1979
A strummed two-guitar part that carries the melody over drum loops and samples.
What is the 1979 guitar tone?
The 1979 guitar tone is a strummed two-guitar part that carries the melody over drum loops and samples, heard on The Smashing Pumpkins' 1990s alt rock recording. It is a clean riff tone, and The Smashing Pumpkins reportedly tracked it with the guitars of Billy Corgan and James Iha, whose simple, straightforward interplay Far Out credits with many of the song's hooks and most of its melodic foundation, on a rig no source read here places on this song: Corgan told Guitar World in 1995 that he used the same '57 reissue Stratocaster as on most of Siamese Dream for a lot of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, out of about 20 electric guitars, that the album's basic sound came from a Marshall rack preamp and an Alesis compressor into a Mesa/Boogie head, alongside his 1984 Marshall JCM800 'soul head', and that everything on the album was tuned down a half step; the song grew out of a demo called Strolling, a couple of chord changes and a snippet of melody, until producer Flood said it was not good enough and Corgan wrote 1979 that night in about four hours, after which Flood heard it once and put it on the album; the ooh-ahh at the end of each phrase is Corgan's own voice, which he hummed while tracking with Flood, sang to tape and then sampled, manipulated and looped against the drum beat, and Wikipedia says the song's loops and samples were uncharacteristic of the band's earlier songs, with Pro Tools used for the album's guitar overdubs and its electronic looping and sampling; produced by Corgan, Flood and Alan Moulder, it was released on 23 January 1996 as the album's second single, became the band's highest-charting American hit at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was nominated for Record of the Year at the 1997 Grammy Awards. The sound depends on compression and pick attack more than on gain, so a lightly driven amp with the tone rolled back gets closer than a high-gain setting.
You do not need that exact gear to land in the same place. What carries this sound is the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup choice and the order of the effects, and all four can be rebuilt on equipment that costs a fraction of the original. The numbers change from amp to amp, because a clean channel on a modelling combo and a small practice amp reach the same voicing from different knob positions. That translation is what Tonelify works out for the rig you actually own.
1979 amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the neck or middle position.
- Gain 2
- Bass 5
- Middle 5
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- Compressor → Light overdrive → Room reverb
- The control that matters most
- The tuning and the two parts. Corgan tuned everything on the album down a half step, and the song's hooks come from two strummed guitars, so tune down, keep the amp clean with only light compression, and split the part between two guitars if you can.
These positions are free and they are a starting point. A Katana, a Spark and a valve head reach this voicing from different knob positions, so Tonelify rewrites every value above for the amp and guitar you own. A first plan starts with 7 days free, $0 today.
Adapt these to my amp- Pickup
- Neck or middle position
These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. If you tell Tonelify which amp you own, it rewrites every value above for the controls that amp actually has.
Does the 1979 tone sound off on your amp?
Pick what you hear. You get the knobs to turn from the starting point above, and how far.
What gear did The Smashing Pumpkins use on 1979?
The guitars of Billy Corgan and James Iha, whose simple, straightforward interplay Far Out credits with many of the song's hooks and most of its melodic foundation, on a rig no source read here places on this song: Corgan told Guitar World in 1995 that he used the same '57 reissue Stratocaster as on most of Siamese Dream for a lot of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, out of about 20 electric guitars, that the album's basic sound came from a Marshall rack preamp and an Alesis compressor into a Mesa/Boogie head, alongside his 1984 Marshall JCM800 'soul head', and that everything on the album was tuned down a half step; the song grew out of a demo called Strolling, a couple of chord changes and a snippet of melody, until producer Flood said it was not good enough and Corgan wrote 1979 that night in about four hours, after which Flood heard it once and put it on the album; the ooh-ahh at the end of each phrase is Corgan's own voice, which he hummed while tracking with Flood, sang to tape and then sampled, manipulated and looped against the drum beat, and Wikipedia says the song's loops and samples were uncharacteristic of the band's earlier songs, with Pro Tools used for the album's guitar overdubs and its electronic looping and sampling; produced by Corgan, Flood and Alan Moulder, it was released on 23 January 1996 as the album's second single, became the band's highest-charting American hit at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was nominated for Record of the Year at the 1997 Grammy Awards.
Sources: Far Out: hear the isolated guitars on the Smashing Pumpkins' 1979, Guitar World: the Smashing Pumpkins on '80s Marshalls and their essential pedals (1995), Wikipedia: 1979 (song), Wikipedia: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Tonelify's tone matcher reads that chain and translates it to the amp and guitar you already own, returning gain, bass, mids, treble and presence values along with a pickup position.
How do you get the 1979 tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of 1979
Get exact knob settings adapted to your rig
1979 tone questions
What amp settings do you need for 1979?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the neck or middle position. These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. Tonelify rewrites the same values for the specific amp and guitar you own, because a high-gain head and a small solid-state combo reach the same strummed two-guitar part that carries the melody over drum loops and samples from different positions.
What amp did Billy Corgan and James Iha use on 1979?
Amp: Album rig (a Marshall rack preamp and Alesis compressor into a Mesa/Boogie head). Guitar: Album rig (Corgan's '57 reissue Stratocaster, among about 20 electrics). Sources: Far Out, Guitar World and Wikipedia.
What were Billy Corgan and James Iha's amp settings on 1979?
None of the sources cited on this page gives Billy Corgan and James Iha's full amp settings on 1979. The numbers here are a starting point for that kind of part, not the settings from the session, and Tonelify rewrites them for the amp and guitar you own.
How do you get Billy Corgan and James Iha's tone on 1979?
The tuning and the two parts. Corgan tuned everything on the album down a half step, and the song's hooks come from two strummed guitars, so tune down, keep the amp clean with only light compression, and split the part between two guitars if you can. Play it with the neck or middle position.
What tuning is 1979 in?
Half a step down: Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb, low string to high, according to Wikipedia.
Can you get the 1979 tone without the original gear?
Yes. The parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order, and those translate to other equipment. Tonelify's adaptation step works them out for the amp and guitar you own.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
A match for your own gear takes a plan, and a first plan starts with 7 days free with nothing charged that day: Stage is $6.99 a month for 20 matches, Headliner is $10.99 a month for unlimited matching within a fair use limit of 150 new matches a day, and yearly billing works out cheaper on both. Reading this page and the rest of the library costs nothing and needs no account.
