Mesa/Boogie Mark II without needing external pedals. Because your Ibanez humbuckers are warmer and higher-output than Prince's single-coil MadCat Tele, the mids are boosted to 7 to retain the vocal cut while the tone knob is rolled back slightly to tame high-end harshness. Use the MG30GFX onboard Flanger and Delay/Reverb FX sections simultaneously to capture the signature 1984 modulation sweep. Clean verse/intro: switch to the Clean channel with onboard chorus enabled.
Get this tone on your amp
These settings are for a Marshall mg30gfx. 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.