Love for distortion, but new to the guitar

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I-AM

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I know this is probably a question that has been asked 2000 times, and I have searched the forums, but I don't really play the guitar, and I would like to start (I'm a keyboard guy!).
More importantly I love the guitar, among all instruments, and I already have an electric, but I am looking for a distortion pedal.
I would like a sound close to TOOL's?(w/o the computer processing of course.)
If anyone can help I would appreciate it.

I-AM
 
Adam Jones (Tool's guitarist) plays a Gibson Les Paul Metallic Burst model (they only made these for a few years, then discontinued them because of complaints that the paint was affecting the tone). He plays out of a combination of a Mesa/Boogie Double or Triple Rectifier , he has both (I think), and some old tube non-master volume bass amp. I play some covers of their stuff and I play an Ibanez SV420 through a Line 6 Flextone. You could check out the Line 6 Distortion Modeler. They sound pretty sick, and can definitely get a Tool sound on the Rectified setting. Cost: $200-250. You could also check out the DOD Grunge pedal. It doesn't sound exactly like Tool, but it has some balls to it. Cost: $30-40. Much easier on the wallet. Any of those modeling pedals (Digitech's RP-100 and such) that have a rectified setting will give something like Tool. Then again they have some pretty distinctly different sounds. Check out "Jimmy" off Aenima, much different tone then say "Crawl Away" off Undertow. Their more normal tone is the one they used on the singles, Aenima, Stinkfist, Sober, etc, etc... Some of Tool's magic tone also comes from the use of a stationary Wah pedal. Check out No Quarter on Salival. All the clean stuff has a wah pedal heel down or really slowly rocking with some chorus and delay. Some of their other stuff has distorted parts with the pedal halfway to heel. Gives the cool "sqwack" sound, like you're hitting tons of harmonics. Cool stuff. You can tell I'm just slightly a Tool fan. God praise Maynard.

Can ya sing? We should do some Tool covers on the board. It would challenge everyone. Anyone willing to take on Danny Carey's parts deserves an award.

Jake
 
tool uses MAINLY a modded jcm 800 and a Diezel head. why do you think he uses mesa? don't get me wrong my guess is as good as yours but i never heard about mesa. Now of course he uses many amps.

greetz guhlenn
 
No, he really doesn't. You're just plain wrong. If you don't believe me (who has seen them play with the setup I just spoke of like 4 times) go to Toolshed and check the FAQ.

Jake
 
""Adam uses Gibson Les Pauls, 3 Different Stacks (a Marshall bass head, a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier, a Dieselhead amp), Seymour Duncan pickups. Ernie Ball, Slinky strings. Effects (mostly Boss pedals): Delay, Flange, Chorus, EQ, a channel switcher for clean/distortion, a wah pedal, and an Epilady occasionally (!).

Adam has 2 rare 1979 Les Paul Customs with Green and Silver metallic bursts. They were discontinued by Gibson because of complaints that the metallic paints was giving the guitar an odd tone. He also uses a Natural finished LP Custom when playing "Prison Sex" live. ""

The old bass head doesn't have anything written on it (and I could have sworn that the FAQ never used to say Marshall), and when I saw them he never had any Dieselhead amp out. Maybe he used it recording, but he definately got all the same sounds live as on the album. His main amp definately seemed ot be the Rectifier. The bass amp just seemed to add some texture and thickness.
He uses that LP Custom on Prison Sex cause it's their only song not in Drop D (beside's Crawl Away which is in Standard, and I think he plays it in Drop D live anyhows). Prison sex has the E tuned down to a B.


Jake
 
i ment for recording. read an interview with adam... could have sworn he said a modded jcm 800 wait that was for the undertow album. okay i'll shut up now...

he did use the diesel though :P ;)

greetz guhlenn

ps what's an epilady?
 
Maybe he used it on Underwtow, but it definately sounds like a Mesa, and i have NEVER heard of any JCM 800, nor does it sound like one (at all). I'm not totally sure on what an EpiLady is, I'll try to find out. For some reason chorus pops into my head, but I don't know why.

Jake
 
Oh, maybe Chorus was just sliiightly off. It's a hair removal device used on women. He must have mic'ed one or something, I really don't know. Strange.

Jake
 
Thanks for the replies. I am definately going to check out the DOD grunge pedal, being that I'm ne wto the guitar.

Aprreciate it!
 
you mean like the Philipps Epilady ? a womens razor?

WTF???

and oh i thought a while about it and i kow now he said that for the total undertow album he used a non master marshall. could that be the bassmatser then? didn't read anything about the mesa though. Well i believe you anyway it's not that big a deal.;)

greetz guhlenn
 
I've seen pics of the non-master bass amp they spoke of, and it kind of resembled a Marshall, but had no logo. Yeah, it is like that Epilady, and after figuring that out, I realized I'd heard something about that before. They are quite an innovative band. How big of a fan are you? And what instruments do you play? I've been trying to get some people to attempt some internet recording projects for a Tool cover. I play guitar, bass, and drums, but if I was to do the drum tracks it would be very simplified. Danny Carey is insane.

Jake
 
hey Jake!

i don't like to call myself a fan but for Tool i'll make an exception. gonna see them live the first time this june. lookin forward to that...
oh and i play the guitar. but as yet i haven't got a computer on-line at home i'm afraid. maybe it'll come. and i know about danny.

i asked our drummer to play a tool cover with our band but he refused cuz he couldn't play it right. and he's by no means a simple drummer. He's plain good. but i did play in a band where we did "shadow" (i never remember titles but you'll know what i mean. it's number five i believe on aenima) and he played the drums with no sweat. i didn't see his talent then so i left ... ah well. if you ever get your project of the ground: let me know i wanna participate.

greetz guhlenn
 
I really hope their North American tour hits the northeast next fall. I'll be following them for at least a few dates. Just saw APC 3 times on that tour they did. I'm gonna attempt to get osme people to collaborate, but it's gonna be tough. Not many people can sing anything like Maynard, and not many people (at least that I know) can play drums like Danny. He has some of the strangest stuff going on and it works so well.

Jake
 
my drummer told me he actually goes out of the beat sometimes... now that's f*ckin hard!!! but it sounds like one massive machine rolling over you. yeah he;'s great. APC is too soft for me. i oly like judith cuz that could have been written by Tool.

guhlenn
 
Awww man. I love APC! It was the same feeling I got when I heard them the first time as Tool. It totally blew my mind. The music is just so incredibly beautiful and perfect, I can't imagine anything I enjoy more. Both APC and Tool do that for me still everytime I turn them on, and I have worn out 2 copies of "Mer De Noms", 2 copies of "Undertow" and a whopping 6 copies of "Aenima". I don't expect to ever feel differently. Must be something about Maynard. I also feel the same about NIN, so Trent does it for me too. Worn out a total of 8 NIN CD's (but they have a lot more to wear out then Tool and APC).

Jake
 
you had to buy 6 cd's??? goddamnit! well anyway i think it's the combination of the extreme difficult drums with maynards voice and the distinct guitarsound/style... oh and it's , how do i put it, laid back agressive. it's got that "i'm pissed but i know there's nothing i can do" feeling. listening to tool gets me from joy to anger to depression. taht's what music should do with ya IMHO.

guhlenn

BTW: APC is just a cheap rip-off imo as that guitar dude planned it all very carefully... and very smart too! but it's too mainstream or pop. and it just doesn't feel right to me. they are jumping in the gap that tool left. it feels like a substitute... i never liked substitutes...
 
I hear ya, but I just don't think so. I can't ocmpare the two. Even though Maynard sings in both, I can't see that many similarites. He does much different thigns vocally in APC then Tool. Some of their stuff is a little mainstream, but it's incredible IMO nontheless.
You don't have to like them, but if you don't have the CD, I suggest checking it out, there are some heavier things on there. The one thing I really don't respect is their current single "The Hollow" is different on the radio then on the CD, they added a verse so they get mroe airplay. The song is really hsort (2:30), and they made it 3:19 so it would be mroe "radio-friendly". Awesome song nontheless.

Jake
 
My ex had an epilady.the business end was a spring-like coil of wire that rotates.The rotating coil snags the offending body hair and YANKS it out,root and all.Supposedly stays smoother longer but my old lady cried from the pain.
I took the inclusion of this device in the gear list tongue-in-cheek.But you never know...maybe he shaved a few micro-seconds off his pick reaction time...sorry,mea culpa,my bad.

Tom
 
I would think it was a joke too, but I have heard somewhere that they miced one and used it for something. Totally forget what they used it for, but I remember reading about it.

Jake
 
well... there are enough strange sounds on the album to have an epilady in it. oh and i don't think APC are bad, they just don't give me shivers... still better then britney ey?

guhlenn
 
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