Arctic Monkeys – I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am

Alex Turner can be seen with his Guyatone Crossover PS-104 Auto-Wah pedal during Arctic Monkeys live performance at the Kings Theater in Brooklyn, New York City in October 2022. Pictured, you can see it sat on his pedalboard above his distortion pedal. This is the first time Turner has had a Wah style pedal on his board or being used in his music. This pedal can be heard both live and on studio recordings of songs off their 7th LP, The Car. Tracks such as “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I am” and “Jet Skis On The Moat” feature this pedal prominently and feature this new side of Arctic Monkeys guitar riffs.

The PS-104 was a pedal produced in the 1970’s by Guyatone and is considered to be quite rare. It is a Cross Over BOX Dynamic Envelope Filter style pedal with both Drive and Decay Controls with the latter controlling the periodic time of effect waves. The warm analog auto-wah effect has a distinct treble bite. The effect also varies with the performance dynamics such as a harder/stronger pluck at the strings on a guitar will give a stronger effect. The pedal can vary with how hot the guitar pickups are, also depending on if you have any other pedals before it in the effect chain.

Turner described the PS-104 and it’s sound in an interview when being asked about how he wrote and came up with the riff for “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I am.” Alex had this to say about the sound “I think really that probably was when finding again that effects pedal in the drawer somewhere and blowing the dust off and before you know it, you’ve got that lick.”

Alex Turner can be seen with his Mu-tron Micro V envelope filter/auto wah during Arctic Monkeys live performance at Studio Brussels in October 2022. Pictured, you can see the pedal on his pedalboard above his Coopersonic Valveslapper. This pedal can be heard live while Alex is playing tracks off the bands 7th LP, The Car, such as “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I am” and “Jet Skis On The Moat.” While not the original auto wah pedal Alex used during the tour/recording, which was the Guyatone PS-104 Crossbox, Turner switched to this pedal around the time of this live performance due to unknown reasons.

The Mu-Tron Micro V is a “advanced envelope-controlled filter device designed specifically for the musician who wants the touch-controlled wah effect” with a solid state circuit and filter range switch. The Micro V also contains a continuously-variable filter-range/sensitivity control. This pedal is more modern and offers more flexibility than the previous envelope filter pedal that Alex used, which may be why he switched, again, the reason is unknown. Though both pedals feature amazing tones and work perfectly with these new sounds Alex is using on tour/recording sessions.

This user-uploaded photo captures Tom Rowley’s pedalboard during Arctic Monkeys' tour for their sixth album, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018-2019). Notably, it includes the Wattson Super Fuzz FY-6, which was originally used by lead singer Alex Turner for both studio recordings and live performances. Turner prominently featured this pedal with his other band, The Last Shadow Puppets, on their album Everything You’ve Come To Expect. It appears that Rowley used the Wattson Super Fuzz during the tour, particularly on the track "Four Out Of Five" and other songs.

Tom Rowley used the Gibson Les Paul Deluxe during performances of "Fireside" on the Arctic Monkeys' TBHC tour, as seen in Edvin Arleskär's YouTube video of their live show at Royal Arena, Copenhagen, on June 27, 2018. Later, Alex Turner utilized the same guitar during the Car era for studio recordings, the "Body Paint" music video, and performances of "I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am."