Everyone always says JC is 'all mids,' but his BOSS EQ is shaped for a serious scoop - and I usually get good results with some low (80?), a nice sharp cut at 250-500, and then a lot of higher mids, 1500-3K.
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Tool tone/FX sticky thread ver. 1
- Thread starter bigchiefbc
- Start date
That’s just his dirty channel, wal basses are pretty middy
This isn't the most scientific analysis, but I threw his isolated bass track from Vicarious into GarageBand and ran the analyzer on the EQ to see what shapes it's making (main verse riff only), and this is what I got. Granted that's only one riff.
That's what most bass recordings look like in GB. That bump between 1 - 2k is usually the sweet spot for basses being present and clear.
Yeah, I compared to some isolated tracks from Jason Newsted, Cliff Burton, and Rob Trujillo just to see and they are quite similar. I do notice a distinct narrow band on Justin’s tracks between 2 kHz to about 2.3 kHz. I guess maybe that’s where the Wal pick attack boost works it’s magic? Don’t own one myself.
Question for you all.
I've never owned a delay pedal but thinking about picking one up as I keep finding that I need it when playing some of these Tool songs.
What I was wondering is, in some of the parts with delay, like the intro riff in Grudge, or Pneuma, or Fear Inoculum, is he using one single delay pedal with the same setting for all those songs or does he have multiple delays with different settings, or adjusting the settings on one pedal depending on the song?
I've never owned a delay pedal but thinking about picking one up as I keep finding that I need it when playing some of these Tool songs.
What I was wondering is, in some of the parts with delay, like the intro riff in Grudge, or Pneuma, or Fear Inoculum, is he using one single delay pedal with the same setting for all those songs or does he have multiple delays with different settings, or adjusting the settings on one pedal depending on the song?
Yes. Wait, no. 
All you need to play Tool is one simple delay pedal, just tweak the knobs for each song. Many songs are ~300ms delay, a few are ~400ms, and Pneuma is ~510. All of the songs use a delay that only repeats the note once or twice then decays away, so not a lot of feedback.
If you want to step it up get something like a DD-200 that can quickly (and precisely) switch between different delay times for each song.
If you want to go all the way and get exactly what Justin has, it's sort of a moving target but you'll want a standard Boss delay for most songs and a ridiculous boutique delay for Pneuma. Then for convenience you could add a second standard Boss delay with slightly different settings than the other one, so you don't need to tweak settings in between (for example) Fear Inoculum and Invincible.
All you need to play Tool is one simple delay pedal, just tweak the knobs for each song. Many songs are ~300ms delay, a few are ~400ms, and Pneuma is ~510. All of the songs use a delay that only repeats the note once or twice then decays away, so not a lot of feedback.
If you want to step it up get something like a DD-200 that can quickly (and precisely) switch between different delay times for each song.
If you want to go all the way and get exactly what Justin has, it's sort of a moving target but you'll want a standard Boss delay for most songs and a ridiculous boutique delay for Pneuma. Then for convenience you could add a second standard Boss delay with slightly different settings than the other one, so you don't need to tweak settings in between (for example) Fear Inoculum and Invincible.
Thank you for the responses. Given I'm a total delay newb, I think I'll grab a DD3 and start playing around.
Can’t go wrong with a DD3. Simple and easy to dial in. There’s a reason Justin’s used one exclusively until FI. Inexpensive too.
Boss DD3 or 7. That’s all you really need. Simple and to the point. Ease of use is great too.
There are a few tracks on YouTube that have the bass (mostly) isolated, but it's not many. They're rips that people got from Guitar Hero, and it's unlikely that there will ever be more.
I only have Schism, Parabola, and Vicarious. If there are more, please let me know. But that's all I've ever found on YouTube.
I would however say that this particular bootleg from Tool Drive Project (10/10/2002) is basically all Justin: Show Details
Obviously no 10,000 Days songs on it. But it is pretty cool. It's in stereo so I isolated each individual stereo track to eliminate some phasing issues I was hearing. Excellent resource for hearing what he's playing on H., and The Grudge (among others). For instance that verse riff on the Grudge ("Clutch it like a cornerstone, otherwise it all comes down") is tabbed out wrong by the vast majority of tabs out there. Obviously that's assuming that he plays it lives the same as on the album. He definitely plays certain parts considerably different live.
Obviously no 10,000 Days songs on it. But it is pretty cool. It's in stereo so I isolated each individual stereo track to eliminate some phasing issues I was hearing. Excellent resource for hearing what he's playing on H., and The Grudge (among others). For instance that verse riff on the Grudge ("Clutch it like a cornerstone, otherwise it all comes down") is tabbed out wrong by the vast majority of tabs out there. Obviously that's assuming that he plays it lives the same as on the album. He definitely plays certain parts considerably different live.
Sure! I should clarify that the link I posted is not separated into mono tracks. I did that for myself and you would need audacity or some other DAW to do it for yourself. It's also quite clear in stereo. I just wanted to hyper analyze.
Some years ago I had to learn a bunch of songs of Aerosmith and find lots of multitracks of them. It was gem to me, except for the ones that clearly were not the originals (re-recorded for Guitar hero or similar).
I downloaded too a package with lots ofs others bands multitracks, and tool had only those 3 or 4 that you say.
P.D: Stone temple Pilots bass tracks deserve a listening too, as a cool clean/dirt mix, similar to JC concept in some lines.
Robert DeLeo is a fantastic, melodic bass player. Picking some of his lines apart is well worth the effort to see how good and nuanced his playing is…
