Most of the songs I’m playing are rock songs (in the band). This means most of the tones I use will be heavy and with lots of gain. I’m going to research into the pedals and amps a few of the bands used for the songs we are playing.
Radiohead- My Iron Lung
Jhonny Greenwood part in My Iron Lung is what I am playing so I want to get as close as possible to the sound he had during the song.
Jonny Greenwood’s guitar tone on Radiohead’s My Iron Lung | Guitar World
In the song, Greenwood used the Fender Eighty-Five, a late Eighties 85 watt solid state combo with a single 12 inch speaker which was cheap new and remained cheap until the early 90’s.
For the song My Iron Lung, Greenwood used the amp on clean setting and used the pedals DigiTech Whammy WH-1 and a Marshall Shred Master.
He set his Whammy to its Octave Up setting which gives it a somewhat harsh, warbling texture which makes the melodic guitar line sounds really cool. The Shred Master is used for the louder more heavy parts of the song to produce aggressive bursts of distortion. He also used just the Fender Eighty-Five amps clean tone for the jazzy chords throughout the verses.
The guitar he used was an early nineties Fender Telecaster Plus with a Red-Red Dually (bridge)and a blue lace sensor pickups (bridge pickup setting); volume: 10, tone: 10.
The amp settings he used were: Clean tone – Input 1, Volume: 6, Treble: 7, Mid: 5, Bass: 4, Reverb: 0; Dirty tone – Input 1, Volume: 10, Treble: 7, Mid: 8, Bass: 7, Reverb: 0, Gain: 10, Mid Boost: On, Limiter: 3, Presence: 5, Volume: 10, Select: On
His effects: DigiTech Whammy WH-1 (Octave +1 setting, foot pedal 100 percent toe down); Marshall Shred Master (Gain: 9, Bass: 8, Contour: 0, Treble: 8, Volume: 6)
Strings/tuning: Dean Markley Blue Steel .010-.046/Standard.009-.040/ Standard
Pick: Jim Dunlop .60mm Nylon Standard 44P
Nirvana- Heart Shaped Box
There aren’t many articles or videos out there saying how to get the specific tone for heart shaped box, however there’s plenty of articles about Kurt’s rig and his signature tone.
Sound Like Nirvana: Kurt Cobain Amp Settings and Gear (killerrig.com)
To get a closer sound to Kurt’s, have your amp settings more mid-focused. Set your treble to 5, mid-range around 7-8 and bass at about 5. Then adding quite a bit of gain at about 8, you will have a good starting point for a classic Kurt sound on most amps.
To get the best tone for Heart Shaped Box, if your amp has a crunch channel, that would give the closest sound. However if it does not, set your gain to around 3-4, your treble to 5, your mids to 6 and the bass to 4. This is for the verses as its not as heavy.
For the choruses you will need a more overdriven crunch tone that has a very present mid range. Have your gain at 8, treble 5, mids 8 and bass 4-5. This gives it a more grungy sound.
The guitar Kurt used was a Univox Hi-Flier Phase 4 which looked like this:
Jeff Buckley- Grace
There aren’t many articles or videos explaining how he got the tone so I’ve had to listen to the song a few times to try and figure it out.
By listening to the song its clear that he uses a clean tone on his amp, with a slight bit of chorus. This shouldn’t be hard for me to pull off as I have a chorus pedal. There is a bridge that is a bit heavier as well which just sounds like gain.
Jeff Buckley’s Fender Vibroverb ’63 Reissue (Brownface) – Ground Guitar
Jeff used a Fender Vibroverb ’63 reissue (brownface) amp which was is favourite amp.
The guitar he used during the recording of the album Grace was his Fender Telecaster which has a mirrored pickguard.
References:
East, D. (2024) Sound like Nirvana: Kurt Cobain Amp Settings and gear, Killer Rig. Available at: https://killerrig.com/sound-like-nirvana-amp-settings/ (Accessed: 06 May 2024).
Gill, C. (2018a) The secrets behind Jonny Greenwood’s guitar tone on Radiohead’s my iron lung, guitarworld. Available at: https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/the-secrets-behind-jonny-greenwoods-guitar-tone-on-radioheads-my-iron-lung (Accessed: 06 May 2024).
Kopilovic, D. (2022) Jeff Buckley’s fender vibroverb ’63 reissue (Brownface), Ground Guitar. Available at: https://www.groundguitar.com/jeff-buckley-gear/jeff-buckleys-fender-vibroverb-63-reissue-brownface/#:~:text=Jeff%20is%20seen%20using%20a%20brownface%20Fender%20Vibroverb,to%20the%20Vibroverb%20is%20a%20Mesa%20Boogie%20Tremoverb. (Accessed: 06 May 2024).