Equipment
Malcolm Young plays a Red 1963 Gretsch Double-cutaway Jet Firebird guitar handed down to him by Harry Vanda, along with elder brother George Young, of Easybeats fame. He calls this guitar "The Beast". The guitar has the neck and middle pickups (the middle was a humbucker which had been added by Malcolm) removed and only the stock Gretsch "Filtertron" bridge pickup remains. For a short time, Young placed socks in the cavities to prevent feedback. Prior to that, he used a white piece of plastic to cover the pick-up cavities.
Part of Malcolm Young's sound is due to his use of heavy gauge Gibson nickel roundwound strings. (.012-.056). The heavy strings produce a thicker sound, but don't lend themselves to intricate lead playing, as is the case with the lighter .009-.042 sets used by his brother, Angus.
During the Let There Be Rock era, he stripped off the original Firebird Red finish to the maple top. Also during the "Let There Be Rock Tour", he played a Butterscotch Fender Telecaster. During the Powerage era, Young again removed the plastic and stuffed socks in the pick-up cavities, and also changed the tailpiece from the stock Burns vibrato to an all-in-one Badass bridge, and put a black piece of plastic over the cavity where the original tail-piece was. During the Highway To Hell era, he removed the socks. The guitar stayed like this until 1995, when, during the Ballbreaker tour, he replaced the Badass bridge with the original tailpiece, and removed the pick-up ring for the bridge pick-up. This is how the guitar has been since then.
Malcolm also owned a 1959 Gretsch White Falcon that was used during the tours that supported the albums Back in Black and For Those About to Rock We Salute You. But he said that after someone 'fixed' it, it lost its distinctive sound, and thus got rid of it. It was sold a few years ago on a rock star items website, along with one of Cliff Williams' MusicMan basses. He has recently used another Gretsch White Falcon at shows at Hampden Park and the Hockenheimring on The Black Ice Tour. Also in the 1980s and 1990s Malcolm Young used a Gretsch Pro Jet with Bigsby tail piece mounted on it.
Angus and Malcolm Young both use Marshall amplifiers. The amps stacked behind Malcolm onstage are two original Marshall 100 watt heads, one 1966 JTM45/100 and one late Superbass from the late 1960s or early 1970s. Each head powers two 4 × 12 cabinets. Malcolm also uses custom-made Wizard amps on tour. Malcolm's main amp, since recording Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap in 1976, is a slightly modified Marshall Superbass from the late 1960s or the early 1970s. On Ballbreaker, he used a Marshall JTM45/100 with KT66s and a high B+ voltage (625 volts). In a recent interview with Marshall Law, Malcolm mentions his two favourite amps: a Superbass and old Super amp (JTM45/100). Also Malcolm used 2 Orange full stacks in London, England on 13 July 1976 while playing "Jailbreak", "Live Wire" and "Can I Sit Next To you Girl," with Bon Scott. While AC/DC were playing at Donington Park in 1991, Malcolm used Mesa Boogie stacks.
On AC/DC's latest album, Black Ice, Malcolm stated that he used AmpliTube software on the tracks "Big Jack" and "Anything Goes".
From 1995 through to early 2011, Gretsch produced Malcolm Young signature model guitars in single and dual pickup configurations.
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