Riff Tone

You Really Got Me

The Kinks

Guitarrock1960s

Original Gear

GuitarHarmony Meteor H70

AmpElpico AC-55 (with intentionally slashed speaker cone)

PickupsDeArmond Gold Foil single-coil pickups

Amp Settings

gain6.5

bass5.5

mid6.5

treble7

reverb1

presence4.5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1964. Dave Davies slashed the speaker cone of his small Elpico amp to create the proto-fuzz sound. No pedals were used; distortion was from the damaged speaker. The amp was likely run into a larger Vox AC30 for volume in the studio. No evidence of live/touring gear or later-era pedals applies.

Tone Character(10)

aggressive, saturated fuzz-like distortionraw and cuttingmidrange punchtight, punchy attackbiting treble edgecompressed, harmonically rich fuzzdirect and unpolishedsharp, percussive power chordsminimal sustainno modulation or time-based effects

Difficulty

The riff is built on simple power chords and a straightforward rhythm, but requires tight palm muting, fast chord changes, and aggressive picking to capture the song's raw energy.

Sources

Tone Settings for You Really Got Me by The Kinks (guitar and amp) - Guitar Chalk “So, Dave, how do I slash the amp?”: Dave Davies picks up a razor and slashes a speaker on camera to demonstrate how he got the Kinks’ iconic proto-fuzz guitar tone | MusicRadar The Kinks’ ‘You Really Got Me’: How a Broken Guitar Amp Created the Iconic Fuzz Sound Gettnig the "You Really Got Me" rhythm guitar tone TIL that the distorted power chord sound of "You Really Got Me" by ...

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