Riff Tone

She Sells Sanctuary

The Cult

Guitarrock1980s

Original Gear

GuitarGretsch White Falcon

AmpRoland JC-120 (with built-in chorus) blended with Marshall (likely JCM800 or JMP) in studio

PickupsGretsch Filter'Tron humbuckers

Amp Settings

gain6.5

bass6.5

mid6.5

treble7.5

reverb4

presence6

Effects & Signal Chain

delayBoss Boss DM-2 Delay

delayBoss Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

overdriveUnknown Overdrive pedal (model unknown)

Notes

Studio recording, 1985. Billy Duffy used his Gretsch White Falcon into a Roland JC-120 (for clean/chorus) and a Marshall amp (for edge/crunch), with effects including two delay pedals, flanger, and the JC-120's built-in chorus. Flanger is used in the intro, then switched off for the main riff. Delay is always on. Chorus is from the JC-120 amp, not a pedal.

Tone Character(10)

spacious and ambientchiming and brightmodulated with lush chorusechoed with layered delayslightly gritty edge-of-breakuparticulate and percussive attackopen-string drone for fullnesswide stereo imagedynamic and touch-sensitivedistinctive post-punk shimmer

Difficulty

The riff requires intermediate skill due to the need for accurate large interval jumps, precise timing to sync with delay effects, and maintaining a consistent drone string for fullness.

Sources

What to Remember When Performing The Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary" | Guitar World "Like all great rock tracks, the song has a staggeringly simple structure": The story of The Cult's She Sells Sanctuary | MusicRadar Billy Duffy on the making of The Cult’s 1985 breakout, Love | Guitar World Billy Duffy guitar lesson: how he built a Cult following | Guitar World When Modulation Went Wild and Dirt Got Loud | First | Reverb News

This tone has been researched 6 times by the community

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