People who think The Smiths were all delicate jangle haven't cranked The Queen Is Dead. This is Marr at his most feral — a relentless, wah-soaked rave-up he's openly compared to the MC5 and the Velvet Underground.
What makes the tone. A driven rhythm guitar sits under near-constant wah, the pedal parked and rocked to shape a vocal, nasal midrange rather than swept dramatically. It's aggressive but still controlled — the drive is amp-like and midrange-forward, not a scooped metal sound, so every string of the churning riff cuts through the tribal drums.
The analogue recipe. A guitar into a wah pedal into a cranked amp on the edge of breakup — think a Fender or a small Marshall pushed hard. The wah does a lot of the tone-shaping; leaving it half-cocked in a sweet spot gives that honking midrange. Keep the gain moderate so the part stays percussive and articulate.
On a Boss GT-100 / GT-1000 / GX-100. A cranked British or tweed amp model with moderate gain, a wah block before it (try fixing the pedal position rather than sweeping), and a short room reverb. The emphasis is midrange and attack — resist scooping the mids.
On a Kemper. An edge-of-breakup Marshall or tweed profile with a wah stomp in front. Set the wah's range so a parked position gives that nasal bite. Play it hard — the aggression is in the right hand as much as the settings.
Skip the guesswork. The Soulster Tonebook for fans of The Smiths → breaks down Marr's full range, from jangle to this raw wah workout — and our Johnny Marr guitar tone guide → puts it in context.
Put it on the wall. The "The Queen Is Dead" Manchester print → and Paperback t-shirt → salute the title track of one of the greatest British albums ever made.
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