He asked for "settings, suggestions", so I gave a suggestion
. My suggestion was the huge rig :twisted: . Sykes had a ton of headroom with those Coliseums running six 6L6 power tubes. 8)
Sykes also used a Les Paul Custom with a maple neck and Gibson Dirty Fingers (ceramic high output) pickups.
I wish I had settings to share. My best luck in finding a specific tone is usually guitar in hand and Mesa cranked, constantly tweaking the settings. Think of the movie Rock Star where Mark Wahlberg keeps playing the tape over and over again to the guitarist saying "that's a ping, not a squeal!!" It always sucks when the lead singer is right, don't it??? :lol:
The thing that some people forget is that you need to find the tone in "real world" setting. Setting up your tones at whisper volume, they won't sound the same or feel the same as when the amp is turned up. Being at stage volume helps to really nail a sound/tone/feel.
The best rehearsal I ever had was when I had my Mark IV short head on Channel 3 wailing on a cover solo, the amp was sustaining like crazy and I nailed it, note for note. I felt like I was connected to the guitar/amp/speakers. It was trippy. :twisted: