Deep Dive into Adam Jones's Tones

[EOengineer]

I bought my revision G new the year Aenema hit airwaves and I remember immediately noticing the similarity in character to the tones on that album. I think it’s part of why that one is my GOAT album. I personally think he lost something when that amp left the arsenal, but at the end of the day Adam is going to sound like Adam through pretty much any amp.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

He recalled it was the blue VH4, Dual Rec and Super Bass blended in the mix. Mesa / Mesa / Marshall cabs respectively, G12M greenbacks in the latter.

I dont want you to nag him or exhaust the boundaries of your relationship with him, but Im a little curious about these. I've seen him mention the same information a few times when asked, but it seems somewhat vague or "from memory".

On the other hand, I can only presume that he has been asked these questions REPEATEDLY ever since those albums came out, and things would have detailed recall sheets and documentation for everything. A lot of guys like Dave are able to give very accurate recollections purely because they're asked the same questions so often.

I'm just wondering if the VH4 was involved much on Aenima, or if that was only Lateralus, and whether he specifically remembers the speakers being G12M's. G12M's do get mentioned quite a lot with Adam's Marshall cabs, but so do V30's (and occasionally blackbacks). IIRC Sylvia Massey said her era of Tool was using Marshalls with T75's. I can only imagine he has all kinds of cabs and speakers in his own collection.

For the Aenima tone, I've always found V30's to sound closest, but there could well be a fair bit of overlap sonically given all the other variables at play. To my ear, Lateralus sounds like its using the VH4 a lot more heavily.

 

[Sparksnorth]

I bought my revision G new the year Aenema hit airwaves and I remember immediately noticing the similarity in character to the tones on that album. I think it’s part of why that one is my GOAT album. I personally think he lost something when that amp left the arsenal, but at the end of the day Adam is going to sound like Adam through pretty much any amp.

I can appreciate the Diezel but I'm not a big fan of his modern sound. AEnima had his best tones.

 

[0XI0]

I always thought 1995 sounded like a super bass and a recto, 2000 sounded like a super bass and a VH4, 1995 sounds like jack Daniel's, Laturalis the whole mix sounds like milk in coffee

 

[ZEN Amps]

I dont want you to nag him or exhaust the boundaries of your relationship with him, but Im a little curious about these. I've seen him mention the same information a few times when asked, but it seems somewhat vague or "from memory".

On the other hand, I can only presume that he has been asked these questions REPEATEDLY ever since those albums came out, and things would have detailed recall sheets and documentation for everything. A lot of guys like Dave are able to give very accurate recollections purely because they're asked the same questions so often.

I'm just wondering if the VH4 was involved much on Aenima, or if that was only Lateralus, and whether he specifically remembers the speakers being G12M's. G12M's do get mentioned quite a lot with Adam's Marshall cabs, but so do V30's (and occasionally blackbacks). IIRC Sylvia Massey said her era of Tool was using Marshalls with T75's. I can only imagine he has all kinds of cabs and speakers in his own collection.

For the Aenima tone, I've always found V30's to sound closest, but there could well be a fair bit of overlap sonically given all the other variables at play. To my ear, Lateralus sounds like its using the VH4 a lot more heavily.

Shoot me a DM man.

 

[2dor]

Two Notes Genome just got a TSM-AI (neural network modeled) Super Bass ...

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Two Notes Genome just got a TSM-AI (neural network modeled) Super Bass ...

The Adam Jones amp (despite starting life as a Super Bass) is much much closer to a stock Super Lead. Its essentially a half assed conversion to a Superlead circuit (split cathode).

 

[2dor]

The Adam Jones amp (despite starting life as a Super Bass) is much much closer to a stock Super Lead. Its essentially a half assed conversion to a Superlead circuit (split cathode).

His tech claimed they went out of their way to keep it stock though..

 

[MirrorProfiles]

His tech claimed they went out of their way to keep it stock though..

I think “stock” means to his specs. A stock Super Bass is like a 100W JTM45 with solid state rectifier. AJ’s mods are pretty well documented online and you’d need to do those tweaks to get it as aggressive as his tone is. A stock Super Bass would defo be too soft and clean sounding.

 

[2112]

@ZEN Amps has a pretty

Yep hell of a producer. Many years ago I engineered an album he produced and learnt a lot over a few pretty intense months.

And for a little fun this here’s my take on the 10k Days tone:

Zen Amps - SoundCloud

Dude it makes me so happy every time I hear you play. KILLER rendition.

 

[ZEN Amps]

@ZEN Amps
Dude it makes me so happy every time I hear you play. KILLER rendition.

Having mates like you, Joel and Voya certainly keeps me on my toes! Plus you just know how irresistible that silverburst is

@MirrorProfiles hey I tried to reply to your DM, not sure it went through. Minimum post count? Lemme know.

 

[Porkpie]

Two Notes Genome just got a TSM-AI (neural network modeled) Super Bass ...

The new hot mode they’ve added to the Super Lead model does a great early Adam Jones sound

I’ve listened to quite a lot of live stuff off tool archive and I’m convinced he uses blackbacks at least sometimes for his live sound. There’s a certain vintage scratchiness to the top end when the Marshall is up in the mix that can only replicate with blackbacks. In the studio who knows but the more recent Marshall heavy tracks like Tempest and Culling Voices sound like v30s (or g12-vintage) to me.

 

[DrewJD82]

I think “stock” means to his specs. A stock Super Bass is like a 100W JTM45 with solid state rectifier. AJ’s mods are pretty well documented online and you’d need to do those tweaks to get it as aggressive as his tone is. A stock Super Bass would defo be too soft and clean sounding.

Yeah, it was mentioned on a more recent Tone Talk, IIRR, where Dave said “It’s a Super Bass but modded so it’s basically a Superlead” while handwaving any special sauce the mod may be adding.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Yeah, it was mentioned on a more recent Tone Talk, IIRR, where Dave said “It’s a Super Bass but modded so it’s basically a Superlead” while handwaving any special sauce the mod may be adding.

I’ve got the mod done on my super bass (which is a 76/77 build). You’d have to be a real expert on knowing all the nuances of every revision of super lead to even know what’s different about it. Any stock 70’s Super Lead Circuit will be plenty close (enough that you’d need to focus on cab/speakers/guitar/pedals/technique).

 

[Sparksnorth]

If anyone cares, Badlander 100 on Crunch at like 3 o clock just gets so damn close to it; at least at bedroom volumes.

 

[monkmaniac]

If anyone cares, Badlander 100 on Crunch at like 3 o clock just gets so damn close to it; at least at bedroom volumes.

I care! I've been a fan of Tool / Jones since the 90s. I currently have an SV20 and can get some decent early Tool tones with that. For the "newer" stuff I have a Revv G3 that I run into the Normal channel. I love the G3 pedal but I am really thinking I want a real amp for this. Naturally I'm thinking about a Revv amp like the G50, but this forum seems to have a thing for the Badlander...

 

[deadpool_25]

If anyone cares, Badlander 100 on Crunch at like 3 o clock just gets so damn close to it; at least at bedroom volumes.

there was a thing recently where they had an amp setup for people to mess with. I think it was an AJ meet and greet at Gibson Garage or something? But they had a Badlander setup there along with one of his newer sig LPs. An Epiphone iirc but I could be mistaken on that.

Edit: out of curiosity, what do you set your EQ at for that? And what cab/speakers?

 

[deadpool_25]

I care! I've been a fan of Tool / Jones since the 90s. I currently have an SV20 and can get some decent early Tool tones with that. For the "newer" stuff I have a Revv G3 that I run into the Normal channel. I love the G3 pedal but I am really thinking I want a real amp for this. Naturally I'm thinking about a Revv amp like the G50, but this forum seems to have a thing for the Badlander...

I have a Badlander 25 and it’s a phenomenal amp imo. Lacks the big thump of a 100w of course but has enough low end I think and does get plenty loud. Might be worth a look for you.

 

[monkmaniac]

I have a Badlander 25 and it’s a phenomenal amp imo. Lacks the big thump of a 100w of course but has enough low end I think and does get plenty loud. Might be worth a look for you.

Thanks for the reply! It's a tough choice - I've been wavering between this and something like the SYN20-IR with either the DRECT or VH4 modules (or, let's be honest, both...). But I will look into the Badlander for sure.

 

[Orvillain]

I care! I've been a fan of Tool / Jones since the 90s. I currently have an SV20 and can get some decent early Tool tones with that. For the "newer" stuff I have a Revv G3 that I run into the Normal channel. I love the G3 pedal but I am really thinking I want a real amp for this. Naturally I'm thinking about a Revv amp like the G50, but this forum seems to have a thing for the Badlander...

Badlander, Mark V, Dual Recto. Can't go wrong with any of them.

Mesa just have a sound yknow ... sick as fuccckkkk