Equipped with heavy-duty Fender-branded Gauss speakers rated at 400 watts, this particular Twin delivered pure power-amp overdrive without preamp compression or speaker-generated distortion, generating violent crunch along with slashing treble, roaring midrange and tight, twangy bass.
Jones played a stock 1974 Les Paul Custom electric guitar, which previously belonged to Syl Sylvain of the New York Dolls, for the recording, with its uncovered humbucking bridge pickup providing sufficient output to push the amp to overdrive.
However, producer Chris Thomas and engineer Bill Price also deserve credit for the guitar tone’s filth and fury for blending numerous overdubs by Jones into a cohesive whole that sounds much bigger than the individual parts.
Jones initially laid down a pair of identical rhythm guitar tracks with churning texture courtesy of an MXR Phase 90 (out of sync on each track), but Thomas also encouraged Jones to record various overdubs to emphasize rhythmic accents or fill in blank spaces with feedback. The end result was a massive wall of sound that matched the larger-than-life reputation of a band that was about to change the world.