Jimmy Page’s guitar gear: everything you need to nail the Led Zeppelin legend's sound

(Image credit: Robert Knight Archive/Redferns)

So you want to sound like Jimmy Page. Join the club! The thing is, though, reality can be a curmudgeonly old beast, and to sound like Page, we might need to have lived as Page, serving an apprenticeship as a studio session player, jobbing in the Yardbirds before forming the greatest rock band of all time.

But, hey! There’s no harm in trying, and even if playing like Page might require some foot-switchable Crowleyian magick, there are all kinds of readily available gear options - guitars, amps and effects for all budgets - that will get you in the ballpark tone-wise, or at least on the same cosmic plane...

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No expense spared: Fender Artist Series Jimmy Page Mirror Telecaster
It ships with the mirrors but you’ve got to apply them yourself, or not - a manageable craft project that’s infinitely easier than mastering the nuances in Page’s phrasing and string-bending.
The guitar features a swamp ash body, signature custom pickups, an ashtray-style 'top loader' Tele bridge that allows you to string through the bridge in order to make string bends easier. Alternatively, you can string through the body as Teles are more commonly setup. It has a custom “Oval C”-profile neck with a period-appropriate 7.25-inch rosewood fingerboard for an old-school feel.

Fender Artist Series Jimmy Page Dragon Telecaster

Fender Artist Series Jimmy Page Dragon Telecaster
This is pretty much the same guitar but with Page’s dragon finish. In the pantheon of signature guitars, there are surely few cooler. All you need are the matching pants and a violin bow...

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On a budget: Squier Classic Vibe '60s Custom Telecaster
The Classic Vibe series is an awesome entry-level option for vintage Fender tone. The Fender-designed Alnico pickups are seriously persuasive, while that slimmer neck profile will give you that Jimmy Page feel.

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Fender Player Series Telecaster in Polar White
There is little wonder the Mexican-built Player Series is so popular; it offers vintage tone with a more contemporary feel at a seriously competitive price. This Tele’s Alnico V pickups are supremely versatile. And it’s on the money looks-wise. Maybe you could find your own mirrors? Page would approve.

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No expense spared: Gibson Custom 60th Anniversary 1959 Les Paul Standard
The most authentic reproduction of the most sought-after electric guitar in history - the holy grail - the 1959 Les Paul Standard. The 60th anniversary of the ’59 Les Paul has seen Gibson’s Custom Shop go into forensic detail in creating period-authentic replicas. Royal Teaburst is perhaps the closest to Page’s aged Authentic Burst. Even if you don’t replace the Grover tuners and rewire the bridge pickup so you have out-of-phase tones on tap, you’ll still have the acme of Les Paul tone at hand to add a certain je ne sais quoi to your execution of Immigrant Song’s rhythm figure one.

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On a budget: Epiphone Ltd Edition Les Paul PlusTop Pro in Desert Burst
This has heaps of LP mojo. The unevenly-wound ProBuckers in neck and bridge have a PAF vibe while push-pull controls give you three single-coil voicings to explore. A seriously good guitar that’s a steal at the price.

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Danelectro 59M NOS+
It’s hard to find one in black but if you are looking to add that Dano-vibe to your game this 59M 'short horn' represents great value. It’s lightweight, a lot of fun, and has clever stacked volume and tone controls.

No expense spared: Gibson Custom Slash Signed 1966 EDS-1275 in Aged Ebony

No expense spared: Gibson Custom Slash Signed 1966 EDS-1275 in Aged Ebony
You could buy one in Brunswick Blue Sparkle from Guitar Center’s Platinum Collection but we are talking rock excess here so why not go all in with this replica of Slash’s own EDS-1275? There are only 125 in the world, so just tell yourself it’s an investment.

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Fender Electric XII
Sure it’s odd, an offset body with a hockey-stick neck, but there is nothing quite like its jangle and shimmer, and if you want to nail the Stairway tone on tape this is what you want. Sonically adventurous players like Thurston Moore are getting a lot of mileage out of the Electric XII and having recently been reissued as part of the Big F’s Alternate Reality Series you can, too.

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On a budget: Danelectro 59 12 String
With a similar construction to the 59M Dano, this will be easier on your back than the EDS-1275, and a whole lot easier on your wallet, too.

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No expense spared: Martin D-28
It wasn’t just Page who fell for the D-28’s sitka spruce and Indian rosewood Dreadnought body - Cash, the Beatles, Dylan were all fans. Little wonder. This is a stunning, supremely resonant acoustic that will only get better with age.

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On a budget: Epiphone 1963 AJ-45S
With a spruce top, mahogany back and sides, and a slim-taper 1960s-style, C-profile neck, this AJ-45S sounds and feels great, with a build quality and tone that belies its modest price tag.

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No expense spared: Friedman Dirty Shirley 40-watt tube combo
With so many misty recollections about exactly which Marshall heads Page used, and the fact that those, as with his Hiwatt heads, would have been heavily modded, maybe it’s best to just grab the best boutique amp you can find for British-voiced vintage rock tone. There is arguably none better than the Dirty Shirley.

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Supro Black Magick Reverb combo
If the Friedman was an unorthodox choice, then the Black Magick is as close as you’ll get to Page’s modified Supro on today’s market. Based on the Supro combo Page donated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, and developed with Lenny Kravitz – who added all-tube spring reverb, independent bass and treble controls and a master volume - this is Jimmy Page, the amplifier.

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On a budget: Marshall MG30GFX 30W 1x10 solid-state combo
A fuss-free and hugely configurable Marshall practice amp with onboard effects, this is an excellent option for rock players on a budget. Of course, it looks cool, too. As a practice tool, it’s ideal; there is an auxiliary input so you can play along to your favorite tracks. The goal? Matching Page note for note on the Heartbreaker solo. Eh, good luck.

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Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah
One of the best wahs on the market, the Clyde Deluxe has three modes - Jimi, Shaft and Wacked - and a 10-step variable input level control. This is many wahs in one pedal, and it’s built tough.

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Fulltone SB-2 Soul Bender
Another doozy from Fulltone, the Soul Bender is modeled after the Coloursound and Vox III Series ToneBenders of the 1960s. It features an enhanced tone control, and has germanium transistors for that Sola-Sound England vibe. Use this to push an already pushed tube amp into warm fuzz-crunch nirvana.

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Catalinbread Royal Albert Hall WIIO (RAH Hiwatt Emulation) overdrive 
This dynamic overdrive will respond to how hard you are playing and is based explicitly on Jimmy Page’s custom Hiwatt heads that were used at the Royal Albert Hall shows. The amp-like feel is extended to the pedal’s three-band EQ, which sees bass, middle and treble interact with one another.

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Catalinbread Belle Epoch Deluxe Delay effects pedal
One of the best pedals to recreate the vintage mojo of the EP-3 tape delay, the Belle Epoch is hugely configurable, capable of rockabilly slapback delay and more extreme psychedelic effects such as rotary swirl and self-oscillation. Essential.

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MXR Blue Box M103 Octave Fuzz
Now this is a crazy fuzz that doubles your signal two octaves down. Just crank that blend control for more octave madness. But more subtle levels will give you Page’s Fool in the Rain tone.

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On a budget: Dunlop GCB95 Cry Baby 
For 80 bucks, it is arguably the best-value wah on the market, and there are no more iconic wah tones that a Dunlop wah.

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Electro-Harmonix Ram’s Head Big Muff fuzz pedal 
This Big Muff reissue will give you heaps of mid-‘70s fuzz tone and a surprising amount of note separation for a slightly more usable effect, perfect for pushing your amp a little more for that Page crunch and sustain.

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Keeley Mag Echo
A magnificent delay at an incredible price - and more commonly acquired as one half of Keeley’s Caverns reverb/delay pedal - this will give you 40ms to 600ms of warm tape-style echo.

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Jonathan Horsley

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to publications including Guitar World, MusicRadar and Total Guitar. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.