Tone library / The eagles / Hotel calafornia

Hotel calafornia amp settings — Vox VT40X

The The eagles guitar tone for “Hotel calafornia”, dialed in for a Vox VT40X with a Epiphone SG Standard. Studio album cut, Hotel California (1976) — Don Felder / Joe Walsh iconic lead solo

Original rig

Don Felder: 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard / Gibson EDS-1275 into Tweed 1950s Fender Deluxe (5E3); Joe Walsh: 1960 Fender Telecaster into Fender Champ / Roland Chorus Echo

Warm, singing vintage tweed edge-of-breakup lead tone with vocal midrange and sweet top end

Amp settings — Vox VT40X

CHANNELTWEED 4x10 (or DELUXE CL) amp modelBRIGHToffBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	6
Bass	5
Mid	7
Treble	5
Reverb	3
Master	6

Don’t have a Vox VT40X? Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPneck TONE8 VOLUME9

Why these settings

The original solo was tracked by Don Felder pushing a cranked vintage 5E3 Tweed Deluxe into natural power section saturation with his neck humbucker. On the Vox VT40X modeling amp, select the Tweed/Deluxe amp voice, push the midrange to 7 to recreate that fat tweed harmonic punch, and keep presence off (null on this panel). The Epiphone SG humbuckers match the Les Paul response well, so rolling the tone knob to 8 smooths off excess bite for Felder's fluid singing sustain.

PRO TIPUse the neck pickup with guitar volume at 9 and pick closer to the fretboard with medium attack to get that rounded, liquid flute-like bloom on the solo bends.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Vox VT40X. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

Get ToneAdapt on Google Play

More tones for the Vox VT40X

DualitySlipknot Tornado Of Souls (2004 Remix)Megadeth hero of the daymetallica ParanoidBlack Sabbath Freezing MoonMayhem Floods soloPantera

Find your amp

Browse

Vox VT40X settingsALL SONGS FOR THIS AMP The eagles tonesALL SONGS Epiphone SG Standard tonesSAME GUITAR Tone libraryEVERYTHING

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.