Comfortably numb amp settings — Zoom G5
The Pink floyd guitar tone for “Comfortably numb”, dialed in for a Zoom G5 with a Ibanez RG421. Studio version, The Wall (1979) — second solo
Late '60s Fender Stratocaster ('Black Strat') with DiMarzio FS-1 bridge pickup → Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi (Ram's Head V2) → Colorsound Power Boost → MXR Dyna Comp → Hiwatt DR103 Custom 100 into WEM 4x12 cabs with Fane Crescendo speakers + Yamaha RA-200 rotary cabinets, tape delay
| Knob | Setting (0–10) |
|---|---|
| Gain | 2 |
| Bass | 5 |
| Mid | 6 |
| Treble | 5 |
| Presence | 5 |
| Reverb | 0 |
| Master | 7 |
01Zoom G5 Compressor Block (DynaComp model)
Adds sustain and evens out dynamics before the fuzz
02Zoom G5 Fuzz Block (Big Muff model — 'FZ BM' or similar)
Core of the tone — provides all the gain and singing sustain
03Zoom G5 Booster Block (clean boost)
Emulates Colorsound Power Boost pushing the signal
04Zoom G5 Delay Block (Analog Delay model)
Set delay time around 380-440ms for the iconic swell; moderate repeats
05Zoom G5 Modulation Block (Rotary Speaker model)
Slow rotation — adds the swirling dimension from Yamaha RA-200 cabinets
Your Ibanez RG421 has hotter humbuckers than Gilmour's single-coil Strat with FS-1, so I dropped the fuzz sustain slightly to prevent mud and rolled the guitar tone knob to 7 to tame the extra high-end bite. The Zoom G5's MS 800 model provides the clean headroom the Hiwatt offered — amp gain stays low because the Big Muff block handles all distortion. The rotary effect is subtle but essential for that three-dimensional studio shimmer.
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These settings are for a Zoom G5. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.
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