Otherside amp settings — Mercury GA-15
The Red Hot Chili Peppers guitar tone for “Otherside”, dialed in for a Mercury GA-15 with a Mercury MS15. Studio version, Californication (1999) — main intro/verse clean riff
1955 Gretsch White Falcon into Marshall Major / Silver Jubilee 2555 (clean/edge-of-breakup) with Boss CE-1 and subtle studio compression
| Knob | Setting (0–10) |
|---|---|
| Gain | 3 |
| Bass | 5 |
| Mid | 6 |
| Treble | 7 |
| Master | 6 |
01Chorus (Boss CE-2W / CE-1 style)
RECOMMENDED — not currently owned; adds the subtle modulation and sparkle of Frusciante's original CE-1 preamp/chorus
The Mercury GA-15 is an entry solid-state practice amp with standard 3-band EQ and no presence or onboard reverb. To capture the chime of the White Falcon through a Marshall clean channel, gain is set low at 3 for pristine headroom with slight bite, while treble is pushed to 7 and mids to 6 to emulate the signature percussive snap. Using the in-between neck+middle pickup position on the Strat-style MS15 adds the glassy sparkle Frusciante achieves on the recording. Solo/chorus sections push slightly harder: dig in with your picking hand or roll up to volume 10 to induce natural edge-of-breakup grit.
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These settings are for a Mercury GA-15. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.
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