Supersonic
A swaggering, mid-tempo riff in F sharp minor, with a pick scrape in the intro and a thick, doubled lead line.
What is the Supersonic guitar tone?
The Supersonic guitar tone is a swaggering, mid-tempo riff in F sharp minor, with a pick scrape in the intro and a thick, doubled lead line, heard on Oasis' 1990s rock recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Oasis reportedly tracked it with Noel Gallagher's Epiphone Les Paul Standard through a used Watkins Dominator MkIII combo, which Guitar World says was the whole of his rig in December 1993 along with a Roland Space Echo that he does not appear to have used on the session; Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs played a Gibson SG owned by engineer Dave Scott through a Marshall JCM900 owned by Chris Griffiths of the Real People, the heavier, fuzzier rhythm guitar that comes in about 30 seconds in; for the lead overdubs Scott put the Dominator in the studio's stone room with close and distant microphones and recorded a second unison take with the tape sped up slightly, which thickens the line like a chorus, though author Alex Niven describes phaser on the overdubbed lead; Gallagher stacked several rhythm tracks that Scott cut down to two in the mix, and Scott suggested the pick scrape in the intro; the band wrote and recorded the song in one day, 19 December 1993, at the Pink Museum studio in Liverpool with their live sound engineer Mark Coyle, after a session meant for another song fell through, and Gallagher says he wrote it in half an hour while the others took a break for a Chinese takeaway; it was meant as a demo but was never re-recorded, and it came out as Oasis' first single on 11 April 1994, reaching number 31 in the UK. Much of this character comes from an amp worked hard rather than from a pedal, so master volume and pickup output matter more than the gain knob.
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.
Supersonic amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 5, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 2, with the bridge pickup.
- Gain 5
- Bass 5
- Middle 6
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 2
- Signal chain
- Watkins Dominator MkIII combo, turned up → A second lead take with the tape sped up slightly (studio)
- The control that matters most
- Amp volume, then doubling. The record is an Epiphone Les Paul into a small combo turned up, so get the crunch from the amp's volume rather than a pedal and keep the bass modest. The lead line sounds wide because it was played twice with the tape sped up a touch on one take, so a slight detune or a gentle chorus on a second track gets close.
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. Your first match is free with an account, and needs no card.
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.
Published settings
What amp settings did Noel Gallagher use on Supersonic?
Volume 10 and tone 10 on the Epiphone Les Paul Standard's bridge pickup, into a Watkins Dominator MkIII combo on its channel 2 input with volume 10, bass 4 and treble 6, through a Celestion G12H 30-watt speaker. That is the settings box in Chris Gill's 2021 Guitar World feature on the song, which does not say where the numbers come from, so read them as the magazine's reconstruction rather than a note from the session. The same feature says the Dominator was all the amp Gallagher owned at the time.
What gear did Oasis use on Supersonic?
Noel Gallagher's Epiphone Les Paul Standard through a used Watkins Dominator MkIII combo, which Guitar World says was the whole of his rig in December 1993 along with a Roland Space Echo that he does not appear to have used on the session; Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs played a Gibson SG owned by engineer Dave Scott through a Marshall JCM900 owned by Chris Griffiths of the Real People, the heavier, fuzzier rhythm guitar that comes in about 30 seconds in; for the lead overdubs Scott put the Dominator in the studio's stone room with close and distant microphones and recorded a second unison take with the tape sped up slightly, which thickens the line like a chorus, though author Alex Niven describes phaser on the overdubbed lead; Gallagher stacked several rhythm tracks that Scott cut down to two in the mix, and Scott suggested the pick scrape in the intro; the band wrote and recorded the song in one day, 19 December 1993, at the Pink Museum studio in Liverpool with their live sound engineer Mark Coyle, after a session meant for another song fell through, and Gallagher says he wrote it in half an hour while the others took a break for a Chinese takeaway; it was meant as a demo but was never re-recorded, and it came out as Oasis' first single on 11 April 1994, reaching number 31 in the UK.
Sources: Wikipedia: Supersonic (Oasis song), Guitar World: the story behind Oasis' Supersonic, Ground Guitar: Noel Gallagher's gear on Definitely Maybe
Tonelify 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 Supersonic tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Supersonic
Get exact knob settings adapted to your rig
Supersonic tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Supersonic?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 5, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 2, 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 swaggering, mid-tempo riff in F sharp minor, with a pick scrape in the intro and a thick, doubled lead line from different positions.
What is the most important control for the Supersonic tone?
Amp volume, then doubling. The record is an Epiphone Les Paul into a small combo turned up, so get the crunch from the amp's volume rather than a pedal and keep the bass modest. The lead line sounds wide because it was played twice with the tape sped up a touch on one take, so a slight detune or a gentle chorus on a second track gets close.
Can you get the Supersonic tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with Noel Gallagher's Epiphone Les Paul Standard through a used Watkins Dominator MkIII combo, which Guitar World says was the whole of his rig in December 1993 along with a Roland Space Echo that he does not appear to have used on the session; Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs played a Gibson SG owned by engineer Dave Scott through a Marshall JCM900 owned by Chris Griffiths of the Real People, the heavier, fuzzier rhythm guitar that comes in about 30 seconds in; for the lead overdubs Scott put the Dominator in the studio's stone room with close and distant microphones and recorded a second unison take with the tape sped up slightly, which thickens the line like a chorus, though author Alex Niven describes phaser on the overdubbed lead; Gallagher stacked several rhythm tracks that Scott cut down to two in the mix, and Scott suggested the pick scrape in the intro; the band wrote and recorded the song in one day, 19 December 1993, at the Pink Museum studio in Liverpool with their live sound engineer Mark Coyle, after a session meant for another song fell through, and Gallagher says he wrote it in half an hour while the others took a break for a Chinese takeaway; it was meant as a demo but was never re-recorded, and it came out as Oasis' first single on 11 April 1994, reaching number 31 in the UK, but the parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order. Those translate to other equipment, which is what the adaptation step does.
Is Supersonic a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a riff part with a distorted character, from Oasis' 1990s rock catalogue.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
Your first match for your own gear is free with an account, and needs no card. After that both plans start with a 7-day free trial: 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.
