Sure, his band has headlined Bonnaroo and sold millions of albums, but Tool’s Adam Jones does not get his due as a modernist riff-master. Maybe it’s because the L.A.-based outfit play a prog-metal blend that’s not exactly at the apex of popularity, compounded by often-lengthy compositions that dip into such dark waters as slow death, torture and prison. But the band nonetheless hit a nerve in their legions of fans and Jones generates a sonic kaleidoscope on stage.
Armed with a Silverburst Gibson Les Paul and multiple amplifier stacks, Jones plays a constant barrage of edgy riffage in concert. And on record, it’s clear that he’s the contemporary equivalent of 1970s Jimmy Page when it comes to creating great licks that propel songs—a musician with an endless supply of memorable six-string hooks.
The 46-year-old guitarist began his musical life as a violinist and first stepped into rock as a bass player in a band with future Rage Against the Machine stringman Tom Morello called Electric Sheep, inspired by the same Philip K. Dick novella that begat Blade Runner. Jones attended film school and developed his own approach to stop-motion animation—the technique that was used by Willis O’Brien to make the original version of King Kong. Jones used the approach to create Tool’s striking videos for the songs “Stinkfist,” “Prison Sex,” “Parabola” and “Sober,” among others.
When Jones founded Tool in 1990 with singer Maynard James Keenan, he was already developing a guitar approach that bridged the conventional and unconventional. Besides his knack for developing sharply honed riffs and his blasting deployment of angular power chords, Jones loves to pe into pure noise—using controlled feedback, string scratching, behind the nut bends, chiming arpeggiated chords and other moves to heighten Tool’s already pitched level of drama. He also enjoys variations on open tunings, like B-A-D-G-B-E for “Prison Sex.”
At the core of Jones’ sound is the Gibson Les Paul Silverburst Custom, a model originally made from 1979 to 1985. Jones, always an adventurer, claims to enjoy the idea that his instrument’s tone is always gradually altering itself. Reportedly he owns three original Silverburst Customs, tricked out with Seymour Duncan humbuckers. He also used a natural finish Gibson Les Paul to cut “Prison Sex” and “Parabola.” He also told Guitar World magazine that he’s used a Gibson SG for some studio chores.
Live and in the studio, Jones uses a blend of amps. Two favorites are a 1976 Marshall Super Bass and a Diezel VH-4 “blueface.” On the latter, he never switches out of the ultra-high-output third channel. During the recording of 2001’s Lateralus, he reportedly experimented with a vintage Sunn lead head, too, and for 2006’s 10,000 Days he blended his Super Bass and Diezel with a Bogner Uberschall and a Riveria Knucklehead. Jones drives all his amps hard to achieve his responsive tone. He also uses Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifiers and Marshall and Mesa cabs.
Jones is also a glutten for effects. On the intro to “Reflection” and “The Grudge,” both from Lateralus, he employs a vintage Moog Taurus bass pedal system. But aside from the Heil Talk Box on 10,000 Days, run through a Roland JC-120 and juiced up by a dynamic compressor, Jones’ choices of effects is less esoteric. His wah-wah pedal is a dependable Cry Baby, and his stable of other sound generators includes Boss DD3 and DD5 digital delays, a BF-2 flanger, a Line 6 Delay modeler (which also samples on the fly), a Strobostomp tuner, a tremolo pedal, chorus, and an array of distortion boxes. During experimental phases, Jones has taken the stage with multiple pedal boards at his feet. The irony of this rundown is that Jones has gone on record saying he doesn’t like to use pedals.
He’s also gone on record, in the May 2009 issue of Guitar World, with a list of his 10 favorite guitarists. Not surprisingly, they are all forward-thinking players, like Jones himself. The list: Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew and Trey Gunn of King Crimson; Buzz Osborne of the Melvins, Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers, Andy Gill of the Gang of Four, the Bad Brains’ Dr. Know and Fredrik Thordendal and Marten Hagstrom of Meshuggah.
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