TONEMD

by The Guitar Plugged

YOUR RIG.
THEIR TONE.

One tone. Any rig.

Your prescription for better tone. Name the sound you're chasing, tell ToneMD the gear you own — hardware modeler, amp sim or free plugins — and get a full diagnosis: signal chain, exact settings and an honest match confidence score.

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01 · Your guitar & pickups

02 · Your amp, modeler or platform

03 · The tone you want

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Guitar

Pickups

Name the tone you want

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toneID Result

David Gilmour — Comfortably Numb Solo

Line 6 Helix · Strat-style single coils · neck pickup

Tone Accuracy — 88%

88%

Your Strat-style single coils and Helix get you very close to this iconic tone. The remaining 12% comes from Gilmour’s original Hiwatt DR103 and Hi-Watt cabs, which have a headroom and dimensionality that no current modeler fully replicates. Focus on the neck pickup bloom and the long swell of the delay — those are the most transferable elements.

Amplifier

Hiwatt-style model — Helix “Hiwatt Custom 100”

Gain

3.8

Bass

5.5

Mid

6.2

Treble

5.8

Presence

6.0

Master

7.5

Cab / IR

4x12 Greenback cab
Mic: Shure SM57 at 25% off-axis
Room mic blend: 15%

Signal Chain

Compressor→Tube Screamer-style OD→Amp→Cab→Stereo Chorus→Digital Delay→Hall Reverb

Compressor

Threshold -18dB · Ratio 3:1 · Attack 8ms

Overdrive

Drive 2.1 · Tone 5.5 · Level 6.0 (used as clean boost)

Chorus

Rate 0.6 · Depth 40% · Mix 25%

Delay

Time 380ms · Feedback 28% · Mix 22%

Reverb

Decay 3.2s · Pre-delay 18ms · Mix 18%

How To Dial This In — Line 6 Helix

Line 6 Helix

1
Press the ACTION button and select New Preset. Name it "Gilmour Numb."
2
Press the lower-left footswitch to enter Edit mode. Use the joystick to navigate to the first empty block slot.
3
Click the joystick to open the block browser. Navigate to Amps & Preamps → Brit Hiwatt-style → select "WhoWatt 100."

Your Guitar Setup

Use neck pickup only
Roll guitar volume to 7–8 for verse sections, full for solo
Keep tone control fully open
Pick lightly near the neck — Gilmour’s attack is soft and controlled, not aggressive

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YOUR RIG.THEIR TONE.

This is what a real ToneMD result looks like

YOUR RIG.
THEIR TONE.