Our Favorite Indie Rock Guitarists of All Time (and How to Get Their Tones)
Learn to create the iconic guitar tones of Johnny Marr, Joey Santiago, Peter Buck & more by using Neural Amp Models of their amplifiers on TONE3000.
Getting The Tone of Indie Rock
Even the greatest indie rock guitarists of all time don’t get the same level of attention that’s usually afforded to heavy metal shredders and classic rockers. Perhaps it’s because the culture of indie rock has never put the same premium on technical mastery or complex musicianship. Indie rock guitar heroes have been more low-key, avoiding the bluesy tropes of classic rock and busy musicianship of heavy metal. Instead, they made their marks through stylized playing and unique, groundbreaking guitar tones.
Presented in no particular order, let’s take a look at four of our favorite indie rock guitarists of all time and learn how to get their tones. And don’t worry—if you don’t have access to the physical amps that make these tones achievable, there are Neural Amp Models for all of the amplifiers featured in this story available, for free, here on TONE3000.
Johnny Marr (The Smiths)
As the guitarist for the Smiths, Johnny Marr pioneered a jangly, shimmering guitar sound that was both melodic and atmospheric at the same time. After leaving the Smiths in 1987, Marr went on to become the most in-demand indie rock guitarist of all time, recording albums with artists including Electronic, Talking Heads, The Cribs, Modest Mouse, and more. In short, Johnny Marr is the Jeff Beck of indie rock.
Barbarism Begins at Tone (Photo by Gus Stewart/Redferns via Getty Images/Guitar.com)
How to Get Johnny Marr’s Guitar Tones
Guitars: Marr is obsessed with layering guitar tracks, many of them with wildly different tones and textures. His signature guitar tones on the more jangly Smiths tracks (like “You’ve Got Everything Now”) typically featured the Rickenbacker 330. More atmospheric tracks, such as the genre-defining, “How Soon is Now,” had Marr playing semi-hollows, like an Epiphone Casino or Gibson ES 335, dripping with effects. He also used a variety of Strats and Teles to achieve that top-end clarity his lead tones are famous for. If you don’t have a studio full of the vintage guitars that Johnny has, your best bet to cover all the bases is with his own signature model, the Johnny Marr Fender Jaguar. For the past few years, it’s literally the only guitar he plays live.
Amps: Marr’s guitar tones are usually associated with two amps: the Fender Twin Reverb Blackface, and the Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus.
Fender Twin Reverb Blackface
The Fender Twin Reverb delivers a tube amp sound that breaks up just a bit, adding the tiniest bit of spice to his famous jangly guitar tones. Try keeping it mostly clean, with just a touch of gain to give it an edge when you attack the strings a bit harder. Pair it with a semi-hollow guitar (like Gibson 335 or Rickenbacker 330), add some Fender spring reverb, and you’re ready to go.
Neural Amp Model: Fender Twin Reverb Blackface
Roland JC-120
The Roland JC-120 is the amp Johnny Marr used for achieving those clean, shimmering leads he’s so famous for. To achieve this sound, try pairing the JC-120 with a single coil guitar (like a Strat or Fender Jaguar), a good reverb, and some stereo chorus.
Neural Amp Model: Roland JC-120
Effects / Pedals: So much of Marr’s tone comes from the onboard reverb in the Fender or the stereo chorus in the JC-120. But for some extra Marr-flavored chime, reach for his favorite chorus pedal, the Boss CE-2.
Joey Santiago (Pixies)
As the lead guitarist for the Pixies, Joey Santiago’s angular, noisy, and often surreal guitar parts helped define the sound of alternative rock in the late 1980s and beyond. His signature style of mixing loud-quiet dynamics with melodic hooks influenced a generation of modern rock guitarists, most notably Kurt Cobain. The late Nirvana singer and guitarist once told Rolling Stone Magazine that he, “was basically trying to rip-off the Pixies…We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.” For anybody looking to explore the most iconic indie rock guitar sounds of all time, you need to listen to the Pixies.
Here comes your man—on guitar (Image credit: Oliver Walker/Getty Images/via MusicRadar)
How to Get Joey Santiago’s Guitar Tones
Guitars: When the Pixies were making their most important records in the late 80s and early 90s, Santiago relied heavily on his Gibson Les Paul. This was largely in part to him needing a guitar tone that complimented the tones played by his bandmate, singer and rhythm guitarist Frank Black. Santiago explained to Guitar World magazine that Frank Black, “plays a Telecaster and I mostly play a ’57 Custom Reissue Les Paul. So it’s single-coil pickups and then humbuckers – the perfect combination.”
Amps: Joey Santigo’s signature guitar tones on Pixies records come almost exclusively from two amps. His primary rig is a 50-watt Marshall JCM800 paired with a Marshall 4x12 cab. For cleaner tones, he relies on a vintage Fender Vibrolux Reverb.
The trick Santiago uses to create his signature guitar tone is to split his signal into those two amps, then blending their tones. (If you’re familiar with TONE3000, you’ll know this sort of use case is exactly what it’s designed for.) Using NAM models of the Marshall JCM800 (on the “Boost” channel with a bit of overdrive) and a Fender Vibrolux Reverb combo will deliver that same combo of grit and chime that his sound is known for.
Neural Amp Model: Marshall JCM800
Effects / Pedals: Oh brother….this list could get long. While he’s gone on the record to say that, “an OCD through a Marshall is the Pixies sound,” he’s currently running a rig with 17 pedals on the floor. To really dig into his pedal board, check out this comprehensive article from Guitar World.
Peter Buck (R.E.M.)
One of the most foundational bands of American college rock was Athen’s own R.E.M. As the sole guitarist in the band, Peter Buck’s style is characterized by chiming, ringing tones and clean picking that allow him to easily shift between rhythm and lead parts. His sound helped make R.E.M. albums like Murmur, Reckoning, and Document sound both catchy and challenging, influencing generations of guitarists who value mood over flash.
This One Goes Out to the (t)One I Love (Credit: Gie Knaeps: Getty Images, via NME)
How to Get Peter Buck’s Guitar Tones
Guitars: Without a doubt, the jangly-sound associated Rickenbackers are famous for are the key to Peter Buck’s guitar tone. For maximum jangle, he reaches for the Rickenbacker 12 string 360. For everything else, he relies on his beloved Jetglo Rickenbacker 360. He says, “I bought {the Jetglo Rickenbacker 360} in 1981; it’s the guitar I’ve used on every record I’ve ever made.”
Amps: While he sometimes uses Marshall for heavier textures, there should be no surprise that he favors the clean and shimmering sounds of the Vox AC30 and Fender Twin Reverb as his main amps.
Neural Amp Model: Fender Twin Reverb Silverface
Neural Amp Model: Vox AC 30
Effects / pedals: Favoring a minimalist setup, Buck’s jangle comes mostly from his guitar, amp, and onboard reverb. For added grit, he’s been known to employ either a ProCo Rat, or the ever popular Fulltone OCD.
J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.)
J. Mascis is a soft spoken man with a very loud guitar. As the singer, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter of Dinosaur Jr., J. Mascis proudly reps the heavier sound of indie rock. With a mix of distorted, menacing guitars contrasting with his often subdued vocals, Mascis manages to deliver both raw power and emotional depth. His guitar work on albums like Bug and Where You Been influenced nearly every indie guitarist who wanted to make the guitar loud again.
I Feel the Tone (Credit: Image via Music Radar)
How to Get J. Mascis’ Guitar Tones
Guitars: More than any other guitar player, J. Mascis is the Jazzmaster guy. He’s been known to play every flavor of Jazzmaster there is, from priceless vintage Fenders to humble Squire models. In fact, he has his own Fender Squire Jazzmaster signature guitar that he’s just as happy to play with it live as his more expensive models.
Amps: If you’ve seen Dinosaur Jr. live, you know the key to his tone is volume. He plays LOUD. It’s common to see him in front of a wall of amps, typically powered by a combination of Hiwatt DR-103 heads, Marshall Super Bass heads, and Marshall cabs. To recreate his tone, try stacking as many of those dirty amp tones on top of each other.
Neural Amp Model: Marshall Super Bass
Effects / pedals: His tone leans heavily on fuzz/distortion, and lots of it. In addition to the dirty amp tones, he reaches for a number of pedals including a Big Muff, Tone Bender Mk I clones, a Univox-style Super-Fuzz clone, and he stacks and stacks of fuzzes. He also uses typical modulation and sometimes even octave effects (like the Electro-Harmonix POG2) to thicken up the sound.
Neural Amp Model: Electro-Harmonix Big Muff
It’s Your Turn
From Johnny Marr’s atmospheric melodies, to Joey Santiago’s jagged bursts of noise, Peter Buck’s shimmering jangle, and J Mascis’s fuzz-drenched walls of sound, these guitarists each reshaped what indie rock could sound like. The best way to understand their impact is to listen closely—immerse yourself in the records and hear how their tones carry the songs. Try recreating these guitar tones at home, or use them as a jumping off point for inspiration. Either way, TONE3000 has over 100k NAM profiles and tones for you to explore, share, and use for free. Get good enough, and maybe you’ll end up on one of these lists someday.
