Nail the Toneblink-182

All the Small Things

blink-182 · Enema of the State · 1999

The main riff is DeLonge's classic two-amp blend: a hot bridge humbucker into a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier for saturation and low end, run in parallel with a Marshall JCM900 pushed for pick attack and string definition. Jerry Finn double-tracked and hard-panned the parts with Royer R-121 ribbons, which is where the record's width comes from. On one amp, chase a tight, bright crunch with mids pulled back a touch — not a scooped metal sound, since the chords have to stay legible.

Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record

Tuning

Standard tuning, no capo

Standard tuning, in C; the rhythm guitar is double-tracked and panned wide on the record, so one pass alone will never sound as big.

Part: Riff

Guitar

  • Fender Stratocaster (modified, single humbucker) · Seymour Duncan SH-8 Invader · bridge pickup
  • Gibson Les Paul Standard (modified, 1997) · Seymour Duncan SH-8 Invader · bridge pickup

Amp

Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier

GAIN
8.0
BASS
5.0
MID
4.0
TREBLE
7.0
PRESENCE
6.0

DeLonge said he ran the Mesa's dirty channel with the gain way up and blended it with the Marshall for the low end and saturation; on one amp alone, back the gain to about 6 so the riff's chord tones stay clear.

Amp

Marshall JCM900 4100

GAIN
10.0
BASS
5.0
MID
6.0
TREBLE
7.0
PRESENCE
6.0
REVERB
1.0

DeLonge described using the JCM900's clean channel with the gain cranked (that knob is marked past 10, so this is a pushed crunch, not a full lead sound) for pick attack and string definition; if you only own one amp, a Marshall-style crunch gets you closer to the riff's bite than a Recto alone.

Pedals

  • Mesa/Boogie High Gain Amp Switch · amp splitter / ABY · Guitar split to both heads running in parallel; documented in Jerry Finn's studio guitar chain for these sessions

Tone character

tight high-gain crunch · bright pick attack · slightly scooped mids · double-tracked wall · controlled, not boomy low end

easy

Three open-position power chord shapes (C5, G5, F5) at a brisk tempo with steady palm-muted downstrokes — the challenge is keeping the picking hand even and muting cleanly between chord changes.

Want this on your own amp?

These are the record's settings. Tell us what you play through and we'll translate every knob to the amp you actually own — free.

Adapt it to my gear

Sources