Riff Tone

Immortality

Pearl Jam

Guitarrock1990s

Original Gear

GuitarFender '62 Reissue Stratocaster

AmpFender Bassman 4x10 (likely reissue, as used by McCready in 1990s)

PickupsFender single-coil Strat pickups

Amp Settings

gain5

bass6

mid7

treble6

reverb3

presence5.5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1994 (Vitalogy album). Mike McCready stated he used a '62 reissue Strat in position 4 (neck + middle) for the beginning riff. No explicit mention of pedals or effects for the riff section. Amp inferred from McCready's known studio rig for this era.

Tone Character(10)

softer strat neck+middle soundslightly gritty edge-of-breakupclear single-coil articulationdynamic and touch-sensitivethin but present low endmild breakup with some fuzzinessnot compressed or saturatedopen and airyraw and unpolishedorganic amp-driven crunch

Difficulty

The riff requires moderate picking accuracy and dynamic control to achieve the touch-sensitive, edge-of-breakup tone, but does not involve advanced techniques or fast tempo.

Sources

Mike McCready breaks down 15 landmark Pearl Jam guitar tracks | Guitar World Why the Fender Bassman 4x10 is considered a holy grail amp | Guitar World Anyone else prefer “gross” guitar tones over perfect ones?

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