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Amp Settings for Adam Jones of Tool

Tool is arguably one of the most unique and innovative rock groups that the '90s produced.

Though their sound was characterized primarily by Danny Carey's complex time signatures and Maynard Keenan'saggressive vocals, the band's tone is largely a result of Adam Jones' guitar playing.

Jones, a graphic artist having contributed work to Jurrasic Park, Terminator 2 and almost all of Tool's bizarre musicvideos, crafts a penetrating distortion that drops plenty of low end and punchy half mutes.

Emulating it may seem simple.

Just use distortion, right?

Well yes -- do that -- but we should also go a step further by trying to capture the aggressiveness of Tool's sound andthe rhythmic energy of Jones' guitar.

The Les Paul FactorJones uses Gibson Les Paul Customs almost exclusively on Tool's albums.

At least some of that extra "bite" you hear in an otherwise bottomed out tone, is simply due to the Les Paul sound.

If you don't have one, you'll have to improvise a bit with whatever guitar you own.

1. Make sure your pickup selector is switched to the bridge position.

2. Cut your tone knob back, somewhere around seven or eight.

3. Keep volume all the way up.

You're looking for heavy saturation but you also want a high, penetrating tone that's going to make your chordchanges distinct.

If you do happen to have a Gibson or Epiphone Les Paul, you might have a little more room to experiment with thetone knob and pickup selector.

Otherwise, I'd keep them steady just to make sure you've got that extra bite.

AmplifierTo encourage the upper end of your tone, you'll want to keep your mids pretty high.

Possibly the most crucial component to Adam's sound, your mid knob should dial in around eight or higher.

Keep bass at eight and treble at seven.

Adam uses a Diezel amplifier and you can see his settings pictured here on the third channel.

Image Courtesy of Rig-Talk

Your settings should look pretty similar, thoughyou can make adjustments depending on thetendencies of your own rig.

General rules are to keep the bass and mid high.

Here are a few configurations to experiment with.Images are courtesy of the Positive Grid.

Adam's Multiple Amp SetupIn an interview with Guitar World, Adam stated that he uses multiple amps for their varying strengths.

For example, a different amp for high end, mids and low end.

I’ve always played with two or three amps: one for high end, one that’s good with midrange and onethat kicks in with the low; or I use one that’s got that good solid-state Metallica crunch and one that’sgot that warm Marshall tube sound.

Since most of us don't have multiple amps, we'll need to do our best to get that combination of lows and highs out ofthe same amplifier.

If you do have the luxury of two different amps, set one at an optimal low end configuration, with the other at a highend configuration.

EffectsI haven't seen what I would consider a reliable shot of Adam's pedalboard (if you've got any information on that let meknow over at Twitter), but his tone is almost always distorted, which comes from either the Diezel or Mesa Boogieamplifier.

High gain on a Marshall amp will come close, and I've found that the "insane" setting on most Line 6 Spider amps willsound close as well.

If you use a distortion pedal instead of your amp, go with something modern with heavy saturation.

Think Boss ST-2 Power Stack or a tube distortion, like the Hughes and Kettner Tube Factor.

Keep in mind, light or bluesy overdrives won't capture Adam's sound.

ConcludeAdam's amps alone are likely a five figure investment.

If you can put that kind of money into your rig, then you're lucky and the exception to the norm. Otherwise, you'll wantto strike a balance between the low and high end tones of your amplifier.

The key is to have a direction to go in and be willing to experiment.

Even Adam is never really done crafting his tone.

As you can tell, there’s a lot of experimenting that goes on. - Adam Jones

So push the mids and bass up and do some tinkering.

Maybe you'll fall into some money and be able to afford two different top-of-the-line amplifiers.

Other Settings?Do you have your own settings to contribute or other thoughts about replicating Adam's tone? Share it with us over atFacebook, Twitter and Google Plus.

Flickr Commons Image Courtesy of fabionascimento

About Robert Kittleberger

Robert is the founder and editor of Guitar Chalk and Guitar Bargain. You can get intouch with him here, or via Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus.

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