Rock music is a broad genre with many influences, one of which is from African-American rhythm and blues music in the late 1940's and 50's.
Music from artists such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard used the structures of classic blues which was then adapted to include a looser drum beat and faster guitar sounds that people could dance to. From this rock as a genre, became the foundation of numerous subgenres that all had attitude and style, and did things slightly differently, to appeal to their own audience. Alt rock, punk, and various metal genres have all stemmed from rock. This sound soon became the backbone of rock ‘n’ roll and the future of the genre. By the 1960’s, all differing and emerging variations of rock ‘n’ roll had started to slow down - it was also at this time that the genre underwent a rebrand to just be called ‘Rock’.
From this rock, as a genre, became the foundation of numerous subgenres that all had attitudes and styles which meant that they all did things slightly differently, to appeal to their own audience. Alt rock, punk, and various metal genres have all stemmed from rock as the genre continues to grow into the 21st century.
Image: Chuck Berry by Irving Williamson. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flickr.
When we’re talking about amps, to achieve that classic rock tone you’re going to want to look for something that can give you a vintage tone. Something that can handle both clean and overdriven sounds. Rock musicians over the years have played through all sorts of amps, to achieve their own sounds. As a starting point to create your own sound we think an Origin is a good place to start.
The Origin has a classic voice, all-valve, rich and harmonic Marshall tone. This amp range has classic styling and contains contemporary features. Perfect for players that are looking to achieve a range of tones on a classic rock-style amp for an affordable price.
Using an overdrive pedal can take your amp's gain to the next level and add new dynamics to your sounds. There is a wide range of overdrive types out there, the best way to find your sound is to try out a range so that you can hear what you prefer.
For a class rock sound, we recommend you find an overdrive that has the ability to sharpen up your mid-range and harmonic tones. This will give you more aggressive lead tones that have the ability to cut through the mix.
The final piece you’ll need to complete your clean tone and give your gain a true arena feel is reverb. Reverb leaves an ambient feel to your playing like if you were playing in a great hall or an arena. The most common types of reverb are hall, spring and plate. Hall is a natural more air tone. Spring reverb gives you a bouncy feel that might seem more potent and aggressive. The plate style of reverb has a much wider-space feeling. All of these would work well in a rock setting, and again, it's purely down to your preference and what sound you’re after.