Is This It amp settings — Fender Twin Reverb
The The Strokes guitar tone for “Is This It”, dialed in for a Fender Twin Reverb with a Squier Affinity Stratocaster. Studio version, Is This It (2001) — recorded at Transporterraum Studios with Gordon Raphael
Fender Hot Rod DeVille 212, Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde overdrive, RAT distortion, MXR Micro Amp boost, 1972 reissue Fender Stratocaster (Albert Hammond Jr.)
| Knob | Setting (0–10) |
|---|---|
| Gain | 0 |
| Bass | 4 |
| Mid | 4 |
| Treble | 6 |
| Presence | 0 |
| Reverb | 0 |
| Master | 6 |
01Overdrive pedal (TS-style or similar)
RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. A Boss SD-1, Ibanez TS9, or Joyo Vintage Overdrive ($30) will get you 90% there. The Jekyll & Hyde's overdrive side was set near-clean with tone around 8-9 o'clock and gain at 11-12 o'clock. Without this pedal, crank the amp volume to 7-8 and accept a cleaner tone—the Twin won't break up naturally at safe volumes.
Your Twin Reverb is brighter and has more clean headroom than the Hot Rod DeVille used on the recording. I dropped treble from the typical 7 to 6 and kept mids at 4 to avoid ice-pick highs the Twin produces. The original tone's grit came entirely from the Jekyll & Hyde pedal into a clean amp—without an overdrive pedal, you cannot fully replicate the lo-fi crunch. Rolling your tone knob to 6 compensates for the Squier's bright ceramic pickups and mimics the muffled quality on the record.
Get this tone on your amp
These settings are for a Fender Twin Reverb. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.
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