Tone library / Foo Fighters / The Pretender

The Pretender amp settings — Nux Mighty 20bt

The Foo Fighters guitar tone for “The Pretender”, dialed in for a Nux Mighty 20bt with a PRS SE Custom 24. Studio version, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007)

Original rig

Gibson Trini Lopez Standard (PAF-style humbuckers, bridge) → Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier (Modern channel) for distorted sections; Vox AC30 for clean intro/verse

Tense, palm-muted clean verse with headroom; massive wall of high-gain distortion on chorus with aggressive upper-mids and tight low-end

Amp settings — Nux Mighty 20bt

CHANNELClean channel for intro/verse; Lead channel for chorus

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	5
Mid	7
Treble	5
Presence	6
Reverb	0
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Why these settings

The Nux Mighty 20BT's Lead channel approximates the Rectifier's saturated modern voice. Your PRS SE Custom 24's humbuckers are hotter and tighter than Grohl's semi-hollow PAFs, so gain stays at 7 rather than pushing higher—the PRS will compress the front end more naturally. Mids pushed to 7 to capture the Recto's aggressive 800Hz bark that cuts through the mix; bass pulled back to 5 (vs Recto's 6-7) because the Nux's smaller speaker bloats with too much low-end.

PRO TIPFor the clean verse, switch to the Clean channel with gain at 1, bass 4, mid 5, treble 6—roll your guitar volume to 7 for extra headroom. When the chorus hits, stomp to Lead channel and slam volume back to 10; that dynamic jump is half the song's energy.

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Song, artist and gear names are used to identify the tone being matched; ToneAdapt is not affiliated with or endorsed by the artists or manufacturers mentioned. Settings are AI-generated starting points — trust your ears.