Tool Guitar tone

[man camel]

Listening to lateralus (the song) and was blown away by the full, rich tone adam jones has. any way to get that kind of sound on a cheaper setup.
i have a mesa dual rect, marshall mode 4, 3 esp's (MH301, vip400, ec100)

what gear would be good to capture that tone?

[crypticglobe]

Rumor is that he uses old Marshall Super Bass heads. They are pretty rocking for sure.

However... no matter what amp you buy.... it's in your hands. Go for your own amazing sound bro. :)

[arrogantbastard]

Marshall non-master volume Bass head, with a Deizel VH4S and Mesa Dual Rectifier. That's what he uses live at least.
http://guitargeek.com/rigview/593/

Justin

[jbuntz]

The Les Paul with the metallic finish doesn't hurt either. It was limited edition. Apparenlty they weren't popular because people didn't like the way the finish affected the tone of the guitar but he was one of the few that thought it sounded cool.

[lasso]

Originally Posted by jbuntz

The Les Paul with the metallic finish doesn't hurt either. It was limited edition. Apparenlty they weren't popular because people didn't like the way the finish affected the tone of the guitar but he was one of the few that thought it sounded cool.

I think it sounds cool too (watch avatar)

[bpatural]

i was david bottrill's mix assistant for the lateralus session.... i remember his gtr tone was a mix of four different amps. A diesel, marshall, boogie, and something else....maybe an ubershall??can't quite remember. anyway, it was a mixture with a touch of reverb from an h3000 and sounded huge.
-brian

[lasso]

Originally Posted by bpatural

i was david bottrill's mix assistant for the lateralus session.... i remember his gtr tone was a mix of four different amps. A diesel, marshall, boogie, and something else....maybe an ubershall??can't quite remember. anyway, it was a mixture with a touch of reverb from an h3000 and sounded huge.
-brian

Doubled / quadroubled or using 4 amps for the same line?

[arrogantbastard]

So you work/worked at Larabee? That f'n awesome man. I'm jealous. That album sounds HUUUUGE. One of my favorite sounding albums i've ever heard. What else do you know about it? I know the drums were tracked pretty insanely at Cello. C12's on overheads, U87's top and bottom of every tom. That album sounds like a million bucks.

Justin

[pigpen]

I have one of the Les Pauls of which you speak. It is called the Silverburst. Form what I was told, they only made them in 82 and 83. Great guitar. It definitely has a different sound and it is heavy as balls. I have another Paul, Standard, and they couldn't sound more different. The Silverburst has an almost controlled nastiness about it. Almost a bit compressed. I actually got mine around the time Tool first hit the scene...(gotta love it when everyone thinks you're copying another guy even though we probably got hooked at the same time!)

Anyway, just thought I'd throw it out there that his sound is definitely coming from that guitar. And thanks to Adam, the value of that little puppy has gone through the roof! Last time I had it appraised a few years back for insurance purposes, it was estimated at $3600!!! RAWK!

[lasso]

Originally Posted by pigpen

I have one of the Les Pauls of which you speak. It is called the Silverburst. Form what I was told, they only made them in 82 and 83. Great guitar. It definitely has a different sound and it is heavy as balls. I have another Paul, Standard, and they couldn't sound more different. The Silverburst has an almost controlled nastiness about it. Almost a bit compressed. I actually got mine around the time Tool first hit the scene...(gotta love it when everyone thinks you're copying another guy even though we probably got hooked at the same time!)

Anyway, just thought I'd throw it out there that his sound is definitely coming from that guitar. And thanks to Adam, the value of that little puppy has gone through the roof! Last time I had it appraised a few years back for insurance purposes, it was estimated at $3600!!! RAWK!

Uh - I thought he spoke of the Florentine series (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...D:en%26sa%3DN), which I play. My mistake

[enharmonic]

Originally Posted by bpatural

i was david bottrill's mix assistant for the lateralus session.... i remember his gtr tone was a mix of four different amps. A diesel, marshall, boogie, and something else....maybe an ubershall??can't quite remember. anyway, it was a mixture with a touch of reverb from an h3000 and sounded huge.
-brian

*bowing down*

That had to be a sweet gig!

[max cooper]

Back in the late nineties, I played a gig at Club with No Name on Highland Ave. with Helmet, Tool, and I think Black Market Flowers. I could be quite mistaken, but I think I remember seeing a Marshall head (with the gold control strip that didn't go all the way across; probably suggests a Super Bass 100, right?) I suppose it's possible that the gear compliment was stripped for the small venue, no?

[bpatural]

...Quote: What else do you know about it? I know the drums were tracked pretty insanely at Cello. C12's on overheads, U87's top and bottom of every tom. That album sounds like a million bucks.

Since you're interested here's some of what I remember...it's been years since i looked at those notes so there may be some errors:
Console:9000J
Format:Basic Tracks= Tape, ODs and vox=PT
Mixed down to GP9 and DAT.
Drum Buss Compressor: The Summit Tube One
Main Reverbs: Spx 90 bombay club preset for snare/toms...480L vox, H3000 for gtr
Delays: PCM 42s
either DMX or H3k for the pitch shift
I remember we had a stack of pultecs on top of the gear racks which were probably for vox, bass, and kick.
a bunch of 1176s too on stuff
Vox chain was api through an ADL compressor at least for overdubs.
The gong was recorded with a sony c800
Most songs had no snare on the snare, he used it like a tom. Also a lot of the cool fx and drum machine stuff was from a simmons computer triggered with pads through a PA while tracking (along with K, S, and Toms)
Two kick samples are on each kick hit along with the original, one clicky and one deep...i went crosseyed phase aligning those :( for hours on end
The room mics were recorded natural and also with a ton of sustain from a transient designer which was used during mixdown on the kicks and snrs as well to make them poke.
Some of the cooler FX were from delays feeding back thru the sends on the console with pedals like distortion and microsynth in the loop, with pitchshift and reverb making them wider each repeat.
That's all that comes to mind right now, but ask if you have any questions...david has some really cool techniques i saw while working on some other albums as well (silverchair, flaw, one side zero)...
-brian

[man camel]

the other thing that impressed me was how there was no noise (not that i could hear)
amps can be quite noisey, so how would you eliminate that?

[joaquin]

Originally Posted by bpatural

...That's all that comes to mind right now, but ask if you have any questions...

Thank you so much for all the info!! anything you remember we'll be most welcome!!
...what was the Vocal Mic selection?....Thanks again

[arrogantbastard]

Originally Posted by joaquin

Thank you so much for all the info!! anything you remember we'll be most welcome!!
...what was the Vocal Mic selection?....Thanks again

I'll wait for bpatural's response but I read that in an article DB only uses a CMV563 with and M7S capsule. I believe that's what was used on Aenima anyways.

bpatural, what monitors does Bottrill mix on?

[bpatural]

Yes, that's the mic!...I had totally forgotten about that. Probably the coolest looking mic ever. As for monitors they were old KRKs, out of production now i think they might have been called the 6000 series.
-brian