Santeria
Sublime
A laid-back, clean reggae groove with a melodic lead line.
What is the Santeria guitar tone?
The Santeria guitar tone is a laid-back, clean reggae groove with a melodic lead line, heard on Sublime's 1990s reggae rock recording. It is a clean riff tone, and Sublime reportedly tracked it with the guitar part Bradley Nowell recycled, with the bass line, from the band's earlier Lincoln Highway Dub on Robbin' the Hood (1994), though no source read here names his guitar or amp on the take; producer Paul Leary, drummer Bud Gaugh and engineer Stuart Sullivan told Rolling Stone that the band revisited that instrumental in the studio and were stumped over which arrangement to work through, that Nowell struggled over the guitar part before an accidental note created the solo, and that rather than building tracks piece by piece they would wait for the right moment, when Nowell felt it, and just go, which in Sullivan's memory was largely how Santeria was made; the Austin Chronicle says a surprising amount of the album came from live tracking, even some of Nowell's vocals and guitar solos, recorded and mixed mostly at Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studio and at Arlyn Studios in Austin, Texas, between February and April 1996, and that Nowell and Miguel Happoldt, whose credits on the album include guitar and Space Echo dub effects, settled into Arlyn for overdubs; Nowell died of a heroin overdose in May 1996, two months before Sublime came out on 30 July; The A.V. Club called Santeria a blue-beat reggae song on its surface and a classic country song in essence, and the single, released on 7 January 1997, reached the top five of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. Reggae rock guitar is mostly short, clean chord stabs off the beat with the bass carrying the low end, so the amp's headroom and how quickly each chord is muted matter more than any gain.
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.
Santeria amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 4, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the neck or middle position.
- Gain 2
- Bass 4
- Middle 6
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- Clean amp; Space Echo dub effects credited on the album, not on this song
- The control that matters most
- Space and a clean attack. The part is a clean, laid-back reggae groove, so keep the gain low, mute each chord right after you strike it so the bass has room, and add only a touch of drive for the solo, which the band says grew out of an accidental note rather than a planned line.
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 Santeria 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 Sublime use on Santeria?
The guitar part Bradley Nowell recycled, with the bass line, from the band's earlier Lincoln Highway Dub on Robbin' the Hood (1994), though no source read here names his guitar or amp on the take; producer Paul Leary, drummer Bud Gaugh and engineer Stuart Sullivan told Rolling Stone that the band revisited that instrumental in the studio and were stumped over which arrangement to work through, that Nowell struggled over the guitar part before an accidental note created the solo, and that rather than building tracks piece by piece they would wait for the right moment, when Nowell felt it, and just go, which in Sullivan's memory was largely how Santeria was made; the Austin Chronicle says a surprising amount of the album came from live tracking, even some of Nowell's vocals and guitar solos, recorded and mixed mostly at Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studio and at Arlyn Studios in Austin, Texas, between February and April 1996, and that Nowell and Miguel Happoldt, whose credits on the album include guitar and Space Echo dub effects, settled into Arlyn for overdubs; Nowell died of a heroin overdose in May 1996, two months before Sublime came out on 30 July; The A.V. Club called Santeria a blue-beat reggae song on its surface and a classic country song in essence, and the single, released on 7 January 1997, reached the top five of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Sources: Rolling Stone: The Breakdown, Sublime's drummer and producers on the making of Santeria, The Austin Chronicle: 25 years ago, Sublime arrived in Austin and cut one of the decade's biggest albums, Wikipedia: Santeria (song), Wikipedia: Sublime (album)
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 Santeria tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Santeria
Get exact knob settings adapted to your rig
Santeria tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Santeria?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 4, Middle 6, 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 laid-back, clean reggae groove with a melodic lead line from different positions.
What amp did Bradley Nowell use on Santeria?
Amp: Not documented for this song. Guitar: Not documented for this song. Sources: Rolling Stone, The Austin Chronicle and Wikipedia.
What were Bradley Nowell's amp settings on Santeria?
None of the sources cited on this page gives Bradley Nowell's full amp settings on Santeria. 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 Bradley Nowell's tone on Santeria?
Space and a clean attack. The part is a clean, laid-back reggae groove, so keep the gain low, mute each chord right after you strike it so the bass has room, and add only a touch of drive for the solo, which the band says grew out of an accidental note rather than a planned line. Play it with the neck or middle position.
Can you get the Santeria 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.
