Sunshine of Your Love
Cream
A fat, dark riff with the tone knob rolled down, Clapton's woman tone.
What is the Sunshine of Your Love guitar tone?
The Sunshine of Your Love guitar tone is a fat, dark riff with the tone knob rolled down, Clapton's woman tone, heard on Cream's 1960s psychedelic rock recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Cream reportedly tracked it with Eric Clapton's 1964 Gibson SG Standard, refinished with the psychedelic 'The Fool' graphics, which Wikipedia names as the guitar on the solo; Guitar World's 2022 feature says Clapton apparently used only his stage rig on this song, the SG into his 1966 Marshall JTM45/100 head and a single Marshall 1960B 4x12, with the bridge pickup on the backing track for the verses and choruses and the neck pickup on the solo, both with the volume at 10 and the tone control rolled down to 1, the sound known as his woman tone; Cream arrived at Atlantic Studios in New York with their concert setup of several 100-watt Marshalls, and engineer Tom Dowd said they recorded at an ear-shattering level, louder than the six- and seven-piece bands he knew on Fender Deluxes and Twins; Jack Bruce built the song on a bass riff he came up with after a night of failed writing with lyricist Pete Brown, Clapton wrote the refrain that gave the song its title, and his solo quotes the melody of Blue Moon; work began in April 1967 with producer Felix Pappalardi and finished in May, and the song came out on Disraeli Gears in November 1967; the edited single reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1968, on its second run. Here the sound is a loud Marshall with the guitar's tone control rolled almost all the way down and no fuzz pedal, so the darkness comes from the guitar and the drive from the amp's volume.
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.
Sunshine of Your Love amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 6, Bass 6, Middle 6, Treble 5, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the verses and choruses, with the bridge pickup, volume on 10 and tone rolled down to 1. There is a second setting for the solo below.
- Gain 6
- Bass 6
- Middle 6
- Treble 5
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- Marshall JTM45/100, played loud
- The control that matters most
- The guitar's tone knob. The woman tone comes from rolling the tone control down to about 1 with the guitar's volume on full, into a Marshall that is already loud, so keep the amp's own tone controls high and do the darkening at the guitar rather than with the amp's treble.
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, volume on 10 and tone rolled down to 1
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
Sunshine of Your Love amp settings for the solo
For the solo, start at Gain 6.5, Bass 6, Middle 7, Treble 5, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the neck pickup, volume on 10 and tone rolled down to 1.
- Gain 6.5
- Bass 6
- Middle 7
- Treble 5
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- Straight into the amp
- Where the song switches
- Guitar World has the bridge pickup on the backing track for the verses and choruses and the neck pickup on the solo, both with the volume on 10 and the tone rolled down to 1.
- Pickup
- Neck pickup, volume on 10 and tone rolled down to 1
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 Sunshine of Your Love 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 verses and choruses.
Published settings
What amp settings did Eric Clapton use on Sunshine of Your Love?
Presence, bass, middle and treble all on 10, with the normal channel's volume on 10, on a 1966 Marshall JTM45/100 with KT66 valves, plugged into the normal channel rather than the brighter high treble one, into a 1960B 4x12 with Celestion Greenbacks; on the SG, volume on 10 and tone on 1 for both pickups. That is Chris Gill's settings box in Guitar World's 2022 feature on the song, which says Clapton apparently used only his stage rig here and does not say where the numbers came from, so read them as the magazine's reconstruction rather than a note from the session.
Source: Guitar World: the secrets behind Eric Clapton's tone on Sunshine of Your Love
What gear did Cream use on Sunshine of Your Love?
Eric Clapton's 1964 Gibson SG Standard, refinished with the psychedelic 'The Fool' graphics, which Wikipedia names as the guitar on the solo; Guitar World's 2022 feature says Clapton apparently used only his stage rig on this song, the SG into his 1966 Marshall JTM45/100 head and a single Marshall 1960B 4x12, with the bridge pickup on the backing track for the verses and choruses and the neck pickup on the solo, both with the volume at 10 and the tone control rolled down to 1, the sound known as his woman tone; Cream arrived at Atlantic Studios in New York with their concert setup of several 100-watt Marshalls, and engineer Tom Dowd said they recorded at an ear-shattering level, louder than the six- and seven-piece bands he knew on Fender Deluxes and Twins; Jack Bruce built the song on a bass riff he came up with after a night of failed writing with lyricist Pete Brown, Clapton wrote the refrain that gave the song its title, and his solo quotes the melody of Blue Moon; work began in April 1967 with producer Felix Pappalardi and finished in May, and the song came out on Disraeli Gears in November 1967; the edited single reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1968, on its second run.
Sources: Guitar World: the secrets behind Eric Clapton's tone on Sunshine of Your Love, Wikipedia: Sunshine of Your Love
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 Sunshine of Your Love tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Sunshine of Your Love
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Sunshine of Your Love tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Sunshine of Your Love?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 6, Bass 6, Middle 6, Treble 5, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the verses and choruses, with the bridge pickup, volume on 10 and tone rolled down to 1, and at Gain 6.5, Bass 6, Middle 7, Treble 5, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the solo, with the neck pickup, volume on 10 and tone rolled down to 1. 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 fat, dark riff with the tone knob rolled down, Clapton's woman tone from different positions.
Does Sunshine of Your Love use one amp setting or two?
Two. Guitar World has the bridge pickup on the backing track for the verses and choruses and the neck pickup on the solo, both with the volume on 10 and the tone rolled down to 1. On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 6, Bass 6, Middle 6, Treble 5, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the verses and choruses, and at Gain 6.5, Bass 6, Middle 7, Treble 5, Presence 5, Reverb 3 for the solo.
What amp did Eric Clapton use on Sunshine of Your Love?
Amp: Marshall JTM45/100 and a 4x12 (his stage rig, per Guitar World). Guitar: 1964 Gibson SG Standard, the Fool. Sources: Guitar World and Wikipedia.
How do you get Eric Clapton's tone on Sunshine of Your Love?
The guitar's tone knob. The woman tone comes from rolling the tone control down to about 1 with the guitar's volume on full, into a Marshall that is already loud, so keep the amp's own tone controls high and do the darkening at the guitar rather than with the amp's treble. Play it with the bridge pickup, volume on 10 and tone rolled down to 1.
What tuning is Sunshine of Your Love in?
Standard tuning: E A D G B E, low string to high, according to Guitar World.
Source: Guitar World: the secrets behind Eric Clapton's tone on Sunshine of Your Love
Can you get the Sunshine of Your Love 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.
