How to Sound Like David Gilmour with Guitar Pedals

February 17, 2025

Get That Legendary David Gilmour Tone

David Gilmour's guitar tone is nothing short of legendary. It's smooth, expressive, and emotional, shaping some of the most unforgettable solos in rock history. Whether it's the soaring leads of "Comfortably Numb" or the spacey echoes of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," his sound is instantly recognizable.

But what makes his tone so unique? A big part comes from his playing style—his touch, phrasing, and masterful control of dynamics. However, the right gear also plays a crucial role. Gilmour used fuzz, delay, modulation, and reverb to create his signature sound.

To capture that magic, you'll need more than just a Stratocaster. The right pedals, amp settings, and playing techniques bring out that rich, atmospheric tone. Let's break it down step by step so you can craft your own Gilmour-inspired sound.

In a hurry? Check out our quick guide with all of the featured pedals at the end of the article.

Understanding Gilmour's Playing Style

Before diving into effects pedals, we must understand Gilmour's playing style and what makes it so unique. Gilmour's playing is often described as smooth yet soulful, thanks to techniques such as half-step bends and vibratos and the player's inspiration from blues and rock.

Phrasing and Melody: Gilmour's phrasing is usually slow to mid-tempo yet soulful, often using space and silence as much as actual playing. Mirroring his blues inspiration, each note has a purpose, and nothing feels rushed.
Bends and Vibrato: His signature half-step bends are slow and controlled, often reaching just the right pitch to create emotion. His vibrato is broad and expressive, giving his playing a vocal-like quality. If you want to sound like Gilmour, double down on your vibrato technique.
Dynamics and Touch: Gilmour plays with feel. He can go from soft, almost whisper-like tones to massive, soaring leads just by adjusting his pick attack and volume knob.
Sustain and Feedback: He uses sustain to let notes ring out for a long time, creating a smooth singing quality. Occasionally, he'll even use controlled feedback for extra drama.
Volume Swells: A unique technique used by Gilmour is volume swells, which you can achieve by rolling up your guitar's volume knob after playing a note, giving it a violin-like effect as heard in the Pink Floyd song "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."

Must-Have Pedals for David Gilmour's Sound

David Gilmour's pedalboard has evolved over the decades, but specific effects remain at the core of his sound. A pedalboard with essential effects, such as fuzz, overdrive, modulation, and time-based effects, will allow you to create a solid foundation covering every Pink Floyd era.

Fuzz

Buy Now

Despite using different fuzz pedals throughout his career, the classic Electro-Harmonix Big Muff has always been a staple in Gilmour's setup. This fuzz is used on Pink Floyd classics such as Comfortably Numb, Time, and Echoes, delivering a thick tone with lots of sustain.

Gilmour also used a Fuzz Face on earlier albums, which can be a good choice if you're into the Pink Floyd era. However, even more important than choosing the right pedal is selecting the right overdrive or boost to accompany it, which we will discuss later in the article. Of course, having the proper technique is essential.

Alternative Option: Mojo Hand FX Iron Bell

Buy Now

The Iron Bell is your best bet for recreating Gilmour's fuzz tones. While it's inspired by the albums Division Bell and Pulse, it's an extremely versatile pedal that can help you achieve the tone of pretty much any Pink Floyd era. This pedal has a very open and rich voicing with 3D-like harmonic qualities.

Alternative Option: EarthQuaker Devices Hoof

Buy Now

Despite not being modeled after any specific classic fuzz units, the EarthQuaker Devices Hoof is one of the most versatile modern fuzz pedals and will allow you to cover lots of ground regarding Gilmour tones.

Overdrive and Boost

Buy Now

The Colorsound Power Boost was Gilmour's overdrive/boost of choice throughout the 1970s. It sounds transparent, with a scooped mid-range that can brighten up the tone of tube amps. This pedal is rare, but if you're lucky, you can occasionally find a vintage unit being sold online at a reasonable price.

Buy Now

From 1993 onwards, Gilmour added three Chandler Tube Driver units to his setup, a tube-driven preamp that sounds superb when used as a boost. Like the Power Boost, this unit is relatively rare but not impossible to find.

Unless you want to recreate Gilmour's exact tone down to the last detail and money is not a problem, we recommend you pick a more modern, versatile, transparent blues-style overdrive. That would be more convenient and still get you extremely close to Gilmour's signature sound. Below, we will cover two great options.

Alternative Option: Warm Audio Warmdrive

Buy Now

The Warm Audio Warmdrive is a dynamic and versatile overdrive, transparent enough to recreate Gilmour tones, especially when paired with a Big Muff-style fuzz. With two dedicated knobs to adjust its Tone and Voice, this unit opens up lots of tone possibilities.

Alternative Option: BMF Effects The Great Wide Open

Buy Now

This pedal from BMF Effects is an excellent choice for your Gilmour-inspired pedalboard since it has a warm, amp-like response that's responsive and doesn't color your sound that much. However, since it has a single Volume knob, you'll probably need to spend some extra time dialing your amp's EQ to nail the perfect tone.

Modulation

When it comes to modulation, the list of pedals used by Gilmour is pretty extensive. The guitar player had several effects of that type in his pedalboard, including chorus, flanger, phaser, uni-vibe, and a rotary-speaker cabinet in the studio.

The best modulation pedals for your Gilmour-inspired rig will depend on what era you're looking to replicate. Throughout the 70s, his main modulation choices were the classic MXR Phase 90 and the Uni-Vibe, particularly on the Dark Side of the Moon album. Gilmour also started experimenting with flanger units like the EHX Electric Mistress in the late 70s.

The guitarist only started the Boss CE-2 Chorus in the 80s, and it can be a great idea to have the effect on your pedalboard if you're after the sound of that particular era. Last but not least, Gilmour used a Leslie speaker on earlier Pink Floyd albums, and while these are very expensive, there are some pedals that do a great job of replicating it.

Alternative Option: IK Multimedia AmpliTube X-Vibe Modulation

Buy Now

If you want to have all modulation options at your disposal without breaking the bank, the X-Vibe is your best bet. This unit features emulation of classic pedals used by Gilmour, such as the Phase 90, Uni-Vibe, and even a rotary speaker emulator, and sounds very realistic and analog-like.

Alternative Option: Mojo Hand FX Mr. O

Buy Now

A phaser will come in handy if you can only choose one modulation pedal for your Gilmour-inspired pedalboard. The Mojo Hand FX can give you that 1970s phasing tone while also allowing for some experimentation.

Delay

Buy Now

Delay is the quintessential effect for getting that Gilmour tone. In earlier Pink Floyd eras, the guitarist used a Binson Echorec for his ambience-drenched riffs. He also used several digital delays throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

The choice between analog and digital delay will largely depend on your favorite Pink Floyd era. As nowadays we have units that can do both pretty well, like the Line 6 DL4 MkII, any delay pedal with a decent amount of time/repeat setting should do the trick.

Alternative Option: Line 6 DL4 MkII

Buy Now

While a bit expensive, the Line 6 DL4 MkII is currently one of the most complete and versatile delay pedals on the market, covering several different types of delay and a few extra effects, this unit can perfectly recreate Gilmour tones.

Alternative Option: Cusack Music Tap-a-Delay

Buy Now

The Cusack Music Tap-a-Delay is an excellent option for Gilmour tones. Although not as versatile as the Line 6 unit, it still provides everything you need to nail the early Pink Floyd sound, including a few extras like the Brake Mode.

Reverb

Reverb has never been a significant influence on David Gilmour's sound, as the guitarist vastly preferred creating ambience using delay effects. However, having one on your pedalboard can open up your possibilities and even help you achieve some of the Pink Floyd tones in alternative ways.

If your amp already has reverb, then you're all set: simply use it sparingly to give your tone that extra ambience while relying primarily on your delay pedal. If that's not the case, a simple spring reverb unit will do the job.

Alternative Option: Danelectro Spring King Junior

Buy Now

The Danelectro Spring King Junior is a compact, basic, yet reliable spring reverb pedal that can slightly open up your tone. As we said before, use just a little bit to give your delay tones some dimension.

Bonus Pedal: Schu-Tone Luna Obscura

Buy Now

The Schu-Tone Luna Obscura is an all-in-one pedal that recreates Gilmour's rig from The Dark Side Of The Moon era, including essential effects like a fuzz, a boost (based on the original Powerbooster), an EQ section, a vibe/chorus, and a delay. With a reasonable price tag, this unit is the easiest way to recreate Gilmour's tone without spending a fortune.

Bonus: Choosing the Right Guitar and Amp

David Gilmour's tone isn't just about pedals—it starts with the right guitar and amp. While effects shape his sound, the foundation comes from his gear. If you want to get close to his legendary tone, you must pay attention to these choices.

The Guitar: A Strat is King

While David Gilmour played a lot of guitars throughout his career, he is mostly well known for his iconic black Fender Stratocaster with a shortened tremolo arm. This guitar underwent many modifications throughout the years, having a mix of single coil and humbucker pickups, depending on the era.

At its core, though, Gilmour's tone relies mainly on the bright and articulate character of the Stratocaster. Therefore, most Strat models can get very close to his sound, especially when the neck pickup is engaged.

The Amp: Big, Clean, and Powerful

The Hiwatt Custom 100 was Gilmour's amp of choice throughout most of his career. This amp has a loud, clean, and punchy character with lots of headroom, which allows for more versatility when playing with pedals.

While this amp is quite expensive, there are some audio plugins that can recreate it very closely. Alternatively, an amp like the Fender Twin Reverb or a Vox AC30 are also solid choices, thanks to their extended headroom.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I Need an Expensive Guitar to Sound Like David Gilmour?

Not necessarily! While a Fender Stratocaster is the optimal choice, you can achieve his tone with a well-regulated Squier Strat or a mid-range Fender Strat with ease. In this case, upgrading pickups will probably be your best bet to get your tone closer to Guilmor's.

What's the Most Important Pedal for Gilmour's Tone?

If you had to pick one, a Big Muff-style fuzz would be your best bet. The fuzz is essential for recreating Gilmour's soaring, sustain-heavy leads, and the Big Muff is versatile enough to allow for deeper tone shaping with your amp's EQ.

What's the Best Way to Dial in Delay Settings for Gilmour Tones?

A good starting point is:

Delay Time: 300ms–500ms
Repeats: 2–4 for natural echoes
Mix Level: Balanced, so it adds depth without overpowering your playing

Experiment with longer delays for atmospheric parts and shorter delays for rhythmic sections.

Do I Need a Volume Pedal for Gilmour-Style Swells?

Not necessarily. While having a volume pedal on your setup helps a lot when recreating his violin-like swells, you can replicate the effect easily with your guitar's volume knob. However, it requires a bit of practicing to nail the technique perfectly.

Conclusion

David Gilmour's tone is more than just a collection of pedals - it's a mix of emotion, technique, and carefully crafted sounds. His playing feels alive, full of expression and depth. While the right gear helps, the key to truly nailing his sound lies in how you play.

Start with the essentials: a Strat-style guitar, a clean amp with headroom, and a few core pedals: fuzz, delay, and modulation. Dial in your settings, experiment with stacking effects, and you should sound like Gilmour in no time! Most importantly, don't be afraid to make the sound your own. Gilmour's playing evolved over the years, and yours will, too.

Thank you for reading our article! Here is a recap of all the pedals mentioned in our post: