Aerials amp settings — Fender 10g
The System of a down guitar tone for “Aerials”, dialed in for a Fender 10g with a Stagg Stratocaster. Studio version, Toxicity album (2001) — main distorted riff tone
Ibanez Iceman with stock ceramic humbuckers into Marshall JCM800 2203 head and Marshall 4x12 cab. Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier blended with Marshall for additional body. All gain from amp, no dirt pedals. Drop C tuning.
| Knob | Setting (0–10) |
|---|---|
| Gain | 10 |
| Bass | 4 |
| Treble | 7 |
| Master | 5 |
01Distortion pedal (Boss DS-1 or similar)
RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Essential for this tone. The Frontman 10G cannot produce high-gain saturation from its preamp alone. A DS-1 clone runs $30-40 and gets you 75% of this tone. With the pedal providing gain, keep amp gain at 3-4 and amp set clean.
The Frontman 10G is a 10-watt practice amp with a 6-inch speaker and minimal preamp gain — it cannot reach JCM800/Rectifier saturation levels even at max settings. Maxing gain and bass on this amp produces fizzy breakup, not tight metal chunk. The only path to this tone is an external distortion pedal providing all the saturation while the amp stays relatively clean. Your Strat's single coils are lower output and brighter than Daron's humbuckers, so treble is pushed to compensate for the missing low-mid thickness, and bass is kept moderate to avoid flubby response through the small speaker. Without the recommended pedal, you will get a crunchy blues tone at best, not the Aerials riff sound.
Get this tone on your amp
These settings are for a Fender 10g. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.
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