Real AmpTuning: E StandardPickup: BridgeBeginner FriendlyAlternative RockCrunchBest for Beginners
Debut-Era Fire Alarm — Hagström Bite & Thin Amp Grind
Nick McCarthy is visually associated with a 1959 Hagström P46 Sweetone for this song, while the debut sessions are documented around Kapranos’s Selmer and Hardy’s Fender Bassman 100. Whether that exact Hagström appears on the master is not confirmed, so the guitar assignment and knob values are a representative reconstruction from the documented era. Source: Sound on Sound’s “Recording Franz Ferdinand” and Equipboard’s Nick McCarthy gear archive.
Signal Chain
1959 Hagström P46 Sweetone, visually associated with the song→Selmer Zodiac Twin 30 and Fender Bassman 100 blend→Selmer and Fender speaker cabinets→Tight Rhythm Double→Output
Guitar1959 Hagström P46 Sweetone, visually associated with the song
Tone
10
PickupBridge
TuningE Standard
Volume
10
AmpSelmer Zodiac Twin 30 and Fender Bassman 100 blend
Bass
2.5
Mids
7.5
Blend6/4
Treble
7
Selmer Volume5.5
Bassman Volume5
Cab / IRSelmer and Fender speaker cabinets
MicSennheiser MD421 pair
Mic PositionClose-miked; low-cut engaged
EffectTight Rhythm Double
PanHard left and right
Layers2
Tightness9
Notes
Use clipped chord lengths and aggressive downstrokes. Keep the lows heavily reduced so the riff sounds urgent rather than thick.
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See the same signal chain mapped to another platform. Knob values carry over as starting points — gain ranges differ between platforms.