Tone Card

Do I Wanna Know?, Arctic Monkeys

Alex Turner's dark, swaggering riff tone. A Vox 12-string through valve distortion into a 1960s British combo, mapped to GarageBand's British Combo.

AT
Alex Turner
Tone inspired by "Do I Wanna Know?", main riff
Guitar
A 12-string electric if you have one. A 6-string works with the adjustments below.
Pickup Position
Bridge single coil, or both pickups together
Tuning
Standard E. The riff sits in G minor on the low strings.
Amp Settings

Numbers match the 0 to 10 scale printed on the amp in Amp Designer.

Gain
4
Bass
6
Mids
6
Treble
4.5
Presence
4
Master
6
Tube Burner

This is the main source of distortion, not the amp. Aim for thick with a fuzzy edge, never fizzy, and keep the initial pick attack clear. Do not max it out.

Drive 4.5 to 5
Tone 4
Output 5
Fat Off
Low 5
Mid Freq Around 500 to 600 Hz
Mid Gain +2 to +3 dB
High 4 to 4.5
Bias Centre, around 5
Squash Around 4
Amp Tremolo (optional)

Leave this off to start with. Amp Designer's tremolo is real amplitude modulation, so a little goes a long way. Only add it if the riff feels too static against the record.

Tremolo Off to begin with
Depth 2 if you turn it on
Speed Slow, roughly 2 to 3
Sync Off
GarageBand Settings
Amp Model British Combo. Apple describes it as an early 1960s British 2×12, which is the character this riff needs.
EQ Type Vintage. A rougher, less hi-fi response than the modern voicings.
Cabinet Matched 2×12
Mic Ribbon 121, near the centre of the speaker and only slightly off-axis
Amp Reverb Off, or very low at around 1
Guitar Controls Volume on 10, tone around 7 to 8
Character to aim for Dark, thick and slightly compressed, fuzzy around the edges but with a hard, dry attack and clear low string definition. If it sounds too modern or too sharp, lower Treble and Presence before you add more distortion.
Playing on a 6-string Do not chase the 12-string sound with fake double-tracking first. Use the bridge or both pickups, pick firmly and closer to the bridge, and keep the Tube Burner slightly dark. That gets most of the way there.
Optional shimmer If you have a pitch or octave effect, a very quiet layer one octave up can suggest the 12-string. Keep it low. It turns synthetic quickly.

The real rig behind this tone

Everything on the card above is our own GarageBand recreation, not a set of documented studio settings. Here is what is actually known about how the original was recorded.

The song

Do I Wanna Know? is from AM, released in 2013.

Guitar

Alex Turner's 1960s Vox Starstream XII, a 12-string.

Amp

A Selmer Zodiac Twin 30, a rare 1960s British 2×12 combo. Its built-in tremolo is part of the sound.

Pedal

A Coopersonic ValveSlapper dual valve distortion.

What is not documented

  • The exact amp and pedal knob positions.
  • The microphone used and where it sat.
  • This card leans on gear databases and magazine rundowns rather than a session interview, so it is less firmly sourced than our others.
Sources

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