Here is my entry for a Tool sticky. Corrections/disagreements are welcome, but please have some photographic or other evidence to back it up. Please do not quote the BassPlayer article to correct me. All of the big JC fans/experts (TBird/Brad/etc) have agreed both here and on Tooltabs that it gets a lot of things wrong.
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All Tool songs are in DADG, except for "Crawl Away" (EADG), "Prison Sex" (BADG) and "Parabol"/"Parabola" (BEDG)
All Tool songs are played with a pick except for "Wings for Marie"/"10,000 Days", which is finger-picked classical-style.
Tool's first bassist, Paul D'Amour played on Tool's demo, on Opiate and Undertow, and helped write parts of Aenima ("Eulogy", "Aenema", "Stinkfist" and "Pupoopie"). His playing does not appear on Aenima, however.
He first played an Ovation Magnum bass, which is heard on their demo and on the live tracks on Opiate ("Cold and Ugly" and "Jerkoff"). On the studio tracks on Opiate and the subsequent tour, he played Rickenbacker 4001s (white and black). For Undertow and the following stadium tour, he used a 4001CS Chris Squire signature bass. By his last tour with the band, he was playing an Ernie Ball MM Stingray. These were played through a Mesa 400 or 400+ and Mesa Roadready cabs. It has also been reported that early on (Opiate era) he was seen using SWR cabs.
He originally did not play with effects (other than distortion on "Flood"), his grindy tone was due to the tone of the Rickenbacker and Mesa heads. It has been speculated that he used chorus on the studio tracks on Opiate, but this is unconfirmed. Live, Paul used a Sansamp GT-2 and Boss ODB-3 for distortion, and a Boss Chorus. By the last couple tours, he was also using a Whammy and a digital delay, but these do not appear on any of his recorded tracks.
Justin Chancellor joined Tool during the recording of Aenima. On Aenima, he recorded two of the songs ("H." and "Forty-Six & 2") on a Stingray, and the rest of the songs were played on a bird's eye maple Wal Mk II, which has been his main bass ever since. He has since acquired three additional Wals, one which is identical to the first, one Mk III in greenburst, and a walnet fretless.
His rig has remained relatively static since he joined Tool. There is also a lot of misinformation out there, particularly due to an article in Bassplayer that got a lot of this wrong. What I have listed below is what we have been able to verify by looking at pictures of his rig on-stage.
Justin runs three signal paths, one going into a Demeter preamp, then to FOH. The other two go to in GK 2001RB heads. One feeds a Mesa Boogie 4x12 cab, the other a Mesa 8x10.
His signal path begins at a Boss TU-2 tuner. He uses this to split his signal between his clean and dirty channels.
His dirty channel goes to a Proco Turbo Rat, then a Boss GEB-7, then a Prescription Electronics Depth Charge, then out to the amp. The Turbo Rat and GEB-7 (boost low-mids and highs) are always on, the Depth Charge is used only for the distorted intro to "Flood" in concert.
His main channel then follows this path:
Guyatone VT-X Tremolo (used in "Lost Keys" and "Right in Two")
Digitech Bass Whammy (used in "Eulogy", "Third Eye", "Schism", "Ticks & Leeches", "Lateralus", "Disposition", "Vicarious", "The Pot" and "Right in Two")
Tech 21 Sansamp GT-2 (used for all distortions on Aenima and Lateralus, as well as on "Vicarious", "The Pot" and "Lost Keys")
Boss CE-5 (used in many songs, most obviously used in "H.", "jimmy" and "No Quarter")
Boss BF-2 (used in "Forty-Six & 2", "Pupoopie", "Schism", "Lateralus" and "Jambi")
Boss DD-3/6 (used in "Pupoopie", "Third Eye", "Schism", "Disposition", "Jambi")
Guyatone BR-2 (used in "The Pot" and "Rosetta Stoned")
Colorsound Tonebender (used in "Jambi" only, as far as I am aware)
Foxx Fuzz/Wah (used in "The Pot" live; in the studio, it was another unverified wah)
Justin also has a second, smaller board that is placed close to his amp that he uses for "Lost Keys". This board contains a second Sansamp GT-2, Guyatone VT-X Tremolo and Boss GEB-7. He places it next to his amp so he can generate the necessary feedback while turning the tremolo on and off.
This signal then goes into his Demeter preamp, then a a Radial JD-7, which sends one signal to FOH, and the other to his second 2001RB head.
The Bassplayer article said that he takes an XLR directly out of the Wal, straight to the preamp. However, he has never been photographed using the XLR jack on his Wal, and the picture below only shows a single 1/4" cable plugged into his bass, so this is incorrect. Some people have also said he splits his signal a second time using the Dry Out from the Bass Whammy, but the close-up picture below from the last tour shows nothing plugged into that jack.
There is a picture of him in the studio playing with a bunch of Lovetone boxes, but none of them have been confirmed as being on any recording and have never been on his live board.
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All Tool songs are in DADG, except for "Crawl Away" (EADG), "Prison Sex" (BADG) and "Parabol"/"Parabola" (BEDG)
All Tool songs are played with a pick except for "Wings for Marie"/"10,000 Days", which is finger-picked classical-style.
Tool's first bassist, Paul D'Amour played on Tool's demo, on Opiate and Undertow, and helped write parts of Aenima ("Eulogy", "Aenema", "Stinkfist" and "Pupoopie"). His playing does not appear on Aenima, however.
He first played an Ovation Magnum bass, which is heard on their demo and on the live tracks on Opiate ("Cold and Ugly" and "Jerkoff"). On the studio tracks on Opiate and the subsequent tour, he played Rickenbacker 4001s (white and black). For Undertow and the following stadium tour, he used a 4001CS Chris Squire signature bass. By his last tour with the band, he was playing an Ernie Ball MM Stingray. These were played through a Mesa 400 or 400+ and Mesa Roadready cabs. It has also been reported that early on (Opiate era) he was seen using SWR cabs.
He originally did not play with effects (other than distortion on "Flood"), his grindy tone was due to the tone of the Rickenbacker and Mesa heads. It has been speculated that he used chorus on the studio tracks on Opiate, but this is unconfirmed. Live, Paul used a Sansamp GT-2 and Boss ODB-3 for distortion, and a Boss Chorus. By the last couple tours, he was also using a Whammy and a digital delay, but these do not appear on any of his recorded tracks.
Justin Chancellor joined Tool during the recording of Aenima. On Aenima, he recorded two of the songs ("H." and "Forty-Six & 2") on a Stingray, and the rest of the songs were played on a bird's eye maple Wal Mk II, which has been his main bass ever since. He has since acquired three additional Wals, one which is identical to the first, one Mk III in greenburst, and a walnet fretless.
His rig has remained relatively static since he joined Tool. There is also a lot of misinformation out there, particularly due to an article in Bassplayer that got a lot of this wrong. What I have listed below is what we have been able to verify by looking at pictures of his rig on-stage.
Justin runs three signal paths, one going into a Demeter preamp, then to FOH. The other two go to in GK 2001RB heads. One feeds a Mesa Boogie 4x12 cab, the other a Mesa 8x10.
His signal path begins at a Boss TU-2 tuner. He uses this to split his signal between his clean and dirty channels.
His dirty channel goes to a Proco Turbo Rat, then a Boss GEB-7, then a Prescription Electronics Depth Charge, then out to the amp. The Turbo Rat and GEB-7 (boost low-mids and highs) are always on, the Depth Charge is used only for the distorted intro to "Flood" in concert.
His main channel then follows this path:
Guyatone VT-X Tremolo (used in "Lost Keys" and "Right in Two")
Digitech Bass Whammy (used in "Eulogy", "Third Eye", "Schism", "Ticks & Leeches", "Lateralus", "Disposition", "Vicarious", "The Pot" and "Right in Two")
Tech 21 Sansamp GT-2 (used for all distortions on Aenima and Lateralus, as well as on "Vicarious", "The Pot" and "Lost Keys")
Boss CE-5 (used in many songs, most obviously used in "H.", "jimmy" and "No Quarter")
Boss BF-2 (used in "Forty-Six & 2", "Pupoopie", "Schism", "Lateralus" and "Jambi")
Boss DD-3/6 (used in "Pupoopie", "Third Eye", "Schism", "Disposition", "Jambi")
Guyatone BR-2 (used in "The Pot" and "Rosetta Stoned")
Colorsound Tonebender (used in "Jambi" only, as far as I am aware)
Foxx Fuzz/Wah (used in "The Pot" live; in the studio, it was another unverified wah)
Justin also has a second, smaller board that is placed close to his amp that he uses for "Lost Keys". This board contains a second Sansamp GT-2, Guyatone VT-X Tremolo and Boss GEB-7. He places it next to his amp so he can generate the necessary feedback while turning the tremolo on and off.
This signal then goes into his Demeter preamp, then a a Radial JD-7, which sends one signal to FOH, and the other to his second 2001RB head.
The Bassplayer article said that he takes an XLR directly out of the Wal, straight to the preamp. However, he has never been photographed using the XLR jack on his Wal, and the picture below only shows a single 1/4" cable plugged into his bass, so this is incorrect. Some people have also said he splits his signal a second time using the Dry Out from the Bass Whammy, but the close-up picture below from the last tour shows nothing plugged into that jack.
There is a picture of him in the studio playing with a bunch of Lovetone boxes, but none of them have been confirmed as being on any recording and have never been on his live board.
