How Soon Is Now?
One of the most iconic guitar tones in alternative rock. Johnny Marr's tone on How Soon Is Now? is built on a Rickenbacker 330 through a Fender Twin Reverb with extreme tremolo effect. The tremolo is the defining feature: a pulsating, rhythmic wobble that gives the song its hypnotic, driving feel. Marr used four separate amp channels processed with tremolo at different speeds, then blended them to create a massive, swirling stereo effect. The result is a guitar tone that sounds like it is breathing.
Meat Is Murder
What we checked
Computed by a program, on this recipe, every time this page is built. How this works
Preset files — 1 of 3 complete
- Helix builds complete — every block in the recipe is in the file
- Quad Cortex 3 blocks replaced with a stand-in model
Which ones
Replaced with a stand-in: Studio Comp, US DLX 64, Tilt EQ. 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: Clean, Compressor, Spring. 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.
