Riff Tone

4th of July

Soundgarden

Guitarmetal1990s

Original Gear

GuitarGuild S-100 (likely S-300 variant, as used by Kim Thayil on Superunknown era recordings)

AmpMarshall JMP 50 half stack blended with Mesa-Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo head (studio recording, 1994)

PickupsDiMarzio Super Distortion (humbucker, bridge position)

Amp Settings

gain7.5

bass7.5

mid6.5

treble5.5

reverb1

presence5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording for '4th of July' (Superunknown, 1994). Kim Thayil used a Guild S-100 with DiMarzio Super Distortion pickup into a Marshall JMP 50 and Mesa-Boogie Dual Rectifier, blended. No confirmed pedal use for the riff, but high-gain amp distortion is key. Effects are minimal or absent in the main riff.

Tone Character(10)

thick and sludgysaturated high-gaindark, massive low endtight, percussive attackmid-heavy, not scoopedaggressive, doomyminimal ambiencebridge humbucker punchdry, amp-driven distortionno audible modulation or time-based effects

Difficulty

The riff requires tight, heavy rhythm playing with accurate palm muting and control of high-gain amp feedback, but does not involve advanced lead techniques or complex chord voicings.

Sources

[QUESTION] Amp settings for Soundgarden's album Superunknown Kim Thayil | Equipboard Soundgarden's Kim Thayil, Chris Cornell, and Ben Shepherd

This tone has been researched 2 times by the community

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