Nail the ToneThe Black Keys

Little Black Submarines

The Black Keys · El Camino · 2011

The loud half of this song was cut live in the room — guitar and drums together, first take — with small vintage amps driven past breakup rather than a big stack. Get there with a P-90 or single-coil guitar into a low-watt combo turned up to where it's already crunching, then hit it with a thick vintage-style fuzz for the solo; mids forward, treble moderate, no scooped modern high gain. Tchad Blake's mix adds the room and slap, so a touch of short reverb or slapback gets you closer than more gain will.

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

Tuning

Standard tuning, no capo

Standard tuning, solo in A minor pentatonic; the quiet intro was cut separately on a resonator guitar and spliced to the loud electric half, so the two sections were never one performance.

Part: Solo

Guitar

  • 1953 Gibson Les Paul goldtop · P-90s · bridge pickup
  • 1950s Harmony Stratotone · vintage single-coils · bridge pickup

Amp

Magnatone M10

GAIN
9.0
BASS
5.0
TREBLE
6.0

Auerbach named a 1x10 Magnatone M10 as a main El Camino amp, cranked to breakup; the knob values here are inferred from the record, not quoted from him.

Amp

Ampeg Gemini II (JBL D-130 speaker)

GAIN
8.0
BASS
5.0
TREBLE
6.0
REVERB
2.0

He describes it as an Ampeg Gemini II in Total Guitar and as an 'Ampeg V-92 with a JBL D-130' in Guitar World — same combo, two names; he blew the speaker during the sessions, which is part of the record's ragged edge.

Pedals

  • Shin-ei Companion Fuzz · fuzz · Fuzz near max, level to taste — his go-to fuzz, and named for this track's heavy half
  • Marshall Supa Fuzz · fuzz · Fuzz high, level unity; thicker and less gated than the Shin-ei
  • Clean boost · boost · Enough to push the amp harder — he says he uses fuzz and boost only, never a distortion or overdrive pedal

Tone character

thick vintage fuzz · cranked small-amp breakup · forward mids · singing sustain · roomy, slightly blown edge

medium

Zeppelin-style A minor pentatonic phrasing with unison bends and whole-step bends that have to land in tune, plus quick position shifts between the 5th and 12th frets over a loose, pushing tempo.

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