For a song with clean in its title, there is nothing tidy about this one. It was a Crocodiles track in 1980, never a single, yet it became a live staple because it goes for the throat. Will Sergeant tracked it at Rockfield in Wales with Ian Broudie and David Balfe producing.
What makes the tone. A Telecaster hits a Fender Twin Reverb that is turned up well past polite, so the bright Fender top end starts to bite. An MXR Flanger sweeps over the chords and turns them into something close to a passing aircraft. Tight optical compression keeps the attack level while the flanger does the moving. The coldness matters as much as the aggression: no warmth, no fuzz, just glare.
The analogue recipe. Tele on the bridge pickup into a firm compressor, then an MXR-style flanger, then a Twin-type amp pushed hard, with a small room at the end. Let the flanger sweep be obvious and fairly wet; this is one of the few places where too much is nearly right. Skip any chorus, because it would muddy the sweep.
How to play it. It sits in E major with no capo at 158 BPM, and it is rated beginner. The whole verse loops round E, G and A, so the challenge is stamina, not shapes. Keep your wrist loose and drive every strum down; once the arm stiffens, the speed goes with it.
On a Boss GT-1000 / GX-100 / GT-100. Choose the Twin Combo preamp with the 2x12 Jensen cab and no drive block, since the amp itself supplies the grit. Run the compressor in FX1, leave the chorus in FX2 switched off, and put the flanger in FX3, with no delay and a room reverb last. Set the flanger with the guitar volume full, because a quieter signal makes the sweep sound thinner.
On a Kemper. A cranked Fender Twin profile with plenty of clarity is the base. Compressor in Stomp A, Analog Flanger in Stomp B, everything else off apart from a room reverb. If the jet sound smears the chord changes, slow the sweep a little before reaching for less mix.
Skip the guesswork. Rather than tweak for an evening, open the Soulster Tonebook for fans of Echo & the Bunnymen, Vol. II →: “Do It Clean” is in there, dialled in for Boss and Kemper. Go deeper in our Will Sergeant guitar tone guide →
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