It's funny, even to this day he apologizes for breaking a string. The amp's master output has to be turned up to a certain point to really get the warmth and reaction. On the Marshall Jubilee Series amps that Slash uses, those heads have a lead master and another gain stage. And, then the input gain is like about 6, so technically we're possibly running more output gain than input gain. The 25s are warmer and they break naturally which is part of what makes the classic Marshall sound.
Monster is definately the standard of cable to live up to.
A lot of times, a high gain amp can be a big antenna for noise. With Monster, that's never been a problem because the shielding is so good. I think the wood that he got was probably drier and it has the distinctive sound that's unmatched with any of his other Les Pauls. It's an old road dog thats been broken several times. Its got a great mid range sound that works for him.