Tone library / Slowdive / Celia's Dream

Celia's Dream amp settings — Washburn Wa15

The Slowdive guitar tone for “Celia's Dream”, dialed in for a Washburn Wa15 with a Fender Jazzmaster. Studio version, Just for a Day (1991)

Original rig

Fender Telecaster / Custom Tele into Roland JC-120 and Fender Twin Reverb with Boss PS-2 Pitch Shifter/Delay, Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion, Yamaha FX500 Soft Focus patch, and Roland Space Echo

Ethereal, heavily modulated shoegaze wall of sound with shimmer delay and washed reverb
Amp settings — Washburn Wa15
BOOSToff
GAIN 2 BASS 6 MID 5 TREBLE 6 MASTER 4
KnobSetting (0–10)
Gain2
Bass6
Mid5
Treble6
Master4
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Guitar
PICKUPneck+middle TONE9 VOLUME10
Signal chain

01M-Vave Blackbox (JC Clean Amp Model Block)

Set to a pristine Roland JC-120 style clean amp block to serve as the ultra-clean shoegaze platform

Gain 3 · Tone 6 · Level 7

02M-Vave Blackbox (Mod / Chorus Block)

Lush, deep chorus to replicate early 90s rack chorus modulation

Rate 4 · Depth 7 · Level 8

03M-Vave Blackbox (Delay Block)

Set for ~380ms repeats to emulate rack delay diffusion

Time 6 · Feedback 6 · Mix 5

04M-Vave Blackbox (Ambient Reverb Block)

Massive ambient decay mimicking the Yamaha FX500 / reverse-style reverb wash

Decay 8 · Tone 5 · Mix 7
Why these settings

The Washburn WA15 is a small, straightforward solid-state practice amp with a 3-band EQ and no onboard reverb or presence. Running the M-Vave Blackbox directly into the WA15's clean channel with low gain (2) allows the multi-FX unit to generate the essential Roland JC-120 clean platform, deep chorus modulation, and cavernous early-90s rack reverb washes that define the Slowdive sound. Distorted chorus burst: kick in a built-in Blackbox DS-1/DS-2 style distortion block before the modulation blocks for the heavy wall-of-sound choruses.

PRO TIPStrum lightly near the bridge while resting your palm gently behind the Jazzmaster's bridge to let the sympathetic string vibrations ring out through the heavy reverb wash.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Washburn Wa15. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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