Alive
Pearl Jam · Ten · 1991
McCready cut the 'Alive' solo in one take on the black 1962 Japanese reissue Stratocaster that Gossard and Ament bought him, running a Tube Screamer into a Marshall JCM800 half stack at London Bridge Studios. The Screamer's mid hump plus bridge-pickup single-coil gives that cutting, sustaining lead voice, and engineer Dave Hillis blended the Marshall with a Fender Bassman before Tim Palmer added the album's generous reverb. Push the mids and let the amp do the compressing rather than piling on gain.
Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record
Tuning
Standard tuning, no capo
Guitar
- Fender Stratocaster '62 Reissue (Japanese) · stock single-coils · bridge pickup
Amp
Marshall JCM800 2203
McCready told Premier Guitar's Shred With Shifty he cut the Alive solo with the '62 reissue Strat, a Tube Screamer and a JCM800; he told Guitar World it was a JCM800 into a 4x12 with 25-watt speakers. Settings are inferred from that rig and the record - master high enough for power-tube push, mids up so the Strat doesn't thin out.
Amp
Fender Bassman
Engineer Dave Hillis says McCready's overdubs were captured with a 421 on the Marshall blended with a 57 on a 1959 Bassman; McCready credits the Bassman mainly for cleans like 'Black,' so its role on this solo is likely but unconfirmed.
Pedals
- Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer · overdrive · Drive 9-10 o'clock, Tone ~12, Level up - mid-hump boost into the Marshall's dirty channel
- Dunlop Cry Baby Wah · wah · Rocked slowly, parked toward the heel for the vowel-y sustained notes; attributed to the Ten sessions, not confirmed on this solo
- Lexicon PCM / Eventide H3000 · studio reverb and delay · Mixed in from the console on the way to tape and again by Tim Palmer - a wet, big-room ambience, not a pedal on the floor
Tone character
singing high-gain lead · forward mids · bright single-coil bite · long sustain, light feedback · wet room reverb
Extended A minor pentatonic outro solo with fast position shifts, wide whole-step bends that must land in tune, and long sustained notes held with steady vibrato at high gain.
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