Riff Tone

Locked Out of Heaven

Bruno Mars

Guitarrock2010s+

Original Gear

GuitarFender Stratocaster (exact model unknown, likely American Standard or similar, as seen in live performances and typical for this style/era)

AmpFender Hot Rod DeVille (likely, based on live performances and genre conventions; no direct studio confirmation found)

PickupsFender single-coil pickups

Amp Settings

gain4

bass5.5

mid6

treble7

reverb2.5

presence6

Effects & Signal Chain

compressionUnknown Compressor pedal (model unknown)

Notes

Studio recording, released 2012. No official rig rundown or studio notes found for this song's riff section. Gear inferred from live videos, genre, and era. No evidence of alternate guitars or amps for the riff section.

Tone Character(10)

clean and punchybright and articulatetight and percussivefunk-inspired attackcrisp single-coil clarityminimal sustaindynamic responseslight edge-of-breakup on hard strumsstaccato rhythmpresent upper mids

Difficulty

The riff requires intermediate-level funk rhythm skills, including tight muting, precise timing, and dynamic control to maintain the clean, punchy articulation characteristic of the recording.

Sources

Locked out of heaven tone : r/Guitar - Reddit

This tone has been researched 2 times by the community

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