This Charming Man by The Smiths (Riff · Clean) — Guitar Tone

The This Charming Man by The Smiths guitar tone is built on a Fender Twin Reverb + Roland JC-120, dialed in at gain 2/10, bass 4, mid 6.5, treble 7.5, presence 6 (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 38 indie tones in our researched catalog: Gain 2 sits below the indie average (4.0) — cleaner and more dynamic than typical indie; mids at 6.5 are right around average (6.0); treble 7.5 is above the 6.5 norm (brighter attack).

Guitar controls

Original gear

Amp: Fender Twin Reverb + Roland JC-120 (run together) — Twin for low-mids/reverb, JC-120 for chimey top

1954 / 1968 Fender Telecaster (and Rickenbacker); Boss CE-2 chorus, EHX Memory Man delay, MXR Dyna Comp.

Gear used on this tone

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

Pickups

Telecaster bridge/both single-coil (bright)

Effects / signal chain

chorus, delay, reverb, compression

Tone character

bright jangle, chorus shimmer, clean & ringing, layered arpeggios

Recording context

studio

How it’s played

pristine clean, jangly distortion. This shapes how hard the amp is pushed and where the EQ sits for the This Charming Man sound.

Difficulty

5/5 · Riff

Playable but layered; the tone hinges on a bright Tele, a chorus pedal and ringing open voicings.

Worth knowing

• This Charming Man is THE Johnny Marr jangle — bright Tele bridge pickup, almost no gain, treble high, a lush chorus and layered open-string riffs. The famous riff was a '54 Tele.
• Johnny Marr's Smiths sound is a bright, jangly, chorus-soaked CLEAN — built on a Fender Telecaster into a Fender Twin Reverb and a Roland JC-120 run together (the Twin carries the low-mids and reverb, the JC-120 the chimey top), with a Boss CE-2 Chorus essential to the lush shimmer, plus an EHX Memory Man delay and an MXR Dyna Comp.
• The recipe is almost no gain: keep it clean (gain ~2), bass low (~4), mids up (6-7), treble high (7-8) for the jangle, and lean on a chorus + a little reverb/delay. The magic is in the bright Tele + chorus + layered open-chord arpeggios, not amp gain.
• Settings are community-researched starting points, not official recall sheets — a chorus pedal is the single most important piece for this tone.

This Charming Man guitar tone — FAQ

Share this tone

Sources

• Johnny Marr Amp Settings — Guitar Chalk
• Johnny Marr Guitar Tone & Gear — MusicStrive
• Johnny Marr Guitars & Gear — Ground Guitar

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More like this

🎸 How to get The Smiths’s guitar tone →  ·  🎸 more Indie Rock guitar tones →  ·  🎚️ Fender Twin Reverb settings →  ·  🎛️ best indie amp settings →  ·  🎸 more iconic guitar riffs →  ·  🎚️ Delay tone guide →  ·  🎚️ Chorus tone guide →  ·  🎚️ Reverb tone guide →  ·  🎯 more bright tones →  ·  📖 New to amp settings? What every knob does →

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