How David Gilmour Recorded 'Comfortably Numb's' Two Iconic Solos with Different Amps

The two guitar solos in “Comfortably Numb” are famous for their emotional contrast, and that contrast was built right into the recording setup. For the first solo—the weary, aching one that comes in after the verse—Gilmour used a small Fender Princeton or Deluxe Reverb. The smaller amp gave a cleaner, sweeter break-up with less sustain, perfect for that resigned, almost fragile feel.

The outro solo—that soaring, crescendo explosion—came from a completely different rig: a big Hiwatt DR103 cranked into a 4x12 cabinet. Gilmour wanted maximum headroom, distortion, and feedback sustain to make the notes sing and scream. He also used a volume pedal to swell into notes and a wah pedal locked partway to shape the mids. The shift from intimate small-amp tone to crushing big-amp power mirrors the song’s narrative—Pink’s numbness giving way to a final outburst of feeling. The two solos weren’t just played differently; they were engineered to live in different worlds.