Nail the ToneOasis

Don't Look Back in Anger

Oasis · (What's the Story) Morning Glory? · 1995

The rhythm bed is a lightly crunchy electric strum layered over strummed acoustic, cut at Rockfield in May 1995 through Noel's early-'60s Vox AC30 with no pedals — the dirt is the amp's own breakup at high volume, not overdrive. Set the amp just past clean so open chords bloom but stay chordal, and keep the mids up; the size on the record comes from doubling and from Owen Morris's dense, heavily compressed mix rather than from gain. Which electric played the rhythm is disputed: an '83 Epiphone Riviera and a '65 Stratocaster are both credibly placed on the track.

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

Tuning

Standard tuning, no capo

Record is in C at standard pitch with no capo; the electric rhythm is doubled by strummed acoustic (Noel used a Takamine FP-460SC and probably an Epiphone Frontier across the album), and the capo-4 G-shape arrangement you see in tabs comes from his later live acoustic versions, not the record.

Part: Rhythm

Guitar

  • Epiphone Riviera (1983, Wine Red) · humbuckers · bridge pickup
  • Fender Stratocaster (1965, sunburst) · single-coils · bridge pickup
  • Takamine FP-460SC

Amp

Vox AC30 (early-'60s AC30 Bass)

GAIN
6.0

Noel has said this ex-Cavern Club AC30, bought just before the sessions, is "the Don't Look Back in Anger Vox" and was only ever used for the Morning Glory dates; it is a pre-Top Boost amp, so the only controls are channel volume and a master Tone Cut (set around 3-4, i.e. mostly open) — no bass, mid, presence or reverb exist on it.

Amp

Marshall 1962 Bluesbreaker

GAIN
5.0
BASS
5.0
MID
7.0
TREBLE
6.0
PRESENCE
5.0

Documented as one of the two main amps across the Morning Glory sessions alongside the AC30 (with a Marshall stack, Orange and a WEM combo also on hand), but not specifically confirmed on this track; useful for the thicker layered rhythm pass.

Amp

Vox AC30 Top Boost (modern stand-in)

GAIN
5.5
BASS
4.0
TREBLE
6.5
REVERB
2.0

Not the recording amp — a translation of the same sound onto a current AC30, which has no mid control; use Cut around 4 and let the power amp do the breakup rather than adding a pedal.

Tone character

jangly semi-hollow chime · edge-of-breakup crunch · forward mids · acoustic-doubled strum · tape-thickened, not scooped

easy

Open-position chords (C, G/B, Am7, E7, F, G) with a steady eighth-note strum; the only real work is keeping the descending C–G/B–Am7 move clean and getting the F and E7 changes in the bridge on time.

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