Believe it or not, we get a good bit of questions about Tame Impala and, consequentially, Tame Impala gear. Indie rock, neo-psychedelia, older-brother's-car-core – whatever you want to call them, Tame Impala is one of the most popular and influential rock acts of the last decade. Whether you found them at their break of Lonerism, their world-dominating Currents, or anywhere else, you've got instant indie-cred with Tame Impala, so wear it with pride!
Tame Impala, the creative project of Australian multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Kevin Parker, has done quite a bit throughout the 2010s and 2020s for indie, psychedelia, and rock music, not only on the charts but in studios. It seems like everyone wants a piece of that neo-psychedelia mojo when it comes to gear. Wouldn't you know it, that's exactly what we're talking about today. We're talking guitars, pedals, and synths for your own taste of some Tame Impala gear.
Consider the Following:Kevin Parker is a unique case in the rock world. All of Tame Impala's creative output blooms right in the studio, which for Parker, has spanned from his bedrooms to professionally-setup spaces. What this means at our starting point here is that the barrier of entry to making Tame Impala-style music is relatively low. No matter where you're at, Tame Impala tunes can be made – so play confidently!
We get a lot of questions in our stores about how to sound like Tame Impala and Kevin Parker, so let's run down a couple major areas in the Tame Impala sound and see what we can learn.
Tame Impala Guitars
Where would a rock band be without some guitars? Parker has been known to use a variety, including chiming, sparkly, semi-hollow electric guitars to dense, thumping bass guitars. At a bird's eye view, let's observe some usual patterns that a neo-psychedelic rock band like Tame Impala might fall into when it comes to guitars.
The Tame Impala guitar sound comes down to, on average, sparkly single-coil pickups. You'll commonly see Parker in promotional and live photos with guitars from brands like Fender – names known for their characteristically bright, chiming, effects-pedal-responsive sound*. If you're looking for a psychedelically-inclined guitar, models like the Fender Stratocaster, Telecaster, and Jazzmaster are pretty great places to start. While we're here, we'll give a few shoutouts to some of our favorites.
That's called foreshadowing!
Fender American Professional II Stratocaster
This is one of Fender's most iconic models from one of their flagship series. In the event you find yourself in need of a sparkly, single-coil sound to breathe life into your neo-psychedelic arrangements, you can rely on a guitar like the Fender Stratocaster to fit the bill.
Fender Player II Telecaster
There's a pretty solid reason why nearly every studio musician you'll meet has some kind of Fender Telecaster (or T-Style) guitar. While the Tele might be historically associated with a more low-key, twangy kind of tonality, the Telecaster has certainly evolved to be able to take on any tonal task. For a studio rat like Kevin Parker, the Telecaster is sure to be a no-brainer for its versatility and classic sound.
Fender American Professional II Jazzmaster
We've all seen a spacey, mind-bending band or two use a Jazzmaster, let's not lie to ourselves. The Fender Jazzmaster certainly has a reputation for its relationships with fuzzes, modulations, reverbs, and all the otherworldly, wild card sounds effects can make. Tame Impala guitar sounds surely fall into these kinds of categories, so why not take one of these for a spin?
Tame Impala Bass Guitars
Though of course, not everything Tame Impala lays down can be done on six strings. The band has plenty of treats for bassists looking for something to really sink their teeth into. Back on our bird's eye view angle, Kevin Parker can be seen favoring some more vintage-style bass guitars with more thumping, low-key electronics.
Fender Player II Precision Bass
Famously thumpy. When we're on the lookout for a bass that lays down that cool, chill, vibes-based playing, the Precision Bass is where we're turning. Its lone split single-coil pickup is doing the tonal heavy lifting for us, here, and what's better, there's no need to overthink it! If you've got that head-swaying direction for bass playing, like Tame Impala, then a P Bass is an excellent pick.
Epiphone Thunderbird '64
With a vintage touch, this Epiphone bass can also get you off to the races. Its mini-humbucking pickups play with a sound that can roll through low-key thumping to more lively popping, so keep that in mind if considering a Thunderbird. What's more, the Thunderbird '64 also carries that distinctly classic aesthetic with it to fit into the vibe and style Tame Impala's been known to flex.
There's quite a bit to still talk about when it comes to filling out a guitar setup. While we're still on basses, let's jump into some of the other elements that can make your Tame Impala gear setup start to really come to life.
Tame Impala Effect Pedals
It's actually interesting how far you can get with a bass and a few smaller effects on many Tame Impala tracks. In the instance of "The Less I Know The Better", we can throw back to our thumpy, lower-output Precision Bass as our base. From there, we can include some drive effects to get that trademark, vintage-style crispiness. Let's run down some drive pedals for bass, among a few others.
Bass Pedals
EarthQuaker Devices Blumes
This easily accessible and intuitive pedal from EarthQuaker is based on their versatile Plumes "screamer"-style guitar overdrive. What makes a screamer-style drive like this so special and useful is its three drive modes that can roll in thicker overdrive voices to thinner, rough-around-the-edges crispiness. With the Blumes, you already have a good foot forward on a lot of Tame Impala bass sounds.
Walrus Audio Badwater Bass Pre-Amp D.I.
You'd be surprised what a thorough pre-amp and EQ can do for any instrument, case in point, the Badwater Bass Pre-Amp. This powerful piece from Walrus Audio comes equipped with a robust EQ section, an onboard drive, and blend control for unprecedented control over a bass signal. Stuff like this can really help you out with getting in on bass sounds that aren't particularly dirty or overdriven, but rather need some cuts or boosts in specific frequencies to match some song's sounds like “Eventually.”
Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synth
There's one thing we shouldn't skirt around when talking about Tame Impala gear: synthesizers. We'll talk more about this later, but for now, let's just say that not all the band's bass lines sound strictly like bass guitars. Occasionally, you'll hear some thick, pulsing, analog-synth-like bass lines being laid down on tracks like "New Person, Same Old Mistakes". For that, try out a bass synth pedal like the EHX Bass Micro Synth, which can replicate guttural, punchy, analog synth sounds.
Boss FZ-1w Waza Craft Fuzz
As we glide into some effect pedal crossover, let's talk about fuzz. As a fairly prominent effect in the earlier Tame Impala gear lineup, there's quite a bit we can get out of a popular pedal like the FZ-1w. If we need, we can drop a pedal like this into our rig to get some of the patented fuzz buzz that you can hear on tracks like "Elephant" from Lonerism. The Waza Craft Fuzz is a versatile pedal for getting a whole bunch of fuzzy mixes, so we can cover a good bit of ground with this effect!
Guitar Pedals
Puttin' It In PerspectiveBefore we get into this section, we just wanted to throw something out there: the Tame Impala guitar pedal sound is pretty large and pretty complex. When it comes to albums like Lonerism and Currents, you're sure to get lost in the sauce at least a little bit when it comes to the large, layered, psychedelic compositions Kevin Parker puts together with a combination of guitars and synthesizers. Because of this, we'd like to first lay out as a disclaimer that most of these pedals on their own won't precisely emulate the entire Tame Impala guitar sound, but fear not! These following pedals can be described as foundational elements that contribute to making the whole sound what it is. With that out of the way, we're going to start out with some building block effects of the neo-psychedelia, indie rock sound.
Electro-Harmonix Small Stone
If you weren't in-the-know before, allow us to be the first to welcome you to the world of modulation effects like phaser. A phaser effect like the EHX Small Stone is a classic pick for easy, wavering, filter-like guitar sounds. You can think of a phaser as a pretty solid foundation off which to build a psychedelic guitar sound like the ones used by Tame Impala.
Boss RE-2 Space Echo
On the topic of washy, spacey guitars, we can't help but mention how far a good, reliable delay can take you in that department. The RE-2 is a compact and seamless addition to a board that carries with it sounds of vintage, analog tape reel delays, like the Roland Space Echo tape unit. You can bet Tame Impala got some use out of this style of delay at one point or another, in addition, a pedal like this can make a great jumping-off point for your own explorations into spacey, psychedelic sounds!
Caroline Arigato Phaser Vibrato
Let's get boutique for a moment, shall we? With Caroline's Arigato vibrato and phaser effect, you can tap into patented Tame Impala swirliness to an even greater degree with this doubled-up modulation effect. The Tame Impala pedalboard sound can surely be chalked up to some vibrato, so the classic, wavy, pitch-bending sound Arigato can summon definitely makes for a good pick.
Mythos Mjolnir Overdrive
It's not all sunshine and modulated rainbows, however. Sometimes Kevin Parker drops in some grit for that awesome, psychedelic, White Album, late-'60s, dirty guitar tone. For songs like "Mind Mischief" from Lonerism, we can turn to a low-to-mid gain overdrive like the Mythos Mjolnir and its crispy drive tones. This kind of overdrive drops into a camp of drives typically described as "mythical" or "centaur-like," so if you find yourself seeing those words getting tossed around on other overdrives, you can turn to those, as well.
Greer Amps Royal Velvet Overdrive
While we're on the topic of driven guitars, let's throw it over to some talk about amps. We're not going to delve into amps a whole lot in this overall discussion, as we believe many amps can get the job done! But we're here and we're on the topic, so let's go over one of Parker's most recognizable amps – the Vox AC30. This dual-speaker classic from one of Britain's finest in amplification summons a great, bright, and chiming sound to run single-coil guitars through.
Between these elements, you can get a culmination of the sound we've been running down so far. In the event you can't get your hands on an AC30, fear not and turn to a pedal like the Greer Amps Royal Velvet that simulates that chiming heat of the English classic. (There's a whole world of pedals that sound like classic amplifiers, if you're ever interested!)
Tame Impala Synthesizers
Alright, here we go. The big question mark, right? There always does seem to be that element of mad scientist mystery when it comes to synthesizers. We're not going to mince words when we say that, when it comes to the vintage synthesizers Parker has been known to use, stuff gets pretty out-of-this-world quickly. Parker's rigs have been seen with huge, vintage Rolands, Korgs, and Moogs, so we're going to focus on some ways you can bring some trippy, vintage-inspired sounds home yourself!
Korg microKORG2
The original Korg microKORG was actually a pretty big engine for kickstarting indie bands in the 2000s, if you've never heard of it. Today's microKORG2 delivers all of the same sound and functionality as the original with an enormously powerful virtual analog synth engine and even better playability and sound design processes. If you're looking to create some of the synth lines that can be heard across Currents, the microKORG2 is a pretty capable all-in-one synthesizer that can cover an incredible amount of ground for its small size.
Roland JU-06A Boutique Series
One of the most popular synthesizers of all time is the Roland Juno. With all its iterations, its spacey, retro-futuristic sound had been a hit with worlds of artists – Kevin Parker likely included! On a song like "Nangs," you get lost in wild waves of thick, analog sweetness, so to get in that ballpark, we're throwing it over to Roland's JU-06A Boutique Series unit. This miniaturized version of the iconic Roland can capture original Juno sounds while saving space and incorporating modern features like USB and MIDI syncing. These Boutique Series models from Roland are an awesome way to get into the analog synthesis sound in general!
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With a sound as expansive and colorful as Tame Impala's there always seems to be another stone to turn – but that's why we're here! Feel free to reach out to us here at Russo Music any time, we're always eager to lend a hand, whatever your sound may be.
