How does Tom Morello get his iconic guitar sound?
Tom Morello initially made a name for himself in the band Rage Against The Machine. The band have always advocated for anarchy and moving away from convention. The hard-hitting energy they packed into their music greatly reflected this. Additionally, the lyricism was never shy in announcing their agenda and their hatred for corruption and governance. Lines like, “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me,” in their hit ‘Killing In The Name’ look you right in the eye as they shake your hand.
That rebellion doesn’t just apply to the band’s lyrics and heavy nature, though. Tom Morello also seems to rally against convention in the effects he uses on his guitar. Where rock bands before him would stick to using either a clean sound, distortion or fuzz, Morello goes in a completely different direction with the kind of style he explores.
When Morello solos, it doesn’t sound like a typical rock guitar solo, instead, it sounds more like something from out of space. It’s not unusual for people to describe some kinds of music as otherworldly; however, nothing deserves that description more than the fretwork of Tom Morello. It’s less a case of shredding and more a case of playing around with effects to make the six-string sound like it’s in pain. Many guitar lovers have listened to Rage Against The Machine and pondered how Morello can achieve his tone.
It won’t surprise you to hear that it’s a complicated process. His pedal board is never the same on different nights. He will use a wah-wah, phaser, and whammy, but the way he combines them and applies them during a song varies. Some of the most common pedals you’re likely to see him using in order to achieve his guitar tone include an MX Phase 90 Phaser, DigiTech Whammy, DigiTech XP-300 Space Station, Two Boss DD-3 delays and Cry Baby Wah Pedal.
Morello also uses very specific amp settings when trying to achieve his guitar sound. His go-to amp is a 50-watt Marshall JCM800 2205 from 1988. The amp has two channels, but Morello only opts to use the boost channel. This can be clearly heard in the music he makes, as there is constantly an angry tone in what he plays.
In his main rig, he uses a 1987 Peavey 4×12 amp. The amp has G12K-85 speakers, which connect to the rig to help boost its sound as much as possible. He experimented with a few different amp settings throughout his career, but for the past decade or so, he has stuck with the Peavey and G12K-85 speakers combination.
While the amp set-up is important when achieving, Morello’s vocal tone is his effects. He constantly experiments with them to find out which combinations work the best. You’ll stumble upon some helpful techniques by implementing a few of the effects he uses.
