Black Hole Sun
The warbling, underwater verse of Superunknown's biggest single — and the surprise is who played it. Chris Cornell tracked the rhythm on a Gretsch Duo Jet through a real Leslie 16 rotary cabinet driven by a Marshall; Kim Thayil handled the leads. The off-kilter shimmer is the spinning rotor plus a tape-speed trick that nudged the whole song ~3/4 semitone sharp of drop D. The album's heavier tones blend a Marshall and a Mesa Dual Rectifier.
Superunknown
What we checked
Computed by a program, on this recipe, every time this page is built. How this works
Preset files — 0 of 3 complete
- Helix 1 block missing from the file
Which ones
Not in the file: Rotary. The recipe calls for this block, but we have no verified model ID for it on this platform, so the preset is written without it. Add it by hand using the settings above.
- Quad Cortex 5 blocks replaced with a stand-in model
Which ones
Replaced with a stand-in: Vintage Comp, Brit 1959 SLP, 4x12 Greenback, Rotary Speaker, Room. These load cleanly but are not the model named above — the file will sound wrong here until we map them. Set these blocks by hand.
- Katana 3 blocks replaced with a stand-in model
Which ones
Replaced with a stand-in: Crunch, Rotary, Room. These load cleanly but are not the model named above — the file will sound wrong here until we map them. Set these blocks by hand.
What we didn't check
- Nobody played this through a real amp. There is no human listening test behind any number on this page.
- The settings are reasoned from the sources below, not measured off the record.
- No audio has been rendered for this recipe yet, so you cannot hear it before you load it.
- 3 platforms on this page (TONEX, Kemper, Fractal) get a model pointer, not a preset file — nothing was built or checked for them.
