Take Me to Church by Hozier (Riff · Distorted) — Guitar Tone

The Take Me to Church by Hozier guitar tone is built on a Hand-wired Vox AC15 — Eastwood Airline, dialed in at gain 4/10, bass 5, mid 6.5, treble 5.5, presence 5 (community-researched baseline). Full breakdown below — then adapt every knob to your exact guitar and amp, free.

Amp settings (0–10)

Community-researched baseline. Your rig is different — GuitarToneAdapt re-dials every knob for your specific guitar, amp and pickups.

How these settings compare

Measured against the 540 rock tones in our researched catalog: Gain 4 sits right around the rock average (4.8); mids at 6.5 are right around average (6.2); treble 5.5 is below the 6.5 norm (darker, smoother top end).

Guitar controls

Original gear

Amp: Hand-wired Vox AC15 — Eastwood Airline (neck humbucker), ProCo Rat + Memory Man + Holy Grail reverb

Hozier’s breakout anthem. The original was an Eastwood Airline guitar (neck humbucker) into a hand-wired Vox AC15, pushed with an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man (gain up) and a ProCo Rat for the driven sections, plus Holy Grail / Ekdahl Moisturizer spring reverb. The tone is thick, warm, dark and soulful — mid-heavy, humbucker neck, dynamic from a hushed clean verse into a driven, reverby chorus.

Gear used on this tone

Don’t own this gear? GuitarToneAdapt re-creates the sound on the rig you actually have.

Pickups

neck (humbucker, warm & dark)

Effects / signal chain

distortion, reverb, delay

Tone character

warm dark soulful, mid-heavy, reverb-rich, dynamic clean-to-driven

Recording context

studio

How it’s played

warm dark soulful mid-heavy crunch distortion. This shapes how hard the amp is pushed and where the EQ sits for the Take Me to Church sound.

Difficulty

2/5 · Riff

The dynamic build from hushed verse to driven chorus is the character; the tone is a warm, mid-heavy humbucker into a Vox with a Rat for the chorus and lush reverb.

Level: Beginner-friendly — see more easy guitar songs to play →

Worth knowing

• Take Me to Church is warm, dark and soulful — a neck HUMBUCKER into a Vox AC15, mid-heavy (mids up, treble back), with a ProCo Rat driving the chorus and lots of reverb. Hushed clean verse, driven chorus. Warm, not bright.
• Use a neck humbucker into a warm amp, mids up, treble back, plenty of reverb; keep verses clean and hit a Rat-style drive for the chorus.
• Settings are community-researched starting points, not official recall sheets.

Take Me to Church guitar tone — FAQ

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Sources

• Rig Rundown: Hozier — Premier Guitar
• Take Me to Church Amp Settings — Guitar Chalk

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More like this

🎸 How to get Hozier’s guitar tone →  ·  🎸 more Rock guitar tones →  ·  🎛️ best rock amp settings →  ·  🎸 more iconic guitar riffs →  ·  🎚️ Delay tone guide →  ·  🎚️ Distortion tone guide →  ·  🎚️ Reverb tone guide →  ·  🎯 more mid forward tones →  ·  📖 New to amp settings? What every knob does →

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