Adam Jones tone attempt

[GuitarJon]

I wanted to try to sound like Adam Jones with the tools I had at hand... I don't have the exact gear that he uses but I have some things that will hopefully get me close. This is the gear that I used:

- Gibson Les Paul Custom
- Diezel VH2
- Marshall SC-20 JCM 800 Studio
- RedSeven reactive load
- OwnHammer cabs

I hope I got close

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Great playing and tone, but if I didn't know you were doing a Tool video, I wouldn't have guessed it had anything to do with them honestly.

The riffs and production are maybe more like Deftones, the tone is gainier and more aggressive than Tool go for. The Tool tone to me is essentially a plexi, with the low end coming from the rectifier. The later Tool tone using the Diezel is basically that in one amp - the compression, crunch and midrange is like a cranked Marshall, and the low end is more like a Mesa. Micing the cab with a 421 gets the low end and mids sat right.

The multiple amps thing to me is mostly about changing up the amp for different sections. Combined with adjusting the guitar volume knob, it allows for a wider range of tones than any one amp would provide. There is definitely some blending going on, but it varies, and often its just one amp at any one point.

FWIW, this was my attempt at matching the tone from Rosetta Stoned (A/Bing with the original) with Helix and Fractal's VH4 models:





enjoyed the video none the less!

 

[GuitarJon]

Great playing and tone, but if I didn't know you were doing a Tool video, I wouldn't have guessed it had anything to do with them honestly.

The riffs and production are maybe more like Deftones, the tone is gainier and more aggressive than Tool go for. The Tool tone to me is essentially a plexi, with the low end coming from the rectifier. The later Tool tone using the Diezel is basically that in one amp - the compression, crunch and midrange is like a cranked Marshall, and the low end is more like a Mesa. Micing the cab with a 421 gets the low end and mids sat right.

The multiple amps thing to me is mostly about changing up the amp for different sections. Combined with adjusting the guitar volume knob, it allows for a wider range of tones than any one amp would provide. There is definitely some blending going on, but it varies, and often its just one amp at any one point.

FWIW, this was my attempt at matching the tone from Rosetta Stoned (A/Bing with the original) with Helix and Fractal's VH4 models:





enjoyed the video none the less!

Thanks for the feedback! I'm definitely not a Tool expert but I think I got pretty close to the tones I had in mind. I was listening to a couple of songs from the new album where they clearly blended two amps. Diezel was obvious because of that characteristic sound, don't know what the other amp(s) was... When he played hard there was more gain and in the more soft palm muted sections the tone was less gainy, that's also what my goal was here but as I said in the video my tone probably has a touch more gain than the ones I was trying to match.

As far as the parts themselves though, it's just my own interpretation of their "style" but of course they have a progressive style with various things going on. Not a direct copy at all, just my own version of what I imagine Tool to be somewhat from my personal musical perspective.

The Tool catalog is quite vast though so I realise there is no way to encapsulate all of that into one single tone. Still had fun though! :)

 

[theimageofall]

Sounds good and a nice tone. I’d be happy with that!

 

[Jambi]

Great playing and tone, but if I didn't know you were doing a Tool video, I wouldn't have guessed it had anything to do with them honestly.

The riffs and production are maybe more like Deftones, the tone is gainier and more aggressive than Tool go for. The Tool tone to me is essentially a plexi, with the low end coming from the rectifier. The later Tool tone using the Diezel is basically that in one amp - the compression, crunch and midrange is like a cranked Marshall, and the low end is more like a Mesa. Micing the cab with a 421 gets the low end and mids sat right.

The multiple amps thing to me is mostly about changing up the amp for different sections. Combined with adjusting the guitar volume knob, it allows for a wider range of tones than any one amp would provide. There is definitely some blending going on, but it varies, and often its just one amp at any one point.

FWIW, this was my attempt at matching the tone from Rosetta Stoned (A/Bing with the original) with Helix and Fractal's VH4 models:





enjoyed the video none the less!

I wanted to have a quick stab at this

 

[la szum]

When do we get to tar and feather you, @GuitarJon ??

 

[Jambi]

When do we get to tar and feather you, @GuitarJon ??

I hope I didn’t come across that way. I’m not trying to undermine their work. I’m super appreciative of @MirrorProfiles and @GuitarJon ‘s knowledge. If there’s an Adam thread, you’ll find me there

 

[la szum]

Oh, I didn't even see your reply before posting that joke Jambi. I was just riffing off of Jon's intro in the video.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I wanted to have a quick stab at this

Pretty great job! IMO the recorded tone has a bit more low end and presence, and maybe a little more gain too. Absolutely one of my favourite tones ever

 

[theimageofall]

I wanted to have a quick stab at this

Pretty good! Are you using Amp sims for this?

 

[Jambi]

Pretty great job! IMO the recorded tone has a bit more low end and presence, and maybe a little more gain too. Absolutely one of my favourite tones ever

Thanks! Definitely! I have a multi-band compressor on at the end of the chain, which I didn’t want to mess with much. That patch is built around playing over the tracks, so it usually has an enhancer block as well which also helps with volume, but doesn’t exactly sound “”

 

[Jambi]

Pretty good! Are you using Amp sims for this?

Thank you! Yeah, this was the Axe-FX III