Deep Dive into Adam Jones's Tones

I can’t speak to that but I’m sure I read an interview with Sylvia Massey where she said that the undertow rectifier was recorded through a Marshall cab with greenbacks rather than the typical mesa v30


This is a decent example of just the blueface without the Marshall imo, reminds me a bit of an orange rockerverb, thick and dark -


That demo was annoying.
That was the point.
The mission statement..annoy the viewers.
C’MON it’s f’n Blueface, run it like a hog.
 
Tickets for the Hard Rock Live show down here are only $125 for floor seats, I think I might go this time around. Hahaha pre-pandemic my ex and I got the tickets for like $398 a piece. :rofl
 
I still haven't seen Tool live, when I watch stuff on youtube the 90's gigs in smaller venues look way more energetic and appealing than what they do now. I still feel like they're a band I need to see live at least once though.... Does it suit being in a massive arena? or worth trying to get as close as possible?
 
I still haven't seen Tool live, when I watch stuff on youtube the 90's gigs in smaller venues look way more energetic and appealing than what they do now. I still feel like they're a band I need to see live at least once though.... Does it suit being in a massive arena? or worth trying to get as close as possible?
I saw them at Hammersmith Apollo, Brixton Academy, Download Festival, and the O2 Arena. The O2 was certainly the most "audio" centric, because I wasn't close to the stage at all really. Brixton was probably the best in terms of energy.
 
I saw them at Hammersmith Apollo, Brixton Academy, Download Festival, and the O2 Arena. The O2 was certainly the most "audio" centric, because I wasn't close to the stage at all really. Brixton was probably the best in terms of energy.
If they played Brixton or Hammersmith again, I'd be all over it. Harder to engage an arena crowd, especially when its not really big singalong music.

A dude I recorded a bit saw them on their first UK gig, I think it was Camden Underworld or somewhere like that. Massively jealous of that one....
 
If they played Brixton or Hammersmith again, I'd be all over it. Harder to engage an arena crowd, especially when its not really big singalong music.

A dude I recorded a bit saw them on their first UK gig, I think it was Camden Underworld or somewhere like that. Massively jealous of that one....
Think the days of them playing smaller places are long gone. They're the new Led Zep now.

Better to just go and listen to newer bands.
 
I’m going to see them in Manchester in a couple of Months. Looking forward to it and have seen them a couple of times.

Still can’t quite nail the Jones tones through Amp Sims however. As for the Bass tone…that’s a tough one as well!
 
what gear are you using?

@James Freeman gave me some pointers for which Fractal Plexi gets closest, just need to spend some time with IR’s to see what I can come up with
I have most of them to be honest! S-Gear, Tonex/Amplitube 5, most of the Neural DSP sims, Helix Native, NAM…It isn’t the gear - it’s the person dialling it in!

Is have a few of your Tonex profiles (Diezel Herbert and the High Gain pack I think) and IR packs actually - they are really good!
 
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I have most of them to be honest! S-Gear, Tonex/Amplitube 5, most of the Neural DSP sims, Helix Native, NAM…It isn’t the gear - it’s the person dialling it in!

Is have a few of your Tonex profiles (Diezel Herbert and the High Gain pack I think) and IR packs actually - they are really good!
Ah thanks!

Well for the amps I think Helix has a Plexi that gets pretty close, and their VH4 is also ideal. If you have my 2002 Mesa cab pack, blending the 421 and 57 should be cool. I use my Marshall BV IR’s for the Super Lead/Bass tone, same sort of mics. Weirdly I don’t think there’s much to it besides the cab IR’s, Plexi’s basically do one sound and the VH4 seems quite intuitive once the IR’s are right.

I really want to try and get his Mesa tone right, need to isolate a section of a song and ref against it.
 
I still haven't seen Tool live, when I watch stuff on youtube the 90's gigs in smaller venues look way more energetic and appealing than what they do now. I still feel like they're a band I need to see live at least once though.... Does it suit being in a massive arena? or worth trying to get as close as possible?

I’m FAR from a Tool fanatic and the first time I saw them, I only really dug the song “Lateralus” and was on the fence about everything else. If I remember right, they opened with “The Grudge” (Lateralus tour) and it took me about 60 seconds to go “Oh, I get it now” and got pretty close to fanatic after that show. Between the lights and music at that volume, it all just clicked.

The dynamics that band is capable of isn’t reflected via CD and it wasn’t just that show, I’ve seen them 3-4x now and outside of the shitty show I saw at Boston Calling where you simply couldn’t hear them, it’s been like that. It’s why I say you can drop a pair of stereo mics in their rehearsal room and that’s the sound of Tool. Removing Maynard, that’s 3 dudes who get in a loud as practice room and let the songs write themselves (much to everyone’s dismay) and that music can only come as a result of doing it that way.

Definitely do it before Maynard calls it a day. He’s hit or miss with how much he lets the mic do the heavy lifting for him these days, but occasionally he still goes for it and you get some angst from him. Personally, I couldn’t care less what those guys are doing onstage or if I can see Maynard or not, if there’s one band that doesn’t require a band’s energy onstage, it’s them.

I look at it the same way as seeing Floyd in a stadium; I was pretty sure that was Gilmour some several hundred yards away, but the visual aspect of the show and the sheer impact of that music coming out a massive PA system negated any reason for me to try to see the detail of his face. Not like the dude is doing cool stage moves hahahah
 
Think the days of them playing smaller places are long gone. They're the new Led Zep now.

Better to just go and listen to newer bands.

That’s actually why I’m going to go to this show, it’s a 7K seater and the smallest room I’ve seen them in since ‘01 when they played a literal high school basketball court/gym (it’s a big one, but still). I thought for sure tickets were going to be at least $500 a pop for the floor, but I think re-sellers are trying to make their money back now!

Edit- just snagged my ticket. they jumped up another $45 so it was $220 total, but I’ll be about…..100 feet from the stage and right next to the soundboard!
 
I have most of them to be honest! S-Gear, Tonex/Amplitube 5, most of the Neural DSP sims, Helix Native, NAM…It isn’t the gear - it’s the person dialling it in!

Is have a few of your Tonex profiles (Diezel Herbert and the High Gain pack I think) and IR packs actually - they are really good!

Do you have the Nameless plugin? It can do a pretty damn good 10k days tone, if you have it I can post the settings I use. On Tonex I’m currently loving the Rogue Mono collection from Live Ready Sound, it’s another modded Marshall like the Nameless and sounds pretty good straight out the box with the studio captures. The mirror profiles Diezel collection is great also!
 
Can only agree about the above.

Usually I don't like huge arena shows/crowds.

QOTSA gigs were far more enjoyable in the early 00's, for example.

But freaking Tool? Seen them thrice now, every time it was a huge hall or even one similar to a stadium, and all the shows were astonishing! That said, I still prefer QOTSA albums, but seeing Tool that way makes perfect sense, especially considering all the tech stuff they'll bring and make great use of.

Seeing Tool live is a unique experience. If you're a musician and you like heavier stuff, you should definitely give them a chance, no regard to high fees. Really brilliant.
 
I saw them at Hammersmith Apollo, Brixton Academy, Download Festival, and the O2 Arena. The O2 was certainly the most "audio" centric, because I wasn't close to the stage at all really. Brixton was probably the best in terms of energy.

I was also at all those gigs except for Download. I did both nights at the o2 last year and was down in the front on the first night and up in the balcony the second - funnily enough the second night was the most fun altho I did drink a bottle of wine that night which might have helped. The front seating is a bit stuffy until people started to stand up which took about half an hour. I saw them in Berlin that tour as well but Maynard was toast by that point and I think they cut it short by a song.

I’ll keep going to see them as long as they tour, even with the piss take ticket prices and lack of set list diversity. I love em.
 
Do you have the Nameless plugin? It can do a pretty damn good 10k days tone, if you have it I can post the settings I use. On Tonex I’m currently loving the Rogue Mono collection from Live Ready Sound, it’s another modded Marshall like the Nameless and sounds pretty good straight out the box with the studio captures. The mirror profiles Diezel collection is great also!
I do have the nameless and I’d appreciate the settings if you have a moment.

Many thanks!
 
I do have the nameless and I’d appreciate the settings if you have a moment.

Many thanks!

So I’ve had another look at this today and the IR’s included with the Nameless aren’t as good as I remember. I’ve attached some settings for you which get in the ballpark but it needs better IR’s imo, I get closer with the York Audio Marshall v30 IR’s. I’m sure Mirrorprofiles has some suitable ones.

I was trying to use the intro to Jambi as one of the reference tones but it gets nowhere near lol. What a tone that is - some studio wizardry involved there for sure.
 

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That’s great, thanks. I’ll try them out later.

That is one heck of a tone on the intro to Jambi. That’s the “chunk” I’ve been struggling to get with Amp Sims…having said that I have just started using some Mirror Profiles Tonex profiles (the Diezel Herbert and Mesa Recto in particular) and for the first time I feel like that “chunk” is there. Really enjoying using them at the minute.
 
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