This guide will look at Tom Morello’s guitar rig during his Audioslaveyears. His rig slightly changed during Audioslave compared to his Rage Against the Machine rig so check this guide out if you want to see what he used during RATM.
As explained in the RATM rig guide, Tom isn’t too big on high quality guitars. Many of the guitars he used throughout his career were purchased really cheap and didn’t have the best hardware. This is an important point as many people get overly focused on getting the best possible guitar hardware possible. As Tom explains in many interviews, worrying too much about your gear takes away from thinking about the music.
The ‘Soul Power’ guitar (shown to the right) was used for all of Audioslave’s standard tuning songs. As Tom explains in the above video, he chose this guitar to achieve a different tone compared to RATM. The guitar was originally a factory run special for Guitar Center.
Audioslave Tom Morello Soul Power Miniature Guitar Replica
It’s a Fender Stratocaster, has an Ibanez Edge double-locking tremolo with a Seymour Duncan Hotrails pickup in the bridge position and Fender Noiseless pickups in the middle and neck positions. The guitar is fitted with a 2-way toggle switch to be used as a killswitch (explained later).
The main point to keep in mind to achieve an Audioslave like tone is to use single coil pickups when possible. Tom tends to prefer using the neck pickup for a smoother tone so even if you don’t have single coil pickups, try using your neck pickup.
Just like in Rage Against the Machine, an important aspect of Tom’s unique style is the use of a killswitch. Akillswitchsimply allows you to cut your guitar’s signal completely with a flick of a switch or hit of a button. While Tom does use the killswitch in many Audioslave solos, he used it more widely in RATM. Check out the RATM guide here for examples of the songs he used the killswitch on.
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If your guitar has a volume knob for each pickup and a three way selector, you can simply roll the volume of one of the pickups to zero and the volume for the other pickup at maximum. Then when you toggle between the two pickups it will cut in and out. This approach obviously only works with guitars with two volume knobs, so if you don’t have one, you will need to take the other approach.
It’s quite easy to install a killswitch into your own guitar. The ‘Soul Power’ guitar mentioned above that Tom used throughout Audioslave didn’t originally have a killswitch. Tom installed a 2 way toggle switch and wired it up as a killswitch.
To install a killsiwtch you can either install a twoway toggle switch or a momentary button. Either one will do the same job but they feel different to use. Tom uses a two way toggle switch as seen on his Soul Power guitar. That toggle allows him to get a firm grip on the switch and gives him a bit more control. Alternatively a momentary button allows you to simply tap when you want your tone to cut out. Other guitarists prefer a momentary switch simply because it’s a bit quicker and easier to use.
Fender Tom Morello
The below link shows a momentary killswitch. You can see it’s quite cheap to modify your guitar to add a killswitch.Check out the price, wiring diagram, and details of the below chrome killswitch here.
Tom’s amp remained the same from RATM to Audioslave. He uses a 50 watt Marshall JCM 800 2205 headand a 4×12 Peavey cabinet. While the JCM 800 has two channels, Tom only uses the overdrive channel (as explained later).
While that’s the gear Tom uses live, you can use almost any amp and cabinet to achieve the same tone. As long as the amp you use has a nice overdrive (or you use a decent overdrive pedal) – you’ll be able to get pretty close to a Tom Morello tone. You can also see in the video that he has a variety of amps available in his studio so he no doubt experiments with different amps for recordings.
Tom Morello Soul Power Guitar In Audioslave
The below photo shows Tom Morello’s Audioslave pedalboard.There’s a few changes and additions compared to his RATM pedalboard, so let’s go through each pedal.
The Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus is a great pedalboard power supply which I reviewed here. It’s not essential but far better than having individual power supplies for each pedal or using batteries. If you plan on building a large pedalboard, I highly recommend getting a dedicated power supply to power your pedals.
During RATM Tom used an Ibanez DFL Flanger. The MXR Phase 90 replaced that pedal during Audioslave. The difference is that he has moved from a flanger to a phaser. They produce similar effects yet very different tonal qualities. When you hear a live version of Tom playing RATM songs with the MXR 90, you can easily hear how it changes the tone compared to the recordings with the flanger.
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It’s worth mentioning that the MXR Phase 90 is the last pedal in Tom’s effects chain before being sent back to the amp. This means the Phase 90 is the last effect to color his tone (if it is used). If you do decide to build a pedalboard with these effects, I recommend experimenting with different pedal orders to hear how changing the order of pedals affects the end result.
Tom uses a DODFX40B EQ pedal as a booster for solos. He sets the EQ parameters to a flat response and simply uses it to raise the output level. Tom has used this pedal from his RATM days through his Audioslave days and continues to use it today.
While you could buy any EQ pedal for this purpose, I would recommend buying a real booster pedal. That way you have control over the type of boost you use.
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As you can see it is almost completely flat. There is a slight dip in the fifth slider from the left which is the 800Hz band. But you can see overall it’s a very flat setting with the aim of using it simply as a booster.
So my recommendation here is to buy a booster pedal if you want to boost your solos just like Tom uses his DOD FX40B. Alternatively, an EQ pedal is incredibly useful and can help you fine-tune your tone if you use it as an EQ pedal instead of a booster.
Delay is such a common effect yet Tom still manages to get the most out of it. The most obvious use of delay is in the beginning of Cochise. Tom sets his delay to a fast slapback with high feedback to basically double up and produce the helicopter like sound. You will hear a slapback type delay used throughout a lot of Audioslave songs as it is a great way to thicken up his tone. For example in the Like a Stone solo, you can hear how the delay is used to enhance the whammy pitch shifting. The delay fills out his tone to produce a bigger sound. If you want to produce a great Audioslave tone, then a delay pedal is essential.
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Tom used a BOSS DD-2 Digital Delay and eventually switched over to a DD-3 which is essentially the same pedal. So don’t bother looking for a DD-2 as the DD-3 will do the same job.
The sticker shows settings he uses although it’s likely to change depending on the song played. So use the above settings as a good starting point, then experiment with changing the settings for each Audioslavesong you play. It’s interesting to point out that the effect level is cranked up and he uses the ‘Long’ delay mode.
This is the crucial pedal you should buy if you want to sound like Tom Morello. It’s such an iconic effect and Tom really gets the most out of it. Tom used it throughout RATM in songs such as Know Your Enemy, Bullet in the head, Ashes in the fall and Killing in the name and continued to use it in Audioslave. The most well-known use is the solo in Like a Stone.Other Audioslave songs such as Revelations, Cochise and The Worm all use the Whammy in creative ways.
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A Digitech Whammy really is a pedal any Tom Morello fan should consider buying. It would be almost impossible to reproduce a lot of Tom’s unique solos without a Whammy. There are not many guitar pedals out there that are as fun to use as a Whammy. It’s a great creativity tool and simply fun to jam with.
There are a few different Whammy modelsbut the above model is the reissue of the original which is what Tom uses.While you can definitely use that pedal to achieve all of Tom’s whammy effects, I recommend the DigiTech Whammy DT instead. It contains more features which are missing on the above whammy. Check out my review on the DigiTech Whammy DT here.
The TR-2 was a new addition to Tom’s pedalboard during Audioslave. While he does achieve a tremolo-like effect with his
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