Nail the ToneFall Out Boy

Thnks fr th Mmrs

Fall Out Boy · Infinity on High · 2007

The main riff is a palm-muted single-note hook doubled by strings, so aim for a bright, tight mid-gain crunch with the pick attack clearly audible - a humbucker bridge pickup into a British-voiced tube amp gets you there. Nobody has documented the exact guitar and amp on this Babyface-produced track; Patrick Stump's SG-through-a-cranked-tube-head sound of that era is the best available read, and the producer only recalls trying several amps in the room. Play it dry with just room ambience, and cut gain rather than adding it if the sixteenths start to blur.

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

Tuning

Standard tuning, no capo

The record sits in Bb minor; the main riff is a single-note line up the D string around the 13th-16th frets in standard tuning, and many published tabs put the low power chords in Drop D so the Bb is one finger at the 8th fret.

Part: Riff

Guitar

  • Gibson SG · Gibson humbuckers · bridge pickup
  • Humbucker-equipped solidbody · humbucker · bridge pickup

Amp

Mid-gain British-voiced tube head into 4x12

GAIN
5.0
BASS
4.0
MID
6.5
TREBLE
7.0
PRESENCE
6.0

No source names the amp on this Babyface-produced session at Brandon's Way; Babyface has said several different amps were set up and swapped in the studio, so treat the model as a category. Keep gain moderate - the riff is mostly pick attack and palm mute, not saturation.

Amp

Orange Rockerverb 50

GAIN
5.5
BASS
4.5
MID
6.0
TREBLE
6.5
REVERB
1.5

Trohman told Guitar International he A/B'd a Bogner Uberschall and an Orange Rockerverb 50 and ran no pedals - that is his stage rig from the years around this album, not a documented session amp for this track.

Tone character

bright crunch · tight palm mute · forward mids · pick attack up front · dry and compressed

easy

The main riff is a one-string melodic line with a steady palm-muted sixteenth pulse and small position shifts, so the work is even muting and tight timing rather than difficult fretting.

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.

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Sources