Drive
Incubus
A strummed acoustic chord lick with a rotating-speaker electric solo.
What is the Drive guitar tone?
The Drive guitar tone is a strummed acoustic chord lick with a rotating-speaker electric solo, heard on Incubus' 1990s acoustic rock recording. It is a clean riff tone, and Incubus reportedly tracked it with an acoustic guitar, which Bonedo's play-alike workshop says dominates the song, with the electric coming in only for the solo, and the same chord lick played throughout, varied a little each time; for the solo Bonedo hears a rotating-speaker sound and says Mike Einziger gets it not from a Leslie cabinet but from a Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere, and Mixdown says that around the touring and recording of Make Yourself and Morning View he played through a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier head into two Mesa 2x12 cabinets, though no source read here names the guitars on the take; Einziger said he could never have predicted it would be a hit but knew it felt special, and that the version the band made at home before recording it properly was really the same, down to Brandon Boyd singing him the lyrics in the car as they appear on the album; Boyd says the lyric is about fear, about being driven all your life by it and making decisions from fear; recorded at NRG in North Hollywood and released on 14 November 2000 as the album's third single, it topped Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart on 3 March 2001, reached number nine on the Hot 100, the band's only top ten hit there, and won Modern Rock Single of the Year at the 2001 Billboard Music Awards. Here the main part is an acoustic guitar playing one chord lick with small variations, so on an electric it wants a clean, bright sound with the gain low, and the drive saved for the solo.
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.
Drive amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the acoustic parts, with the neck or middle position. There is a second setting for the electric solo below.
- Gain 2
- Bass 5
- Middle 6
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- No amp on the main part: a strummed acoustic guitar
- The control that matters most
- The strumming hand. Bonedo says the same chord lick runs through the song with small variations and should not be played too precisely, with rattles and slipping strings welcome, so keep an electric clean and bright, strum loosely, and save a rotating-speaker sound for the solo.
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.
Second sound
Drive amp settings for the electric solo
For the electric solo, start at Gain 4.5, Bass 5, Middle 7, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut.
- Gain 4.5
- Bass 5
- Middle 7
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- Rotary speaker effect, a Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere per Bonedo
- Where the song switches
- Bonedo says the acoustic guitar dominates the song and the electric comes in only for the solo, with a rotating-speaker sound.
- Pickup
- Neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut
The same reference as the panel above: positions on a generic five-knob amp, a starting point rather than the settings on the record.
Does the Drive tone sound off on your amp?
Pick what you hear. You get the knobs to turn from the starting point above, and how far. It works from the setting for the acoustic parts.
What gear did Incubus use on Drive?
An acoustic guitar, which Bonedo's play-alike workshop says dominates the song, with the electric coming in only for the solo, and the same chord lick played throughout, varied a little each time; for the solo Bonedo hears a rotating-speaker sound and says Mike Einziger gets it not from a Leslie cabinet but from a Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere, and Mixdown says that around the touring and recording of Make Yourself and Morning View he played through a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier head into two Mesa 2x12 cabinets, though no source read here names the guitars on the take; Einziger said he could never have predicted it would be a hit but knew it felt special, and that the version the band made at home before recording it properly was really the same, down to Brandon Boyd singing him the lyrics in the car as they appear on the album; Boyd says the lyric is about fear, about being driven all your life by it and making decisions from fear; recorded at NRG in North Hollywood and released on 14 November 2000 as the album's third single, it topped Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart on 3 March 2001, reached number nine on the Hot 100, the band's only top ten hit there, and won Modern Rock Single of the Year at the 2001 Billboard Music Awards.
Sources: Bonedo: play-alike workshop, Incubus' Mike Einziger, Mixdown: gear rundown, Mike Einziger of Incubus, Wikipedia: Make Yourself, Wikipedia: Drive (Incubus song)
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 Drive tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Drive
Get exact knob settings adapted to your rig
Drive tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Drive?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the acoustic parts, with the neck or middle position, and at Gain 4.5, Bass 5, Middle 7, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the electric solo, with the neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut. 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 acoustic chord lick with a rotating-speaker electric solo from different positions.
Does Drive use one amp setting or two?
Two. Bonedo says the acoustic guitar dominates the song and the electric comes in only for the solo, with a rotating-speaker sound. On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the acoustic parts, and at Gain 4.5, Bass 5, Middle 7, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the electric solo.
What amp did Mike Einziger use on Drive?
Amp: Album era (a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier for the electric parts). Guitar: Acoustic guitar (make not documented), with an electric on the solo. Sources: Bonedo, Mixdown and Wikipedia.
What were Mike Einziger's amp settings on Drive?
None of the sources cited on this page gives Mike Einziger's full amp settings on Drive. 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 Mike Einziger's tone on Drive?
The strumming hand. Bonedo says the same chord lick runs through the song with small variations and should not be played too precisely, with rattles and slipping strings welcome, so keep an electric clean and bright, strum loosely, and save a rotating-speaker sound for the solo. Play it with the neck or middle position.
Can you get the Drive 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.
