Editing Brian May (section)

====Amplifiers and effects====
[[File:VOX AC30 Twin.jpg|thumb|The [[Vox AC30]] amplifier]]
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 | quote  = I've never heard a guitar sound so loud! He had a wall of AC30s cranked, and it was like a jumbo jet taking off. It was phenomenal.
 | source =&nbsp;—[[Marillion]] guitarist [[Steve Rothery]] on sharing a stage with May in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.vintageguitar.com/30070/steve-rothery/ | title= Steve Rothery | work= [[Vintage Guitar (magazine)|Vintage Guitar]] | first= Greg | last= Prato | date= February 2017 | access-date= 19 April 2019 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190419201015/https://www.vintageguitar.com/30070/steve-rothery/ | archive-date= 19 April 2019 | url-status= live }}</ref>
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May has used [[Vox AC30]] amplifiers almost exclusively since a meeting with his long-time hero [[Rory Gallagher]] at a gig in London during the late 1960s/early 1970s.<ref>Rick Wakeman's Face To Face interview programme, available at rockondigital.com</ref> In the mid-1970s he used six of them, with an [[Echoplex]] delay (with extended delay time) plugged into a separate amplifier, and a second Echoplex plugged into yet another amp; he used a homemade booster, his only effects pedal, which was on all the time.<ref name="reply">{{cite news|title=Pro's Reply: Brian May|date=August 1975|work=[[Guitar Player]]|page=154}}  (repr. January 2014)</ref> His choice is the model AC30TBX, the top-boost version with Blue Alnico speakers, and he runs the amp at full volume on the Normal channel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brianmaycentral.net/bms.html |title=Vox AC30 Brian May |publisher=Brianmaycentral.net |access-date=27 September 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029011512/http://www.brianmaycentral.net/bms.html |archive-date=29 October 2014 }}</ref>
[[File:Fryer Brian May Treble Booster Touring, true bypass & LED mod by Cluster.jpg|thumb|upright|left|May [[treble booster]]]]
May also customises his amps by removing the Brilliant and Vib-trem channels (leaving only the circuitry for the Normal). This alters the tone slightly, with a gain addition of 6–7&nbsp;dB. He always used a [[treble booster]] which, along with the AC30 and his custom '[[Deacy Amp]]' transistor amp, built by Queen bass player John Deacon, went a long way in helping to create many of his signature guitar tones.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://queenwillrockyou.weebly.com/deacy-amp.html|title=The Legendary Deacy Amp|publisher=queenwillrockyou.weebly.com|access-date=12 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016064332/http://queenwillrockyou.weebly.com/deacy-amp.html|archive-date=16 October 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> He used the Dallas Rangemaster for the first Queen albums, up to ''[[A Day at the Races (album)|A Day at the Races]]''. Effects designer [[Pete Cornish]] built for him the TB-83 (32&nbsp;dB of gain) that was used for all the remaining Queen albums. He switched in 2000 to the Fryer's booster, which actually gives less boost than the TB-83.

When performing live, May uses banks of Vox&nbsp;AC30 amplifiers, keeping some amps with only guitar and others with all effects such as delay, [[flanger]] and chorus. He has a rack of 14&nbsp;AC30s, which are grouped as Normal, Chorus, Delay&nbsp;1, Delay&nbsp;2. On his pedal board, May has a custom switch unit made by Cornish and subsequently modified by Fryer that allows him to choose which amps are active. He uses a [[Boss Corporation|BOSS]] pedal from the '70s, the Chorus Ensemble CE-1, which can be heard in "[[Sheer Heart Attack|In The Lap of The Gods]]" (''[[Live at Wembley '86]]'') or "Hammer to Fall" (slow version played live with P.&nbsp;Rodgers). Next in the chain, he uses a Foxx Foot Phaser ("We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions", "Keep Yourself Alive", etc.), and two delay machines to play his trademark solo in "Brighton Rock".