Riff Tone

Disarm

The Smashing Pumpkins

Guitarrock1990s

Original Gear

GuitarFender American Vintage '57 Stratocaster (Lace Sensor pickups, likely Red in bridge)

AmpMarshall JMP-1 Rack Preamp into Mesa/Boogie Strategy 500 Power Amp (studio recording, 1994)

PickupsLace Sensor Red (bridge position, humbucker-like output)

Amp Settings

gain5.5

bass6

mid6

treble6.5

reverb2.5

presence5.5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording for 'Disarm' (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1994). JMP-1 preamp and Mesa/Boogie power amp confirmed for this era; Stratocaster with Lace Sensor pickups used on most tracks. No evidence of Big Muff or fuzz for this song's heavy section; distortion is amp-based. Chorus and delay are not audibly present in the heavy section; focus is on saturated, articulate amp distortion.

Tone Character(10)

articulate and saturatedtight low endmid-focused crunchvocal-like sustaincompressed but dynamicclear bridge pickup attackfull-bodied rhythmnot fuzzy or scoopedlayered wall-of-soundslightly bright top end

Difficulty

The riff is rhythmically straightforward but requires tight timing, dynamic picking, and clean power chord execution to match the saturated, articulate studio sound.

Sources

Smashing Pumpkins (Billy Corgan) Amp Settings (gear and tone tips) - Guitar Chalk "All we ever wanted to do in this band is kick people's ass": The Smashing Pumpkins on '80s Marshalls, epic guitar arrangements and their essential pedals | Guitar World Smashing Pumpkins “Mellon Collie” era tone? : r/guitarpedals - Reddit

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