Nail the ToneThe Offspring

Self Esteem

The Offspring · Smash · 1994

The whole of Smash was cut in about ten days through one Mesa/Boogie Mark IV head and one cabinet that Noodles and Dexter shared, running the amp's lead channel for all the distortion — no overdrive or distortion pedals. Noodles tracked with a Gibson Sonex; Dexter's guitar is reported two ways (Noodles remembers an Ibanez RG, Dexter remembers a borrowed Tom Anderson). For the main riff, use a bridge humbucker, gain around 7–7.5 so chords stay tight rather than woolly, bass pulled back, treble up, and almost no reverb.

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

Tuning

Standard tuning, no capo

Standard tuning, key of A minor — the riff is A5–F5–C5–G5 power chords with muted scratch strums between changes; two guitars double the part nearly identically.

Part: Riff

Guitar

  • Gibson Sonex · stock humbucker · bridge pickup
  • Ibanez RG · stock humbucker · bridge pickup
  • Tom Anderson (borrowed) · bridge pickup

Amp

Mesa/Boogie Mark IV

GAIN
7.5
BASS
3.0
MID
4.0
TREBLE
7.0
PRESENCE
5.0
REVERB
1.0

The band bought a single Mark IV head and one cabinet with tour money and both guitarists tracked the whole album through it on the high-gain lead channel with no dirt pedals; on the Mark IV's five-band graphic EQ a mild smile curve (80Hz and 6.6kHz up, 750Hz slightly down) gets you very close to the Smash crunch.

Tone character

tight high-gain crunch · punchy palm-muted attack · firm but controlled low end · bright top-end bite · doubled rhythm guitars, wide

easy

Four movable power chords at a brisk tempo — the work is in the tight palm-muted downstrokes and the clean muted scratches between chord changes, not in the shapes.

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