In the End
Linkin Park · Hybrid Theory · 2000
The heavy part of "In the End" is a Drop D power-chord riff cut with Brad Delson's Hybrid Theory rig: humbucker bridge pickup into Rectifier-style high gain, scooped mids, and a fast, tight palm mute. The clean verse figure is a nearly clean amp with a touch of chorus, sitting under the piano hook. Don Gilmore layered several guitar passes for the width you hear, so a single amp will get you close but not identical.
Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record
Tuning
Drop D (D A D G B E)
The heavy riff and choruses sit on the low D power shape; the clean intro figure over the piano line is played in the same tuning.
Guitar
- PRS Custom 24 · PRS HFS (bridge) · bridge pickup
- Ibanez RG series · Humbucker · bridge pickup
Amp
Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier
Delson's Hybrid Theory-era distortion is consistently described as Rectifier-style high gain into 4x12s; producer Don Gilmore layered multiple amp/guitar passes, so no single channel strip reproduces the record. Other accounts credit Marshall JCM800/900 and Mesa Mark-series tracks in the stack of overdubs.
Amp
Fender-style clean combo
For the muted, chorus-y clean figure under the verses; kept nearly clean with the pick attack doing the work.
Pedals
- Boss CE-5 / chorus · Chorus · Subtle: rate ~9 o'clock, depth ~10 o'clock on the clean verse part
- DigiTech Whammy · Pitch shifter · Used elsewhere in the Delson rig; not essential to this riff
- Studio compression / limiting · Dynamics · Applied at mix on the guitar bus for the tight, even chug
Tone character
tight scooped high gain · clipped palm-muted chug · clean chorused verse figure · heavily layered rhythm stack · controlled low end
Root-position power chords in Drop D that only need one finger, but the riff lives or dies on tight palm muting and locking the eighth-note chug to the drum machine.
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