when guitar players go FULL FRUSCIANTE

[@gypsydoodles]

Hey, Mike i’m the guy who saw you outside of whole foods. It was cool meeting you. Sorry if i wasn’t talkative I had a migraine going on. Keep up the great vids.

[@henrybrent5589]

Hope you're feeling better now

[@oscarkez]

Okay but actually going full frusciante is buying : another DS2, Big Muff, Super Badass Variac Fuzz, SD1, Micro Amp, Ibanez Wah (ideally v1), Line 6 DL4, Digitech PDS-1002, Line 6 FM4, Electric Mistress, Phase 90, the full Moog Moogerfooger series (especially the 12-stage phaser and Low-pass filter) and a vintage Boss CE-1, splitting the signal to a vintage marshall major and to a ehx holy grail going to a marshall silver jubilee. Play a 1962 fender strat. Also, if you want to replicate his Niandra Lades era tone, you may want to purchase some heroin.

[@kritiosboy]

So is there a specific type of this "heroin" that I should ask my local guitar shop for?

[@chaseparker9]

@@kritiosboy something from 92 should do it

[@wholder9887]

Good job brother, but don't forget the dyna comp

[@solomonsanchez1897]

​@@kritiosboy Ideally it should be fentanyl and xylazine free. Never assume the people you're getting it from have your best interest in mind either.

[@Helix-Man]

Or just buy helix🎉

[@netyn]

Hey, here are some things I would like to say: 1. When it comes to the Micro Amp, it isn't really an always on pedal for John. He engages it on songs and parts where he wants to get a little bit more punch and gain for instance Charlie, Can't Stop, Californication Solo, Hey (those little solo parts after choruses) and probably many more. As far as I know he got it sometime before By The Way tour. His main source of breakup are his amps and on top of that there's the preamp of the Boss ce1 as well as the preamps of the moog moogerfooger pedals. HOWEVER that's how John himself gets(or used to get) his sound. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to do it that way. Many people stick with the micro amp as the source of the breakupy gain and it works for them and at the end of the day - that's what matters the most. 2. John really only used a compressor pedal on Blood Sugar Sex Magik and it was MXR Dyna Comp. Later on it was only his amps and in studio probably some professional studio compression. In the current days he has it on his live board(the dyna comp) but I have no idea how or when he uses it. 3. The settings on the ds2 are kind of controversial among the frusciante community. One thing I can say is they are inclined to change as John tends to tweak settings quite often(I think). However in the old days (Californication-Stadium Arcadium so 1998-2007) he had it close to max for every knob. Sometimes you could see that the volume is rolled back a little bit and during another show the distortion might have been rolled back. It would constantly change. The gist is that they were always close to being maxed out. In the current era (2019-present) both of his ds2's are set a little bit less agressive. That's because there have been some changes to his rig(new additional amp head jmp2203, new pedals etc.) and he had to adjust the settings. It's so cool that you are getting into the Frusciante world! As far as I know you also have some telecasters so you could experiment with those as John also likes to play them (well he uses one but still). Great work! p.s. It's not my intention to be rude or anything like that. I am also in the John Frusciante rabbit hole and I just wanted to share some things I have learned over the years.

[@mclyde6266]

Dave Simpson does a good job of getting the Frusciante tone on his channel.

[@ghostoforion1745]

+1, dave is probably the no 1 fruciante tone expert on youtube

[@marzar02]

the guy from channel "red hot chilli riffs" also does amazing work on recreating Frusciante tone, also with settings in the descprition

[@matguerra333]

last stop for JF tone.

[@matiascisneros8545]

@@marzar02 lo importante de dave que el lo hace sin tener todos los pedales o amps de john si no que lo hace con un jackhammer por ejemplo un pedal barato un genio dave

[@wassbot]

hey mike - frusciante nut here. actually a common misconception that he uses a lot of treble - he doesn’t! a lot of the perceived treble comes from his amps just being cranked with the gain low. try and find a silver jubilee capture (ideally without the push pull pots pulled) on tonex, and crank the bass, mids at 6-7, treble at 2-3. you’ll want the gain lower, but the overall volume high. micro amp helps push the signal to distort it, and another big part of his “crunchy” sound is from the pre amp of the BOSS CE-1 that’s always on. the original boss ce-1 units have an always on volume boost that helps saturate/compress the signal, and help with the treble loss. so much of the frusciante sound is his pedals in the order they’re in, and making sure they balance each other out. DS-2 and WH10 create a huge volume boost (because he does like to max out DS-2) and you need to compress the amp with the CE-1 to prevent it! highly suggest watching Dave Simpson’s channel.

[@nightrider7417]

This was exactly what I was thinking!! Dave Simpson fantastic

[@netyn]

I think a common thing that people overlook is the fact that he almost exclusively plays with new strings. So a lot of the brightness comes from the strings being new.

[@voodoodeyoel]

the micro amp is the biggest phenomenon in the frusciante tone world. people hear about it and think they’ll get the tone straight out the pedal but don’t consider that it’s A GAIN PEDAL. the reason john uses this is because any guitarist knows that when you solo on a broken up amp, it’s sounds godly but then you hit a chord and boom a crunchy mess. John combats this by naturally setting the amp to a barely braking up level for when his playing rhythm stuff, then to combat the weakness in tone that comes from single notes he’ll kick the micro amp into play to send the signal right up there. So think 02-07 Can’t stop, Scar tissue, Emit Remmus. They are thick single notes BECAUSE they are driven, THEN the chords in those songs ARE NOT driven. John has the control with the MICRO AMP

[@artistlovepeace]

You are self aware. Honest. Good. Honesty is always good. Thank you for producing and sharing.

[@timgermanyjr]

Listening through my car speakers and I swear I could get that tone out of my Katana 50 in about 2 minutes.

[@leestanford2452]

Boss Metal Zone is the only pedal you need. If you think you need more, just chain another Metal Zone to the first one. You’re welcome

[@LizordSword]

honestly the metal zone can be pretty sweet in other settings beyond metal

[@BerryPitje]

Wet sand isn't on blood sugar... :)

[@OllyVert]

I thought the same, but think he meant to say Castles Made Of Sand (which was a B Side from Blood Sugar) as that's the riff he then played

[@brandonthompson8413]

You are in the ballpark but the secret to frusciante's tone besides his speaker cabinets are that his amps are HOT. His clean tone isn't really that clean at all. It sounds clean because he is just that freakin' good. It's not a distorted amp but it's a very very loud very pushed amp, and the micro amp pushes it even harder. The DS-2 dimed almost acts like a fuzz pedal, and it really only gets that sound when all the knobs are dimed. If you really listen to the solo in "Dani California" or some of his other famous solos you can hear it. The solo of Californication is a great example of the Micro Amp pushing his amps, its compressed and almost distorting. 100 watt jubilee or JCM 800 heads and his famous Majors that are 200 W are going to naturally have way more bottom end than what a modeler is going to be able to replicate that, and you also need to get an IR with the appropriate speakers. The G12-75 on his JCM 800 and Majors and the G12 Vintage (closest readily available speaker being the Vintage 30) being fed from his Jubilee. I have a DSL40CR Combo loaded with a G12 Vintage and I can get close to Frusciante's tone with a Micro Amp and a Rat. The Rat is very similar to the DS-2 despite what the weirdos on the internet say. Wait, am I one of those weirdos? Probably. Anyways. Most important thing is to experiment, play loud, and have fun. Cheers.

[@Evy-1988]

exactly this. Which exact pedal doesn't really matter. That's just the easy part of the journey because playing loud... really is something else.

[@blake4460]

bro you are the only person on the whole youtube that has the vintage white/gold s7 .. finally i can see it in all its glory with moving pictures lmao i gotta get one too

[@pantaloneshexagonales3760]

Great Vid! Little side note though; it is believed by some members of the community that frusciante used both a ds2 & Big Muff in unison for the Can't Stop Solo, try it yourself! It gives a really nice texture that completes the almost roaring sound of the solo.

[@KenithCopeland]

one of the things about frusciante's tone is you can get a very close tone to it with just a couple pieces of gear like te ds2, like the micro amp, but whats really good is when you get and stack some of these pedals you can get away without having the microamp by having a wh10, because it has a slight boost in the wh10 it works well. that is also why the ds2 is before the wah so the ds2 cant massivly increase the sound, it hits a sonic roof so you just get the tone of the ds2 without the spike in volume

[@countstoneula]

That is a great suggestion. John also does this with the CE-1. It has a preamp that compresses the volume boost from the DS-2 and the WH-10. I have a PastFX CE-1 clone that make the Wah and Turbo sound like completely different pedals because of the way it is hitting the preamp. It’s a lot of fun to dive into for sure.

[@KenithCopeland]

@@countstoneula man, i have a pstFX ce aswell, i bought one the second they were released, such a great pedal haha i remember the first time i actually saw a original ce1 (which admittedly was in 2016) it was HUGE, no chance thats fitting on my board. im so glad there are people much smarter then me doing cool stuff like this

[@mRahman92]

This video gives me a new found appreciation for the music of the early 2000s that I took for granted on MTV and the radio.

[@daytoncjans]

Loving your channel dude! Your content is just so approachable and non-snobby that is just so enjoyable and engaging! Keep it up!

[@TheUltimateJimbob]

I’m a simple man, I see frusciante and click

[@CHosenone2392]

Another user of the ds2 is Kurt cobain in the nevermind tour in 1991.

[@JustinJeske]

Hey Mike! Loved the video, you did a great job! Was surprised to see my face at 7:29 😂 Cheers man!

[@chrispys696]

Mike your content is well thought out and delivered. love it.

[@FoxerLen]

without a jubillee or a jcm100 you go like that: -Jackhammer as amp -CE-1 Preamp Crunch -WH10 -DS-2 -SD-1

[@Hammonds77]

Love my DS2 on mode 2 and use it mainly for chilli peppers and nirvana songs. It is pretty versatile turning the gain down to play guns n roses and play a lot of punk rock with the pedal like bad religion etc

[@andyswift79]

He actually stacks the mids, bass around 7-8 and treble on the lighter side. At least that’s I’ve found in my research. Dave Simpson has about a million videos on his tone. Might be different when using a modeling system over a tube amp/stack.

[@jacobseraphin685]

I saw RHCP in Tampa 2 months ago and I still can’t believe I saw them in person. John was my guitar hero fs 🤞🏿

[@TheUlesifah701]

You need a MXR dyna comp and a DOD FX65 stereo chorus if you wanna get the old Blood Sugar tones

[@travistheile6826]

Ty Mike.. I am a JIMI fan THEREFORE I am a Frusciante fan... and it seems like all the biggest (and my fave RHCP songs are Frusciante songs) luv ur channel.. TY

[@AWM42389]

I know live can't stop he used to play a 50's tele. My favorite concert to watch was Slane Castle probably one of their best concerts ever.

[@DanielSukur]

Is amaizing to hear John playing CS on a strat. I actually like that tone more than with a tele.

[@countstoneula]

That is such a wonderful video. I’ve watched it so many times and even ripped it and spliced it into a CD back in the day. I need to find that CD or do it again. 🎉

[@alvarengaaustin]

Boss DS2 is where its at

[@andygonzalez5639]

Great video, Mike. I'll be back once my DS2 comes in the mail!

[@ronin061874]

Hey Mike, new to finding your channel. Don’t know why it took so long. I love your videos. Great work! Thanks!!!!

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

Had the microamp for a while. Didn’t much care for it, it removes important mids like a compressor might and makes the sound glassy. But who knows maybe thats your thing

[@countstoneula]

What guitar/amp and other pedals were you using it with? Frusciante always has a CE-1 after it which has an always on pre-amp. It breaks up a little bit, or a lot depending on the settings. So I think this has a lot to do with why the Micro Amp works well for John. It also tames the volume boost of the WH10 and the DS-2

[@jamescassidy4045]

Rockin' the vintage Micro Amp I see, nice! I love mine, and lucked out last year, and got it for $30. I really do think the vintage one's are a little sweeter, but I'm sure it can vary a lot more pedal to pedal, like a lot of vintage stuff as well. I also notice they are a little lower in gain, and output through most of the range, but just seems like it's got a bit more fullness, and a bit more smooth. Id still get a newer Micro Amp, but glad I got a vintage one. I'm not just saying vintage is always better with things, and there's also the side of vintage stuff also having a lot more chance to have issues/need work etc, but for a simple pedal, it was a nice score. I actually do kind of want to get the newer Micro Amp with the EQ built in too.

[@FlankinspanK]

I use the new Boss Waza Preamp on CE1 setting for his clean tone. The Boss Waza Chorus, DS2, and Wilson FX modded Ibanez WH10 are staples.

[@spudvader]

John has Duncan SSL-1s’s in his main strat, look them up, they sound instant RHCP

[@liamjenkins244]

That has been debunked. His 55 had the Duncans, the 62 had its stock pickups until they went dead & got replaced with just standard Fender pickups from that time. Since rejoining a few years ago apparently the original 62 pickups got restored & put back in the guitar.

[@spudvader]

@@liamjenkins244 Ah right, that's pretty cool. I have read different stories about these guitars, even from John himself in different articles lol. Where did you see about them getting rewound and the such?

[@liamjenkins244]

@@spudvader the stock Fender pickups being put in the 62 (some time during touring of Californication) comes from an interview with John's former guitar tech Dave Lee. The original pickups being put back in is mentioned by John himself, he added a hum cancelling system to his guitar because he found the original pickups too noisy when they were put back in.

[@spudvader]

@@liamjenkins244 Do you know what hum canceling system? Do you have a link or where did you read about this?

[@liamjenkins244]

@spudvader It's an ilitch system. He mentioned in an interview for Total Guitar, which I think is the same that says the guitar has its "original hand-wound pickups" but that part isn't a direct quote & could be wrong.

[@danny7708]

Ds2, muff, wh10 and ce-1 of some kind and you’re golden my friend

[@danny7708]

In that order :)

[@green8923]

7:34 Also, depending on the output of the pickups in the guitar he's using, he might not need to turn it up as much anymore either. Could be using hotter pickups, and that may be why using the lower setting that you were, it worked for you too.

[@GrifsGuitarlessons]

Mike you always tell such great story’s ! ❤

[@jirdesteva]

WARNING the tone in your head is mythical. This is a dangerous QUEST much like looking for the fountain of youth or the Grail itself.

[@jameslewis2635]

Could the next John for Mike to 'tone-search' be John Petrucci? If so good luck with that!

[@BillyTheKidsGhost]

You bastard... I was looking at this pedal used. Now, it's the new Holy Grail and the most important pedal ever made in history because of this video... 😄

[@BennettMarks]

With tone . It matters with what your ears hear is good. I think We can only get as close to the people we emulate as much as we can cause it's also just in out hands in what we do. The reason why they have such an iconic tone not only in their amps and in their gear but in their hands them selves and how their fingers work with the instrument.

[@armendrz]

Hi Mike, have you tried the Katana Go? (amplug). I would like to hear your impressions.

[@MrSpeed-lt8gr]

DS2 also works great as a primary overdrive for hard rock. Prince used it as his main distortion and pushed it with a Blues Driver. I didn’t use the Frusciante settings until a month ago. I like using it in front of the Tumnus and Xotic SL Drive like a fuzz pedal. Even gives a hint of upper octave which is cool.

[@TranscendentBen]

4:25 FINALLY, some TONES! All I know is Under The Bridge and Californication, so I didn't have much of an idea of what you've been going on about.

[@djcrouton2680]

Funny thing is that a lot of people don't like the DS-2. I have one and it's definitely good for some things. But the funnier thing is that there's nothing particularly inspiring or unique about his tone. If he played the same thing using a very different setup, people would probably like it equally as much as be chasing that tone instead because that's what they associate with his playing and/or writing. I think people often associate a specific tone with what makes a good song, which isn't correct. A lot of tones that people chase are just whatever random hardware someone who wrote good music happened to have around at the time. And with a bit of EQ to get it to sit in the mix right, that's basically it. There are albums like Revolver from the Beatles that use amps that nobody wanted to buy because they thought they sounded terrible. Until after they found out they were used on that album. It's sort of good for cover bands to be able to match tone to an extent, in most clubs the acoustics and speakers alter the sounds as much as any of your equipment does so it even doesn't really matter there in a lot of situations.

[@mrrootytooty5797]

I'll build an mxr micro amp later! i build a lot of treble and boost circuits for some reason, i think the two most useful pedals i have ever made are a germanium beano boost (rangemaster) type circuit and an aion ares version of an echoplex ep3 preamp section. I have never plugged either of those things into anything and not had the sound get just a little bit better :)

[@75YBA]

I got a RAT 2 after 30 years of Big Muff’s, boy what a great pedal.

[@scottdematteo]

Great content, and tasty playing.

[@rickc2102]

Best way to get the same sound is to attack the strings like they do.

[@slucas380]

90’s bridge pickup 00’s - 20’s neck pickup

[@MichaelThomasOflaherty]

How To Achieve John Frusciante's Tone: The Amps. John Frusciante's main stage amp rig usually consists of two different Marshall heads, a vintage 200W Major and a Silver Jubilee. For cleaner tones, he opts for a Fender Showman head into a Marshall cabinet.

[@briancorbett8553]

I’ve tried it all and my best recreation was using the Tone city golden plexi

[@Bloor005]

Have you heard the band Living Colour?

[@speelbergoMF]

Excellent tone reproduction

[@ThatHuskyisCrazy]

I’ve got an original MXR Micro Amp from 1980.

[@futurevintage1597]

love what you do Mike

[@zeenuf00]

It's not the arrow, it's the archer, as they say. It's the way he plays.

[@Bryanpjc]

Awesome video! We need a postscript with an IBANEZ WAH! Gotta' have that.

[@tickertapetragedy2450]

The question is: Is Fender going to release a Frusciante Signature Strat and if so what is the pricetage going to be?

[@Nick-qq2nq]

The micro amp isn’t really important for that sound. The ce1 preamp and the ds2 into the major and jubilee are the main factors other than the Strat. Even the ds2 is that crucial since it’s not that unique. Any high gain drive with a significant mid hump will accomplish the same thing.

[@treorross99]

I really enjoy your content. 👍

[@kevinbell7990]

I like Peavey Classic 40 with 4 x 10 speakers.

[@Nobodyimportant696]

Frusciante turned the Chili peppers into a top 40 band.

[@billybat5790]

i found a MIJ DS-2 at a pawn shop for 60$. easy buy

[@bendollimore8810]

Ik you vocalise some setting but if you gatekeep this type of thing what do you actually stand to gain

[@al271987]

I’m not a frusciante fan, but I am a DS-2 fan. That’s a great dirt box, no question.

[@xGoldriever]

Fruiscantetastic hell yeah

[@Rawry-lc5mr]

I think the best approach to get to frusciantes tone is to make every note count and to play with emotion. So he said in a podcast with rick rubin. Knowing this immediatly changed my style. Often less is more

[@Airhead348]

Great advice!!!

[@countstoneula]

That was an amazing podcast!! The whole series of episodes with the band members was so much fun. My favourite memory is when they met Chad at the audition and Flea asked him “is that your breakfast?” 😂 I don’t want to give away the joke to any RHCP fans reading this who haven’t heard it yet.

[@rocknroor]

one my favorite pedals

[@kingcreates1379]

I use a boss DS2 mainly because cobain used one

[@CaalamusTube]

Hold on... "Castles Made of Sand" by Jimi Hendrix, wasn't on Blood Sugar Sex Magik. What am I missing?

[@amrmohamed3546]

It was released as a bonus track. Whether it was on a special version of the album or along with a single, i can’t remember but definitely worth a listen! It’s a more slowed down mellow version

[@CaalamusTube]

@@amrmohamed3546 Hey thanks! :]

[@Evy-1988]

I think a lot of RHCP-fans (myself included) make the same 'mistake' you did by focussing on pedals. Learning to play LOUD is a lot harder. That's a Major 200 and a Jubilee or JMP and those amps are not quiet.

[@HowlingMad86]

I love the Boss DS2

[@jangoonyun]

waiting on mike to talk ab mk.gee 🙏🙏

[@ryanc2465]

Oh wow. Mayer and Frusciante. So original.

[@THE-CRT]

You’re playing can’t stop wrong

[@TB_in_the_coffee]

Is it because he's changing frets instead of changing strings? Going left to right rather than up and down

[@kevinbell7990]

SRV, don't forget about SRV. 🤜🏼🎤 🖖

[@75YBA]

Cobain used one and Josh Homme as well.

[@lenovaes]

In other words, fullsciante

[@axizzz]

great video as always! very informative please try to back away from the camera a little though ww (2:10)

[@lucjanszulik7354]

Need to find my ds2 at my famili's house. It is somewhere there. Old one, MIJ it is...

[@matguerra333]

@6:00 JF does not play Clean. You're clean is too clean, you sound like you are coming straight out of a blues jr. w/the reverb cranked. Reverb off, you need a distortion pedal like a golden plexi or even the DS-1 to break up that clean tone, not John Mayer. John FRUSCIANTE

[@talcualvalencia5540]

I like this guy, all my respet for U

[@montyellingsworth4982]

eh , you are doing great. Don't change anything and keep in the faith.

[@rh8764]

i spy that artist mk2 head back there!

[@grantthomas7637]

Great Video

[@danielquackenbush1334]

I'm a huge fan of Frusciante, so this definitely helps a lot with recreating the sound. Now just to get the gear. LOL, once again, great video man!

[@yfz450rider39]

Silver Jubilee. One of the best.

[@betonpl4357]

god i love frusciante

[@Earthlingstrings]

Did bro say Wet Sand BSSM??

[@IzzyNeighs]

Never go full frusciante. 👀

[@eliotcardoso8089]

You play very good but i think you play a little bit too clean like the little dani california solo where john let a lot of sound of the distortion

[@allenjay4976]

Hey dude also side note John doesn’t use just any DS-2 his DS-2’s are from the 80’s when they still used the Japanese tech…. It is honestly a night and day difference from modern day DS-2’s

[@pulyay]

Mike x Frusciante lets goooo!

[@MV-ue5ro]

Talking about red hot I’m more Slovak or early frusciante sound . I think you went quite close…. Find the right tone is sooooo hard 😅

[@ToneChaseBasement]

Yes, good video and you pointed out some good information... I also made a JF video on my channel how actually you might get the JF sounds with "any kind of gear and pedals" so you don't actually have to own the stuuf he uses.. Check it out on my channel! Respect! 🙌

[@Tylerjamesalford]

Dammit I've been seen

[@sconni666]

Wow. Sex is a bad word. 4:12

[@NurseOasis]

😂🤣

[@orest323]

wet sand is not on the bssm c’mon man