Adam Jones Guitar Tone with Rectifor: Tool – “Sober”

Today’s article is about a music creator who doesn’t know what a limit is in the art. The band “Tool” is that emotion in the heart of the art.

Four musicians turned our idea of alternative rock upside down – Adam Jones on guitar, Maynard James Keenan on vocals, Danny Carey on drums and Justin Chancellor on bass.

Tool have been awarded with four Grammy Awards and have released five studio albums. I would like to talk a little about their art throughout their career. Musically they’ve been through a long transition and their music and style has definitely evolved as they’ve grown.

The band was formed in 1990 in Los Angeles, United States. Keenan and Jones met first in 89 and when the vocalist recorded for Jones’s previous band he was approved by the guitarist and even started their own band. They began looking for a bassist and drummer after jamming often together. Carey, who lived near Keenan, was introduced to Jones by Tom Morello – an old friend of his. Through another friend, D’Amour- their original bass player back then, Tool’s lineup was completed.

Here, before the start we will throw a six tracks EP which was released in 1992 called “Opiate”. Very aggressive and cynical, this album is more lyrics oriented but still it’s a must.

Their debut studio album is “Undertow” in 1993. This is one of their finest productions. Musically sophisticated with powerful lyrics. The melancholy that flows from the tracks on the album is palpably strong. Listening to the songs will take you on a trip to a surrealistic world. Even so, it is clear that the metal genre is clearly recognizable and the band’s unique character is emerging.

“Aenima”– this is the second album of the band, released in 1996. With this production we notice the passing of heavy metal sounding to a more progressive psychedelic rhythms, tight textured guitars and again accented vocals. From the moment of debuting in 96 until today’s days this album constantly gaining popularity and it’s often regarded as one of the best rock albums of the 1990s.

“Lateralus”– 2001. Cleaner and crisper, this third album of the band reveals uncharted territory in their minds and we can enjoy more overtly intricate and musically ambitious songs. That being said the hypnotic feeling is growing in our heads with each subsequent song that we heard.

“10,000 Days”– 2006 – that’s called the fourth album. Another uncompromising one. Another pushing to the limits of known in the whole metal/ progressive genre. The rhythm sections along with melodic guitars are full of emotions and brilliance. We can’t fail to mention the vocals as well. The uniqueness and enigmaticness just oozes out of the vocalist.

“Fear Inoculum”– 2019. After so many years -13, the change in compositions is distinctly noticeable and why not? Isn’t it all about constant changes? Taking time and listening to it more than once, the music sinks inside you and there you can find your “Tool”.

As one of our favorite riff masters, Adam Jones brought us a lot of inspiration and to replicate one of the beloved songs “Sober” is a fascinating challenge. He was, is and will be one of the most influential guitarists for the last twenty years. As far as we’re concerned, the use of many guitar techniques such as scratchy noises, chiming arpeggios, and so on in the guitar composing of “Sober” was just the first thing that caught our attention. This time we will recreate his tone in our Amplifikation 360, using the Amplifikation Rectifor Amp Simulator inside A360. After a lot of research we decided to use the Rictifor as the main source of the tone and build it from there.

The rectifier amps that were exclusively used in the 90s and many metal bands were taking the advantage of all the bells and whistles they had to offer. In addition, they were utilizing and using the full potential of the 3 amazing channels with many options for fine tweaking.

Our chain today is again simply approached. A gate, then the amp itself, the cabinet and a delay.

The gate is set to only catch some noise behind the notes.

We will use the Rectifor B amp – the 3rd channel, which hastremendous gain. The settings are moderate with scooped mid range.

The cab is the classic Closed Back with the old trusty 57 mic pointed almost straight on the center

The delay is our Analog Delay module with the delay speed synced to tempo at ¼. It is set in mono.

And here is the full preset in Amplifikation 360

Final words:

Tool is one of those bands that makes you feel adventurous as soon as you hear it for the first time. Their music feeds your imagination more and more, with each of their songs, with each of their albums until you find inward musical enlightenment.

Every aspect of art is allowed to be altered. It is the wide gulf between musicians and reality, as well as their abstract perception of the world, which leads to impressive accomplishments in music and arts. The band is a fine art painting that will live forever!

Here you can hear the tone. The guitar is an Ibanez RG320 with stock pickups.

Audio Sample:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YEaFm4ENTh7qg8P73hFU4LiNeLbUxc76/view?usp=share_link

Here you can download the preset and copy it to your presets folder:

Link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1it15OVrwa2XUHAut4KXIZn5tqIcUSoZS/view?usp=share_link

The preset file for A360 looks like this: Rectifor – Tool Sob.ka360p copy the file after extracting it from the zip file at:

Presets folder:

Windows:

C:\Users\[User Name]\Documents\Kuassa\Presets\Amplifikation360

Mac:

/Users/[User Name]/Music/Kuassa/Presets/Amplifikation360