Nail the ToneFoo Fighters

Everlong

Foo Fighters · The Colour and the Shape · 1997

For the main riff Grohl played his Gibson RD Standard into a Fender Custom Shop Tone-Master head driving a Mesa/Boogie 4x12, cut at Grandmaster Recorders with Gil Norton producing and Bradley Cook engineering. Aim for a mid-forward crunch rather than high gain — the weight comes from Drop D, hard picking, and doubled tracks, not from the gain knob. Bridge pickup, palm mute anchored on the saddles, and let the open low D ring under the shape.

Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record

Tuning

Drop D

The record has the rhythm part doubled and panned left/right, both guitars in Drop D, so a single track will sound thinner than the album.

Part: Riff

Guitar

  • Gibson RD Standard · Stock Gibson humbuckers · bridge pickup
  • Hagstrom HIIN (Pat Smear) · Stock humbucker

Amp

Fender Custom Shop Tone-Master head (100W) into Mesa/Boogie 4x12

GAIN
5.5
BASS
5.0
MID
6.5
TREBLE
6.5

Engineer Bradley Cook names the RD Standard through a Tone-Master head and a Mesa/Boogie 4x12 for this song; values are Channel B on the Zinky-designed Tone-Master, which has no presence and no reverb. A widely repeated alternate account credits Grohl's Gibson Trini Lopez and a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier for the album's heavy tracks.

Amp

Mesa/Boogie Studio .22 preamp + Crest 4801 into Marshall 4x12

Pat Smear's rig on the sessions, a mid-forward punk tone layered against Grohl's track; no knob settings are documented, and it kept blowing the Marshall speakers, which the band left in.

Pedals

  • ProCo Turbo Rat · distortion · Documented among the pedals at the sessions, not confirmed on this track; if you use one, keep drive low and filter open.
  • ProCo Rat 2 · distortion · Same status — available for overdubs across the album, not tied to the main riff.

Tone character

moderate crunch, not saturated · forward mids · tight palm-muted low end · open top-end bite · doubled and wide

easy

A two-finger shape slid around the neck over a droning open low D, with steady palm-muted picking that has to stay even to keep the riff from blurring.

Want this on your own amp?

These are the record's settings. Tell us what you play through and we'll translate every knob to the amp you actually own — free.

Adapt it to my gear

Sources