Burden Amp Settings
by Opeth
Original Recording Settings
Original Gear
- Guitar
- PRS Custom 24 (multiple finishes)
- Pickups
- PRS HFS (bridge) / PRS Vintage Bass (neck) (neck (Vintage Bass — estimated for warm clean sections))
- Amplifier
- Marshall JVM 410H
- Channel
- Clean channel
- Tuning
- standard
- Pickup Selector
- neck (estimated for clean)
Åkerfeldt to Premier Guitar: 'On Watershed we used mainly Marshall JVM heads with various PRS guitars with humbuckers.' Secondary: Mesa Dual Rectifier through Marshall MF400 cab. Clean tones: Laney GH100L and/or Laney Lionheart. Åkerfeldt on reverb: 'I have it set on spring and it's pretty much on all the time… I want the notes to disappear into the reverb.'
Amp Settings
Effects Chain
Playing Technique
Clean arpeggiated chord voicings with jazz-influenced extended chords. Smooth legato, minimal pick attack on clean sections. 'Burden' is entirely clean-vocal — no growled sections. Draws from 1970s progressive rock (Camel, Genesis).
Sources+
- Premier Guitar 'Opeth: Swedish Floyd' interview: Marshall JVM 410H and PRS guitars confirmed for Watershed.
- Equipboard (Mikael Åkerfeldt): PRS Custom 24, Maxon OD-808.
- Ultimate Metal Forum (Jens Bogren production details): SM57 + Royer R121 miking setup.
- Guitar Messenger masterclass: Åkerfeldt's reverb and clean tone philosophy.
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