# Tom morello tone



## baboisking (Dec 18, 2009)

so i want that amazing tom morrello hard rock guitar tone , but i want my seventh string to still ring with clarity (its usually tuned at f, f sharp, or g)
i know he uses a marshall jcm 800, but pickup suggestions, tone setting, amp suggestions, etc. would be appreciated.

note: i use a ESP 607b guitar


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## Harry (Dec 18, 2009)

Honestly a lot of it is learning how to play with much lower gain levels than you would with "normal" metal. It's not about saturated Nevermore or Arch Enemy tones, instead it's much lower gain than that. Just due to the fact you're running far less gain than many metal styles, you're already in a good position to get good clarity happening.
He also tends to favor single coil pickups, obviously in his Telecaster, which is well known as his primary drop D guitar.
If you have an ESP 607b, a good choice would be to drop some coil splittable EMG 707-TWs in your bridge position, so you can then access both full humbucker and single coil-ish tones.
While of course it wont sound totally true to a real single coil, you'll be 90 per cent of the way there and the rest is up to you to hit the strings with plenty of conviction and passion to get that attack that Tom Morello is famous for

Hope this helps


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## pink freud (Dec 19, 2009)

Didn't he run a clean amp and a dirty amp simultaneously?


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## Variant (Dec 19, 2009)

Single coils + not a crazy amount of gain + a lot of treble.


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## Pewtershmit (Dec 19, 2009)

his tone is really only single coils into a 2 channel jcm800 which he only uses the dirty side. And he's never changed the tubes. He uses an old peavey 412 that he's never opened to see what speakers they are.


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## Harry (Dec 19, 2009)

Variant said:


> Single coils + not a crazy amount of gain + a lot of treble.



Nope, not a lot of treble, at least not in the sense there is a bucketload of it anyway. His tone may sometimes have that single coil "spank" or "Twang" to it, but that's not necessarily the same thing as having lots of treble. Single coils, due to their peak resonance, can often give the listener a greater perceived sense of treble when compared to using the same amp settings with humbuckers. If you listen to the songs that he recorded with humbucking guitars, you'll notice the high end is not particularly spiky or too much, just about right, and imagine when he uses his single coil guitars, he uses the same settings, so he gets a bit more bite and treble out of the amp.


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## PnKnG (Dec 19, 2009)

Well here I go with my load of knowledge about Tom's gear 

First of the exact amp Tom is using is a Marshall JCM800 2205 50W Dual Channel Amp with reverb.
He always runs the same settings and only adjust the volume depending on the venue.
Here are his setting:












For clean tone he only rolls back the volume on the guitar.

Here are some videos with a walkthrough of his gear as well as some lessons.

YouTube - Tom Morello Lesson part 1

YouTube - Tom Morello Lesson part 2

YouTube - Tom Morello Lesson part 3

I can answer a lot more question about his gear if you want. just ask.


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## Bloody_Inferno (Dec 19, 2009)

Don't forget that a lot of his tone also comes from how monstrous and how much authority Tim Cummerford's bass tone is.


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## norrin radcliff (Dec 19, 2009)

PnKnG said:


> Well here I go with my load of knowledge about Tom's gear
> 
> First of the exact amp Tom is using is a Marshall JCM800 2205 50W Dual Channel Amp with reverb.
> He always runs the same settings and only adjust the volume depending on the venue.
> ...


 
Weird coincidence - I just watched these videos before last night bwfore I saw this post. Very nice and modest guy.


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## matty2fatty (Dec 19, 2009)

Bloody_Inferno said:


> Don't forget that a lot of his tone also comes from how monstrous and how much authority Tim Cummerford's bass tone is.


 
Beat me to it


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## norrin radcliff (Dec 19, 2009)

matty2fatty said:


> Beat me to it


 
+1 for the Italian Spiderman avatar.

Actione. Suspenso. Romanza...


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## Harry (Dec 19, 2009)

+1 to what JP said about Tim's bass tone.
Interestingly, the 2205 was often said to be inferior to the 2203 due to the diode clipping, but despite what's said about the tone, I've always thoroughly enjoyed his tone.


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## signalgrey (Dec 19, 2009)

agh everyones already said it
get a good bass player
get a tele baritone (they do make them)

go to town


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## baboisking (Dec 21, 2009)

haha i already play a baritone, but man...a tele...that would be amazing


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