Tom Morello inspired tone/song - ML Zila 4x12 - 5153 - Gretsch Electromatic Pro Jet

shaunb

Experienced


This is my attempt at a Tom Morello inspired song after watching a rig rundown of his.
I'm running a Gretsch Pro Jet through a 5153 50W Blue and the ML Sound Lab Zila 4x12 cab pack.
The main rhythm tracks are the neck pickup through the Guerrilla IR and another pair of lifter guitars in places are on the bridge pickup through the Godzilla IR.

This cab pack is available at https://ml-sound-lab.com/

I'm not trying to nail his tone, this is more an exercise in applying Tom's tonal approach in a way that works for me.
With this preset/guitar combination it's hard not to want to churn out single note riffs that sound like RATM or Audioslave. So much fun.

I've included the preset if anyone wants it (XL+ format)
The effects included are just my usual template and not specific to Tom Morello at all.
Also the pickups in the project are the Blacktop FilterTrons, so you will need to tweak to work with your pickups.
These are pretty vintage output with a glassy top, so they get close to a single coil sound I think.
 

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I love that you're not trying to nail his sound but his approach instead. It does sound like a riff that Tom could come up with.



Or how about Chris Cornell? Audioslave rocked just as hard as Rage did.


Thanks.
Yeah I'm a massive Soundgarden and Chris Cornell fan, I like both Rage and Audioslave but gravitate more to Audioslave because Chris was just so amazing.

This was a hypothetical "if I joined Audioslave what song would I write first" idea.

I love learning people's approach to songwriting, musicianship and tone but always kind of adapt it to my taste rather than replicate completely. So much cool stuff to pickup from others

Plus I'm no good at matching other players tones anyway haha.
 
Thanks.
Yeah I'm a massive Soundgarden and Chris Cornell fan, I like both Rage and Audioslave but gravitate more to Audioslave because Chris was just so amazing.

I've met some people who want to start a band playing only Audioslave stuff. We're going to have a first jam after the holidays to see if it can work out. I love Tom Morello as a guitar player, but Rage and Audioslave are so hard to combine into a single cover band. Musically quite easy and I'd love to do both, but vocally not at all, as Zack cannot do Chris, and Chris really struggled live doing Zack. I saw them in 2005, and they did some Soundgarden and Rage songs on that tour and Chris doing Killing in the Name really wasn't the highlight of that show. The song was also ominously omited on the Live in Cuba DVD. So in that sense most cover or tribute bands chose to do Rage only. Probably because that is also more commercially successful. If that guy can sing like Chris though I'll be able to focus on doing a lot of Tom Morello goodies that are nowadays sadly neglected.

Plus I'm no good at matching other players tones anyway haha.

Only other tone snobs listen to that kind of stuff anyway. Close enough is good enough for 99% of any audience. :cool: I'd worry more on being able to hit off some of the Tom Morello stuff, as they are not as easy to pull off as in just making noise. When they say tone is in the hands I fully agree when it comes to Tom and his noise making antics.
 
I've met some people who want to start a band playing only Audioslave stuff. We're going to have a first jam after the holidays to see if it can work out. I love Tom Morello as a guitar player, but Rage and Audioslave are so hard to combine into a single cover band. Musically quite easy and I'd love to do both, but vocally not at all, as Zack cannot do Chris, and Chris really struggled live doing Zack. I saw them in 2005, and they did some Soundgarden and Rage songs on that tour and Chris doing Killing in the Name really wasn't the highlight of that show. The song was also ominously omited on the Live in Cuba DVD. So in that sense most cover or tribute bands chose to do Rage only. Probably because that is also more commercially successful. If that guy can sing like Chris though I'll be able to focus on doing a lot of Tom Morello goodies that are nowadays sadly neglected.



Only other tone snobs listen to that kind of stuff anyway. Close enough is good enough for 99% of any audience. :cool: I'd worry more on being able to hit off some of the Tom Morello stuff, as they are not as easy to pull off as in just making noise. When they say tone is in the hands I fully agree when it comes to Tom and his noise making antics.

You're right, very different vocal styles for sure. An Audioslave tribute band would be cool, tough gig to sing Chris' stuff but if your guy can do it that will be pretty awesome to play.

Yeah, I'm never fussed about matching tones because I play differently to the artist anyway. So I always add my own thing the the tone while adapting little things I like and learn from others.

You never stop learning.
 
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