Tone library / Red Hot Chili Peppers / Higher Ground

Higher Ground amp settings — Line 6 Amplifi 150

The Red Hot Chili Peppers guitar tone for “Higher Ground”, dialed in for a Line 6 Amplifi 150 with a Ibanez SR800. Studio version, Mother's Milk (1989) — signature slap bass intro/main riff

Original rig

Spector NS-2 with active EMG P/J pickups + Gallien-Krueger 800RB into 4x10 cab, mixed with studio compression and envelope filter/envelope follower (Tron-style auto-wah)

Aggressive, percussive active slap tone with biting upper mids and a dynamic envelope filter sweep
Amp settings — Line 6 Amplifi 150
CHANNELCalifornia Bass / Eden-style high-clarity bass model + Tron Up (Envelope Filter) and Red Comp blocksBRIGHTonBOOSToff
GAIN 4 BASS 6 MID 8 TREBLE 7 REVERB 0 MASTER 6
KnobSetting (0–10)
Gain4
Bass6
Mid8
Treble7
Reverb0
Master6
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Guitar
PICKUPbridge+middle TONE8 VOLUME10
Signal chain

01Tron Up (Onboard Envelope Filter Block)

Line 6 onboard Tron filter block — set sensitivity so harder slaps open the filter completely

Drive 6 · Tone 7 · Mix 8

02Red Comp (Onboard Compressor Block)

Controls slap peaks and balances the filter attack

Sustain 7 · Level 6
Why these settings

The Amplifi 150 utilizes Line 6 POD XT/HD modeling architecture, so we engage the onboard 'Tron Up' envelope filter and compression blocks directly before the clean, punchy California bass amp model. The active EMG-style P/J configuration on your Ibanez SR800 matches Flea's Spector NS-2 output profile, needing only a slight boost around 1.5kHz via the treble/mid knobs to mirror the Gallien-Krueger slap bite. The Amplifi 150 faceplate lacks a presence knob, so presence is null. Verse breakdown: dig in lightly or pull the bass volume slightly back to reduce the filter sweep width.

PRO TIPFlea slaps with his thumb pointing downward across the lower strings and snaps upward aggressively with his index finger right over the end of the fretboard for maximum percussive clack.

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These settings are for a Line 6 Amplifi 150. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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