Alternative2007In Rainbows

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi Amp Settings

by Radiohead

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Original Recording Settings

partially-sourcedResearched tone data for "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" by Radiohead

Original Gear

Guitar: Fender Telecaster Plus V1 (1995, Tobacco Burst) — Jonny Greenwood's main 'Tele Plus'. Ed O'Brien (who plays the other interlocking arpeggio) most likely used a Fender Telecaster or Fender Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster from his In Rainbows-era rotation.
Pickups: Stock Fender Lace Sensors — single Lace Sensor Blue in the neck and a Lace Sensor Red Dually (humbucker-voiced) in the bridge. The clean arpeggio tone is produced on the NECK pickup (Lace Sensor Blue, voiced as a 'warm 50s humbucking' single coil). (neck)
Amplifier: Jonny Greenwood: early-1960s Fender Bassman head into a custom 'Plank'-built cabinet (the rig mic'd in the Dead Air Space photo titled 'jonnyarpeggi3' from the In Rainbows sessions). A 1953 Fender Champ 5C1 and his 1990s Vox AC30TB/TBX (with Celestion Alnico Blue or Greenback speakers) were also in the room and routinely used on In Rainbows clean parts. Ed O'Brien's parts were tracked through the amps he used during the In Rainbows sessions: Vox AC30, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb, and a Fender Super-Sonic 112 combo.
Channel: Clean channel (Normal channel on the AC30, no Top Boost; Bassman set clean and low-volume into the custom cab)
Tuning: Standard E A D G B E (no capo). Song is in B minor / E Dorian (Em7–F#m7–A–Gmaj7).
Pickup Selector: neck
Strings: 0.010-0.046 (D'Addario / Ernie Ball Regular Slinky 10s — standard for both Greenwood and O'Brien per long-standing tech notes)

King of Gear (citing radiohead.com/Dead Air Space photo 'jonnyarpeggi3') identifies Jonny's signal path on the album as Tele Plus → Bassman head → custom 1×? cabinet, mic'd. Per Plank (Radiohead's tech) and King of Gear's In Rainbows write-ups, Jonny intentionally favored small vintage tube amps for In Rainbows. The Vox AC30 was historically mic'd with a Shure SM57 and (from ~2008) an Audio-Technica AT3060. Producer: Nigel Godrich / Graeme Stewart; tracked at Tottenham House, Halswell House, the Hospital Club (London), and Radiohead's Oxfordshire studio, 2005–2007.

Amp Settings

Gain

2.0

Bass

5.0

Mid

6.0

Treble

6.0

Presence

5.0

Master Volume

4.0

Volume

4.0

No published knob settings exist for this specific track. Estimated from documented context: King of Gear states Jonny played 'totally clean' on Weird Fishes; he used the AC30's Normal (non-Top-Boost) channel and small vintage amps set just at the edge of breakup. The picked attack stays articulate without compression, suggesting low gain, moderate volume, and a fairly flat EQ skewed slightly bright to let the Lace Sensor Blue's neck-pickup chime cut through Phil Selway's drums and Colin's bass.

Effects Chain

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No pedals on Jonny's signal chain for the album recording

none (dry signal)

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EMT 140 plate reverb (added by Nigel Godrich during mix, per Radiohead studio practice)

reverb (mix-bus only)

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Boss DD-5 Digital Delay and/or Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man (Big Box, analog) — Ed O'Brien's core delay rig during the In Rainbows period

delay (Ed O'Brien's parts only, secondary layer)

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1.No pedals on Jonny's signal chain for the album recording — Per The King of Gear (citing Radiohead's tech 'Plank' and direct reading of the From The Basement isolated signal): 'There aren't any effects on the guitar' for Jonny's Weird Fishes part on the album. The 'rolling/delay-like' texture is NOT a delay pedal — it is two (and later three) guitars playing interlocking arpeggios in real time, a Steve Reich-influenced phasing technique explicitly cited on the In Rainbows Wikipedia entry. Live, Jonny adds an Akai Headrush E2 as a plain looper (no echo) to capture his bridge-section line; he likely did NOT use it on the album take.

2.EMT 140 plate reverb (added by Nigel Godrich during mix, per Radiohead studio practice) — Plate-style reverb in the mix gives the arpeggios their slightly washed, dimensional quality. This is added at the desk, not from a pedal in the guitar signal chain. Boss RV-3 / RV-5 are sometimes used live to emulate it.

3.Boss DD-5 Digital Delay and/or Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man (Big Box, analog) — Ed O'Brien's core delay rig during the In Rainbows period — Light, short delay may be present on Ed O'Brien's secondary arpeggio/texture layer, but the song does NOT use the dotted-eighth Edge-style delay pattern many listeners assume — the rhythmic interplay is created by the live interlocking parts.

Playing Technique

Fingerpicking / hybrid picking, no plectrum on Jonny's part. Three-note arpeggios outlining shell voicings (root–3rd–7th) of Em7, F#m7, A and Gmaj7, played in steady straight 16ths at ~152 BPM in 4/4. Ed O'Brien's first arpeggio enters first; Jonny Greenwood's second arpeggio is layered on top from the Gmaj7 bar onward, and shifts into a 3-over-4 polyrhythmic grouping mid-song to create the trademark 'rolling' phasing texture (Steve Reich influence). A third guitar (Thom Yorke live) joins on later cycles. Picking is light and even — dynamics build entirely from arrangement density rather than picking force. The light fingertip attack on a Lace Sensor neck pickup is what gives the part its bell-like, almost harp-like clarity.

Sources+

The King of Gear (thekingofgear.com), 'Do you know what guitar Johnny used for Weird Fishes in the record?' — confirms Jonny used his Fender Telecaster Plus V1 on the neck pickup, with the early-60s Fender Bassman head + custom cabinet rig mic'd, citing the Dead Air Space photo titled 'jonnyarpeggi3'
The King of Gear, 'Jonny's Nude Technique and In Rainbows Clean Tone' (post 618216239021604864) — 'Jonny plays totally clean on 15 Step and Weird Fishes (he uses a looper live, but might not have on the album)'
The King of Gear, 'Hey, I was wondering if you could tell me which are the effects…' (post 43680827910) — 'There aren't any effects on the guitar. The only pedal he uses is his Akai Headrush to record a loop' (live only)
The King of Gear, 'Jonny Greenwood's Amplifiers' (thekingofgear.com/jonny/amplifiers) — documents 1953 Fender Champ 5C1, 1998-ish Vox AC30TB, Bassman head + custom cab usage during the In Rainbows sessions
The King of Gear, 'Jonny Greenwood's Telecasters' (post 54630205895) — Tobacco Burst Telecaster Plus, stock Lace Sensor Blue / Red Dually pickups, kill-switch and other modifications
The King of Gear, 'Ed O'Brien's Guitar Amplifiers' (thekingofgear.com/ed/amplifiers) — Ed used Vox AC30, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb, and Fender Super-Sonic 112 during the In Rainbows sessions
The King of Gear, 'I've read somewhere that some smaller tube amps were used for the recording of In Rainbows' — confirms Jonny's small-amp focus on In Rainbows; Thom and Ed's amp choices
The King of Gear, 'Live from the Basement: Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' (post 8064814579) — confirms live personnel/instrument assignments: Ed Gibson ES-330 (then Eric Clapton Strat), Jonny Tele Plus, Thom Jazzmaster
Wikipedia, 'In Rainbows' — 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi features a phasing technique influenced by the American composer Steve Reich'; production credits, tracking locations and dates
Wikipedia, 'Ed O'Brien' and 'Jonny Greenwood' — biographical, gear and role information
Radiohead Knowledge Base / Fandom, 'Ed O'Brien' page — credits Ed with 'the main rhythm guitar on Weird Fishes/Arpeggi'
Flypaper / Soundfly, Filippo Faustini, 'A Harmonic Analysis of Radiohead's Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' — identifies Ed O'Brien as the player of the first arpeggio (root–3rd–7th shell voicings) and notes layered counter-arpeggios
Howard Wright, hakwright.co.uk, 'Radiohead: guitar tab and chords for Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' — confirms three-note arpeggio structure, multiple interlocking guitars, song form
Ultimate-Guitar, 'Weird Fishes Arpeggi Tabs' (waychee, 2007) — confirms tuning E A D G B E (standard)
GetSongBPM and Musicstax — tempo 152–153 BPM, 4/4 time signature, key B minor
Premier Guitar, 'Radiohead's Ed O'Brien: Hail to the Texturalist' — Ed's signal chain and core pedals (DD-5, Deluxe Memory Man, DL4) during In Rainbows era
BOSS Articles, 'Reverberations: Ed O'Brien of Radiohead' — Ed describes DD-5 as core delay and 'sound of the 90s'; remained on every Radiohead board since
MusicRadar, 'Radiohead's Ed O'Brien: I was always drawn to sounds that didn't sound like the guitar' — overall In Rainbows-era guitar/amp/pedal context
Mixdown Magazine, 'Gear Rundown: Jonny Greenwood' — Vox AC30 / Fender 85 dual-amp setup, Tele Plus history
zZounds, 'Legends of Tone: Radiohead' — Vox AC30 + Celestion Alnico Blue speaker context, AT3060/SM57 micing