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Otherwise, you’ll likely need to increase your gain and bass setting to help you achieve a closer tone with your amp.Īmp Settings for Popular The Rolling Stones Songs The only other pedal you may want to use if you have it is a fuzz pedal for (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. If you don’t have built-in reverb then it’s worth investing in a dedicated pedal as most guitarists will use some level of reverb so it won’t only be useful if you’re trying to sound like The Rolling Stones. If your amp has built-in reverb though, then having this turned up to 2-3 will be beneficial for most songs. The good news is that The Rolling Stones are not really a band known for using many effects pedals. Make sure you also check out the brand-specific amp controls guide which is relevant to you, to get the most from your rig: Check out my complete guide to amplifier settings to learn more about these and how you need to adjust them to achieve the desired tone. Some amplifiers also have additional controls such as presence and contour which shape the tone. On most amps, this means turning it around 2/3 the way to the right (clockwise). If your amp has a single EQ/ tone control, turn this so it favours the treble frequencies as opposed to the bass. Having the mids setting too high can make the tone sound too dominating in the mix, but having it too low will make the tone thin and hard to distinguish. These are very important for a band like The Rolling Stones so you’ll want to start with this on 6 to begin with for most songs. The mids control adjusts, you guessed it, the mid-range frequencies. If it sounds too harsh, turn it down but if it sounds muddy then you can turn it up more. It’s best to start with this on 7 and work from here for most songs. A high treble setting will sound bright and crisp, but risks sounding harsh and interfering with the vocalist. The treble control adjusts the high-end frequencies and dictates how bright and clear the tone is. If it sounds too warm and loose, turn it down, if it sounds too thin, turn it up. In most cases, having the bass on 4 to begin with is about right. A low bass setting will make the tone sound thinner and brighter. A higher bass setting will sound more warm and full, but also looser and sometimes too “boomy”. The bass control adjusts the low-end frequencies and how warm the tone is. Either way, these controls help to shape the overall tone and are very important. Some amplifiers have separate bass, middle and treble controls, whereas others have a single control which is usually called either EQ or tone which essentially combines the three separate settings. In this case, you’ll want to make sure your amp sounds very clean and then use the pedal again to achieve some overdrive which will normally involve it being turned around a quarter of the way up. This is possible with either a solid state or tube amp. The only other option, is if you are using a distortion or overdrive pedal instead of using your amp for the gain. They key is to get an overdriven, rather than a pure distorted tone for most songs. If you have a valve (tube) amplifier, then you’ll want to crank this to just past the edge of break-up for most songs. Some amps will not allow you to use the gain control on the clean channel, in this case, you can use the distorted channel but will only need the gain on around 3 for most songs. This will allow you to achieve a grittier overdriven tone, but without it sounding too heavy. In this case, it’s usually best to select the clean channel and turn the gain up to 4 to begin with. If you have a solid-state amp (most reading this probably will), then you’re likely to have two channels (clean and distorted/ overdriven) and a control that’s called either gain or drive. The first thing we need to discuss, is the type of amplifier you’re using. There are three main types of setting to address here: Before we take a deeper dive into the example amp settings for different songs, I think it’s a good idea to get to grips with the settings required to achieve The Rolling Stones tone.