New Person, Same Old Mistakes amp settings
Tame Impala
Riff guitar tone
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The recording
Recorded between 2012 and 2015 at Kevin Parker's beachside home studio in Fremantle, Western Australia, New Person, Same Old Mistakes was a last-minute addition to Currents, with Parker completing its lyrics during a sleepless 36-hour flight to New York just before the album's mastering session at Sterling Sound. Parker wrote, performed, produced, recorded, and mixed every instrument on the album himself for the first time, with Rob Grant providing additional recording and mix advice at Poons Head. The track's guitar parts are secondary to its dominant synth and drum programming; Parker noted that guitars on Currents are used to accompany and answer other instruments, and his pedalboard was often in transit between tours during the recording period. The song's recognizable character comes from its subterranean synth line, heavy gait, and the interplay between Parker's falsetto and layered vocal echoes rather than prominent guitar riffs or solos.
Tuning DGCFAD
Signal chain · Riff
Original gear
Alternatives
Practical playing approach
Recreation guidance, not a claim about undocumented studio control positions.
- 1.Tune your guitar down a whole step to DGCFAD to match Parker's standard recording tuning.
- 2.Treat guitar parts as subtle colorations rather than dominant leads, letting synthesizers lead the arrangement.
- 3.Apply heavy compression and lush modulation to any accompanying guitar lines to match the overall album texture.
Frequently asked questions
What gear was used for the New Person, Same Old Mistakes guitar tone?
The available research points to Vox AC30H2. The full reported signal chain and evidence links are listed on this page.
Are the original New Person, Same Old Mistakes amp settings documented?
Exact historical knob positions are not reliably documented for most recordings. ToneTwin does not publish generated values as studio fact; it creates playable settings only for the amp and pedals a player selects.
What tuning is New Person, Same Old Mistakes in?
The current research record lists DGCFAD. ToneTwin keeps corrections open when reliable accounts disagree.
How do I recreate the New Person, Same Old Mistakes tone on my own gear?
Use the reported pickup, gain character, effects and signal-chain order as the target, then translate that target to your equipment. The matcher models controls for your selected rig rather than copying undocumented studio numbers.
Researched and reviewed by the ToneTwin Research Team.
Sources