Creep amp settings — Cort 25091424

The Radiohead guitar tone for “Creep”, dialed in for a Cort 25091424 with a Fender Player Stratocaster. Studio version, Pablo Honey (1992) — Jonny Greenwood's rhythm/lead guitar

Original rig

Fender Telecaster Plus (Lace Sensors) → Marshall Shredmaster → Fender Eighty-Five (clean channel, distortion from pedal)

Glassy clean verses exploding into thick, aggressive mid-forward crunch on choruses — raw, exposed, intentionally ugly distortion

Amp settings — Cort 25091424

CHANNELClean (if available) — all distortion comes from pedalBRIGHToffBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	2
Bass	4
Mid	6
Treble	5
Presence	5
Reverb	2
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE7 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Cube Baby (Distortion/Overdrive mode)

Engage ONLY for chorus sections. The Shredmaster had thick, RAT-like mid-forward distortion — use the highest-gain dirt setting on the Cube Baby. Level set LOUDER than clean to create the dramatic dynamic shift.

Gain/Drive 7 · Tone 5 · Level/Volume 7

Why these settings

Your Strat's single coils are brighter and lower output than Greenwood's Lace Sensor Tele. I've pushed amp mids to 6 (vs typical 5) to compensate for the Strat's natural scoop and pulled tone knob to 7 to tame ice-pick highs. Amp gain stays at 2 because ALL distortion must come from the Cube Baby pedal — stacking amp gain with pedal gain will create mud, not the tight crunch this song needs.

PRO TIPThe magic of 'Creep' is the SILENCE before the noise. Keep your picking hand completely still during verses — let notes ring with zero aggression. Then on the 'so fucking special' hits, attack the strings hard near the bridge with downstrokes while stomping the dirt pedal. The tonal shift should feel violent.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Cort 25091424. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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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.