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Riff Tone

Walkin' at Night

Boston

Guitarrock1970s

Original Gear

GuitarGibson Les Paul Goldtop (early 1970s, likely 1957 reissue or original)
AmpMarshall Super Lead 100-watt head (1970s, likely JMP or Plexi variant)

Amp Settings

gain6
bass6

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Effects & Signal Chain

Notes

Studio recording, 1976 (Boston debut album sessions). Tom Scholz was known for extensive signal processing and custom gear, but for the main riff of 'Walkin' at Night', the core tone is widely cited as Les Paul Goldtop with P-90s into a Marshall Super Lead, with additional processing likely but not fully documented for this specific track. No evidence of Rockman or later Scholz gear on this album.

Tone Character(10)
tight and percussive rhythm attackclear note separation at high speedclassic British cruncharticulate pick and hammer-on/pull-off phrasingslightly compressed, harmonically richmodest sustain, not high-gain saturationpunchy midrange presencesubtle stereo width from double-trackingsubtle modulation shimmernot overly scooped or fizzy

Difficulty

The riff requires fast, accurate alternate picking and legato phrasing at a high tempo, with tight synchronization for double-tracked parts. The technical demands and speed place it at a hard (4/5) difficulty level.

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