"Fools Gold" is where the Roses went full groove — a hypnotic, wah-soaked funk workout over that unshakeable beat. Here's Squire's tone.
What makes the tone. A wah is the whole personality — swept and parked, funky and vocal. Under it, a clean-to-lightly-driven single-coil with delay for the hypnotic repeats, played percussively. It's about feel and groove, not gain.
The analogue recipe. Single-coil into a wah, a light overdrive, a rhythmic delay, into a clean-ish amp. Work the wah with the groove and keep it loose.
On a Boss GT-100 / GT-1000 / GX-100. A wah block, light overdrive, a tempo-synced delay, clean amp model.
On a Kemper. A clean/edge profile, wah stomp, light OD, delay in the loop.
Skip the guesswork. The Soulster Tonebook for fans of The Stone Roses → has it for Boss GT and Kemper. More in our John Squire guitar tone guide →.
Put it on the wall. The "Fools Gold" print → and Manchester poster →.
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