How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

[gtrwizrd567]

So I've been dumbfounded by Jerry's tone in "Last of My Kind." From what I've gathered he's probably using a Rectifier of some sort. I can't describe this kind of tone, as it's super high crunchy but also chugs really hard. Anyone have any ideas on how to get this type of sound or what kind of sound this even is? Obviously I'm not going to replicate it exactly but I'd like to know if you guys can hear anything that can help pinpoint how he gets it. Hopefully I'm posting in the right forum as well.

https://youtu.be/8SjeFMjdxss

 

[dystrust]

Re: How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

I'll admit to guessing here, but Jerry's been using Friedman amps for the last several years. Prior to that he primarily used Bogners, though he often used a 5150 for recording some of those heavier parts. AFAIK he hasn't used a Rectifier since Dirt as he preferred 5150s BITD.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

Both a Strat type guitar and LP junior type guitars tracked together with 10-46 strings tuned half step down.

 

[El Dunco]

Re: How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

I'm positive he used a Bogner, most likely a Shiva. If not on it's own than at least in conjunction with other amps. He's said in interviews for BGWTB and TDPDH that he used a number of heads and in the studio V-logs you can see it among his collection.

I don't think you could go wrong with his signature Friedman for those kinds of sounds.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

I remember watching the rig rundown for him shortly after BGWTB was released. He said he pretty much did what he's always done - layered guitar sounds with double(and multi) tracking with the Ubershall, Bogner modded Marshalls, Vox AC30s, Mesas, etc to create a bit more of a complex sonic picture. To me, there's no telling what he's actually using at any given point in the song because there is so much clever sound engineering going on, and yet he still manages to nail that tone live with just one amp (and that amp has changed - it's been modded Marshalls, it's been Bogners (Fish, XTC, Shiva, Uber), its currently a Friedman). It kind of makes me believe that a lot of it has to do with the player (which he himself has claimed in interviews - referencing the time Van Halen sent him a bunch of gear, and he still wasn't able to sound like Van Halen). Gear can help, but it'll likely only get you in a ballpark. I can recommend the Bogner XTC pedals; either red or blue depending on your needs. If you play really really really loud with a relatively clean preamp and distorted power section, get the blue and use it as a special kind of overdrive. If you don't play loud enough for the power section to break up and you rely on the preamp for gain, set the amp clean and use the red pedal as a distortion channel. This seems to work well especially on Fender amps. That's probably close enough without having to actually buy a lot of expensive amps.

 

[El Dunco]

Re: How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

^Van Halen has spawned many an artist who have ended up with their own sound while trying to pursue his. The Marshall Dino Cazares used for the beginning of Fear Factory through to Obsolete (it got stolen on the tour for that album), he took it to a tech and said "I want that Van Halen sound" and created a sound of its own. You're pretty spot on in regards to blending. I've been hooked on blending in my studio lately. My most recent demo I've been working on I used a DI (as is standard practice) when I tracked my 'base sound' through some rack gear, kept the mics and cabs as is but reamped through the Mesa DR and then again through the Marshall JVM and then AGAIN through a little 25w tube combo turned all the way up (that's a trick Ross Robinson's engineers used for Korn, Sepultura etc). Blended, you can't so much tell where one amp ends and the other begins but taking each amp bus out of the sound definitely takes a characteristic away.

To trick to doing it properly is simply a matter of keeping everything in phase and keeping in mind exactly what it is you want to add to the existing sound. Three great sounding amp sounds individually might just become a mess of stacked frequencies and standing waves when blended, but you do not have to use aggressive hi/lo pass filtering to make it work. My base/main sound was good, even passable but I wanted more. The Mesa added the chunk and thump I felt it needed and the Marshall added some ratty (but not too ratty) grind to the top end which I felt was too smooth and the mid range of all three stacked gives this amazing roar when there's a low, deep chord.

Even our last single had at least 2 amps blended (JVM+Mesa DR together)

I'm going slightly OT and I know this has little to do with Jerry Cantrell but those kinds of guitar tones do have a lot to do with blending. The amount of blending going on is likely to change even if it's only slightly song to song, depending on what the song needs. If you have the right facilities, it can't hurt to give it a try. You'll want a DI and a reamp box to change the impedance to be suitable for running back through your amp and an interface that has at least two sets of independent outputs.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

Probably the same way they did "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here".


With your all-electric sound in particular, there's a great wall of power, but it's never muddy - each note rings through and is articulated.

"Taking it from my end, certain things happen in the studio where you'll come up with a part that sits on top of something else real nice. Generally, I have a good portion of my stuff laid out beforehand - what the rhythm track is, if there's a color line between that; I have a knowledge of the parts.
"Now, how to record those parts and make them a reality, that's where Nick and Paul Figueroa, our engineer, and I sit down and work as a team. Things have to be set up right, and I've got to play tight as hell. But that's always been one of my strengths - playing to myself and playing extremely tight. That probably comes from all the time I've spent demoing over the years.
"With any track, you might be hearing anywhere from two to five different cabinets with different amp heads running at the same time. We had a stack of amps: a Marshall; my Dave Friedman amps, which I've been using for the last couple of years; we had Bogners hooked up; we had an Orange head; a Laney Clip; a Hiwatt; and we had an AC30 for all of those songs you mentioned that are a mix of acoustics and electrics.
"When you stack all of that up, you have to make sure that everything is in phase, and you have to make sure that each guitar is intonated and in tune. That's a time-consuming process. I think people would be amazed at how long it takes to do a lot of stuff that's pretty tedious. But we're willing to go through the process; you don't want to leave any nail unhammered."

 

[El Dunco]

Re: How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

Probably the same way they did "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here".


With your all-electric sound in particular, there's a great wall of power, but it's never muddy - each note rings through and is articulated.

"Taking it from my end, certain things happen in the studio where you'll come up with a part that sits on top of something else real nice. Generally, I have a good portion of my stuff laid out beforehand - what the rhythm track is, if there's a color line between that; I have a knowledge of the parts.
"Now, how to record those parts and make them a reality, that's where Nick and Paul Figueroa, our engineer, and I sit down and work as a team. Things have to be set up right, and I've got to play tight as hell. But that's always been one of my strengths - playing to myself and playing extremely tight. That probably comes from all the time I've spent demoing over the years.
"With any track, you might be hearing anywhere from two to five different cabinets with different amp heads running at the same time. We had a stack of amps: a Marshall; my Dave Friedman amps, which I've been using for the last couple of years; we had Bogners hooked up; we had an Orange head; a Laney Clip; a Hiwatt; and we had an AC30 for all of those songs you mentioned that are a mix of acoustics and electrics.
"When you stack all of that up, you have to make sure that everything is in phase, and you have to make sure that each guitar is intonated and in tune. That's a time-consuming process. I think people would be amazed at how long it takes to do a lot of stuff that's pretty tedious. But we're willing to go through the process; you don't want to leave any nail unhammered."

Welcome to the life of an AE hahaha. Going the extra mile that a small percent of the population actually notices and all the rest think "sounds pretty good."

 

[everdrone]

Re: How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

my peeps on this forum know I love AIC, I made this collab for Grind where I am the lead singer, let me know what you think :

https://bandhub.com/s/58a92c277a7c24b3b3dc3587

 

[El Dunco]

Re: How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

my peeps on this forum know I love AIC, I made this collab for Grind where I am the lead singer, let me know what you think :

https://bandhub.com/s/58a92c277a7c24b3b3dc3587

Cool Grind cover

That reminds me, I'm still interested in the Angry Chair collab. I've had so much on my plate but I'll be getting around to it. I've got my video rig sorted.

 

[everdrone]

Re: How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

holy smokes man! heh cool

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

I'll admit to guessing here, but Jerry's been using Friedman amps for the last several years. Prior to that he primarily used Bogners, though he often used a 5150 for recording some of those heavier parts. AFAIK he hasn't used a Rectifier since Dirt as he preferred 5150s BITD.

Was dirt a rectifier?

 

[El Dunco]

Re: How to get this Jerry Cantrell tone

Was dirt a rectifier?

Dirt was split between a Mesa Dual Rectifier, a Bogner Fish (modified) and a rockman headphone amp (which wasn't used all the time, you can hear it coming and going for the scratchy mutes in Sickman for example) using pretty much the method I described above with getting certain frequency characteristics rather than processing the hell out of one amp trying to get that sound. If I can find the interview, I'll post it.

EDIT: Here we go.

http://www.woodytone.com/2011/08/17/awesome-a-g-d-aic-down-in-a-hole/

For the guitar tones, I used my Bogners, a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier and a Rockman. Instead of EQing the guitar, I put down guitar tracks of different EQ sounds. I put the low stuff with the Dual Rectifier, the big whomping sh*t, and the real biting stuff that is my sound in the middle [Bogners], and then a real sh*tty, high Rockman on top of it.I did this on each side, so that even though there’s three tracks on each side, they’re not necessarily used every time. But whatever sound you want, instead of having to twist the knob, it’s already there.