Sonne
A slow, crushing riff under a sampled choir and keyboards.
What is the Sonne guitar tone?
The Sonne guitar tone is a slow, crushing riff under a sampled choir and keyboards, heard on Rammstein's 2000s industrial metal recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Rammstein reportedly tracked it with a rig that no source read here places on the take, with Richard Kruspe on lead guitar and Paul Landers on rhythm guitar in Mutter's credits, from a band whose sound Landers told MusicRadar has always been a mix of amps, one a bit more live and the other a bit more direct: Kruspe was always the amp guy, Landers the no-amp guy, with a Tech 21 SansAmp for his main sound and his Roland Jazz Chorus for his clean sound on the records, while Kruspe says his main distortion today goes into one of three Mesa/Boogie Rectifiers; Till Lindemann says the song was first written as an entrance song for the boxer Vitali Klitschko, whose surname was its working title, and it debuted as Klitschko on 16 April 2000, very different from the final version; the female vocals come from Spectrasonics' Symphony of Voices sample library; after pre-production in a rented house in Heiligendamm on the Baltic Sea, Mutter was recorded in May and June 2000 at Studio Miraval in southern France, and Louder says producer Jacob Hellner mixed it with Stefan Glaumann, while Ronald Prent, the engineer behind the core Rammstein sound on Herzeleid and Sehnsucht, oversaw preliminary mixes in June 2000; Sonne was the album's lead single, peaking at number two on the German Singles Chart, and producer Peter Tägtgren has recommended Mutter as a reference for beginner producers for its heavy guitars and good drum sound. Industrial metal guitar is tight, palm-muted high gain locked to programmed drums and synths, so the noise gate and a controlled low end matter more than extra gain, and the size comes from doubled parts.
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 high-gain head 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.
Sonne amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 8, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 1, with the bridge pickup.
- Gain 8
- Bass 5
- Middle 5
- Treble 7
- Presence 6
- Reverb 1
- Signal chain
- Two guitars: a miked Mesa/Boogie and a direct SansAmp (the band's recipe)
- The control that matters most
- Weight without blur. The riff is slow and heavy under a choir and keyboards, so set a tight high-gain sound with the bass controlled and the mids in, mute between hits so each one lands, and stack a second take rather than adding gain, which is how the band's two-guitar sound is built.
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
- Bridge pickup
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 Sonne 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 Rammstein use on Sonne?
A rig that no source read here places on the take, with Richard Kruspe on lead guitar and Paul Landers on rhythm guitar in Mutter's credits, from a band whose sound Landers told MusicRadar has always been a mix of amps, one a bit more live and the other a bit more direct: Kruspe was always the amp guy, Landers the no-amp guy, with a Tech 21 SansAmp for his main sound and his Roland Jazz Chorus for his clean sound on the records, while Kruspe says his main distortion today goes into one of three Mesa/Boogie Rectifiers; Till Lindemann says the song was first written as an entrance song for the boxer Vitali Klitschko, whose surname was its working title, and it debuted as Klitschko on 16 April 2000, very different from the final version; the female vocals come from Spectrasonics' Symphony of Voices sample library; after pre-production in a rented house in Heiligendamm on the Baltic Sea, Mutter was recorded in May and June 2000 at Studio Miraval in southern France, and Louder says producer Jacob Hellner mixed it with Stefan Glaumann, while Ronald Prent, the engineer behind the core Rammstein sound on Herzeleid and Sehnsucht, oversaw preliminary mixes in June 2000; Sonne was the album's lead single, peaking at number two on the German Singles Chart, and producer Peter Tägtgren has recommended Mutter as a reference for beginner producers for its heavy guitars and good drum sound.
Sources: MusicRadar: Rammstein's Paul Landers on being the no-amp guy, MusicRadar: Rammstein's Richard Z. Kruspe on guitar sounds, Louder: The twisted story of Rammstein's Mutter, Wikipedia: Sonne (Rammstein song), Wikipedia: Mutter (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 Sonne tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Sonne
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Sonne tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Sonne?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 8, Bass 5, Middle 5, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 1, with the bridge pickup. 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 slow, crushing riff under a sampled choir and keyboards from different positions.
What amp did Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers use on Sonne?
Amp: Not documented; Kruspe's Mesa/Boogie Rectifiers and Landers' SansAmp are the band's recipe. Guitar: Not documented for this song. Sources: MusicRadar, Louder and Wikipedia.
What were Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers' amp settings on Sonne?
None of the sources cited on this page gives Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers' full amp settings on Sonne. 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 Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers' tone on Sonne?
Weight without blur. The riff is slow and heavy under a choir and keyboards, so set a tight high-gain sound with the bass controlled and the mids in, mute between hits so each one lands, and stack a second take rather than adding gain, which is how the band's two-guitar sound is built. Play it with the bridge pickup.
Can you get the Sonne 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.
