Tag Archives: Diezel

Buy Adam’s Diezel

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Foamy informed me of this auction on Ebay, which features a Diezel VH4 (probably a VH4s to be exact) as used by Adam. According to the blurb:

Up for sale!!! 1 Diezel vh4. This amp has a unique history. I called Salwander International about getting a new Diezel for my self and ended up buying this beauty. It was in the shop being repaired for Adam Jones from the band TOOL. While it was under repair Adam got a loner from Salwander to track with while HIS ,this one, was being repaired. Adam made the decision to keep the loner and I ended up with his amp instead of buying a new one. It has all of Adams tone markings on the face plate indicated with, glow in the dark, stickers and a message on the back that reads, “For my first American user Adam, best regards, Peter Diezel”. This amp was used on the road as Adams back up to his blue faced early vh4. It has a few scuffs, but nothing major. I would say it is 98% PERFECT. As for how it sounds…It’s one of the best amps money can buy! It produces amazing tones at, literally, any volume level and is indestructible. I need to get rid of this amp to pay for school. At this point, in my life, I don’t require all of it’s little bells and whistles. This “boast worthy” amp needs to go to a good home where somebody will appreciate its awesome sound quality and power. Rock, Dustin

The auction is long since over, but there’s some cool pics there, some of which I’ve added below, some of which outline the various EQ settings Adam used.

Shred School Review

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Bastardometer from Toolarmy sent me his review of the recent Shred School session with Adam Jones (minus pigtails). Here’s what he had to say:

Adam was the last guy to give his presentation. After Herman Li (from Dragonforce) finished, Adam was up. They had a curtain that was behind the stage. I thought it was like any other stage were it was used for aesthetics, but they drew the curtain back and Adams rig was behind. He had one Diezel head with two Mesa cabs and his pedal board.

He comes onstage and tells everyone to come up and sit down in front. I was about six feet away. He said that he just played Bonnaroo in front of 80,000 people and he was more nervous now. He then set up his lap top and started up The Pot (a backing track with guitar removed) and played the whole song from start to finish.

He said that he normally doesn’t have Maynard in his monitors. Maynard is not the glue. Maynard swims on top of what the other three are doing, doing his own thing. He told us that he didn’t have any one thing planned, that he was just rolling with the punches, and that we should feel free to ask questions when we want. I asked about Danny and he went into a pretty detailed version of his injury. He told us that he had a lot of stuff to share. Art work, sculptures and props from video shoots as well as some new material that they had been starting to jam on. (He also made it clear that this may or may not make it onto a new record). He also mentioned that that day Tools lawsuit was over. Ending result was amiable. Both parties just walked away. (I’m assuming that this was the thing with Cam de Leon)

He started talking about how he and the guys work, were its everyone bringing in material and sometimes you have to let go of something you love for the greater good of the song. He started talking about how to play around with time. For example , he looped a part in 5 (intro riff to Vicarious) and let it loop through his Line 6 DL4 (for those who don’t know this is a delay pedal – Hellboy) and would play along with it in 7. He showed how it would would go out and come back into sync. Very cool, showed a few examples of this.

He then went into the whole sacred geometry bit we’ve all heard/read. Which led him into the Fibonacci Sequence, which led him into Lateralus. Justin came up with the intro heavy riff thats in 9,8,7. He started showing us 4ths and notes that are a half step from each other and played at the same time, which, led him into Stinkfist. So he started playing that part as well as bit after (Stinkfist 2:55-4:00)

He told us to not listen to anybody that trys to dissuade us from what we want to do.
“If you want to run a laundromat and surf all day. Open a laundromat on the beach.”
“Do what you want to do. Have it come from the heart.”

He then started talking about Wings and how that was his favorite piece he’s ever written and how he was anxious about how Maynard was going to handle it. Said that you have to trust your band mates and that he’s glad he did because Maynard nailed it. Then he went int Ænima and played bits and pieces of that.

Questions about the videos came up and he said that they (both Vicarious and The Pot) should be out soon. When asked about the Live DVD his reply was “Sore subject”…whatever that means.

Then he had Camella (who looked stunning, by the way) start bringing in the props and sculptures and said that when he was finished that we could all take pics and check shit out. It was around this time that the Moderator said that Adam had ten more minutes. Adams retort was “I’m staying as long as I want”. We all clapped. So he showed us the Head from Schism, the one where the ear pops out. He showed us the little guy from Parabola (there were two of them) as well as the Executive from Parabola (it was bout 5’5″ tall) He also showed a bronze of the sculpture he did for the Peach album Giving Birth To A Stone. About 12″ tall. He also said that Alex Grey liked them and wanted to sell them in his store, which Adam was pleased about.

The jackass moderator came back and told Adam again that others needed to bail and that they wanted to give them the chance to do the signing sessions.  Adam complied and started to put his gear away when I (and others) opened my mouth and asked him to play the new riff.  He did and it had a similar intro thing as Vicarious did that went into a heavy part that was in 7.it was very cool and sounded (to me) like something that could have been on Ænima. It was very cool. That was pretty much it, to the best of my recollection – Adam would have kept on going if the guy hadnt have stopped him, which REALLY irritated me. Adam started getting into his groove. Camella was snapping pix pretty much the whole time so (hopefully) some photos will be placed up at TA.

Bastardometer also emailed me some photos.  These were all taken from his phone, so they’re not great quality.  He mentions he may have some more for us, and if this is the case then I’ll post them when I get them.

More ear popping from SchismSchism’s ear popping guyAdam’s effect pedalsThe Parabola GuysAdam at Shred School

Adam in Australian Guitar

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As I do every month, I picked up latest edition of Australian Guitar magazine.  Like Rolling Stone they’ve also run a Big Day Out feature, this time running a much better interview with Adam.  The interview is really quite good, and for guitar geeks like me talks about his gear in a bit more detail.  Here’s a few highlights.

On the Big Day Out:

AG: How does playing a festival like the Big Day Out compare to playing an arena or theatre show for the band?

AJ: It’s a whole different kind of vibe, as people are there to see and hear a bunch of different bands.  You don’t have a lot of time between the bands to really pump in what you can do like in a more intimate and controlled setting such as an arena or a indoor venue, but it’s all good though.  I think we have a really good show and good special effects so people will love it.

On song writing and alternate tunings:

AG: When it comes to the experimental aspect of Tool, do you tend to explore different tunings or play around with different effect pedals in order to come up with the soundscapes you hear in your head?

AJ: Yeah, but tastefully, it’s not just like “Hey, here’s a new tuning”.  It kind of depends on what the song needs.  We wrote a couple of songs that came from working on riffs with a B/E tuning.  Though the guitar is in the normal 440 tuning, the tuning itself actually sounds really low, as the E string is tuned to B, while the A string is tuned to E, with the rest of the strings remaining in standard tuning.  it’s like and octave and a low kind of harmony…like a seventh.  Anyway, they didn’t really pan out, but I think it will pan out on the next record.

On his guitar rig:

AG: When it comes to the stage, what is your gear set-up like?

AJ: It’s basically just 3 amps, a Marshall Super Bass head and two Diezel VH4s and three cabinets and a Leslie.  And that is it.  It’s what I’ve always had.  One amp is kind of the master, while the other two fill in what the master’s not getting.  Guitar-wise, I use two silverburst Les Paul Custom guitars.  One is used as a back-up, though I hardly ever use it.  Sometime though, if I’m using a different tuning like a B tuning or the B/E tuning, I’ll have another guitar too so I don’t have to change the tuning..  I can just grab the guitar and it’s all tuned and ready to go and intonated.

Ok, that’s as much as I willing to type up for the moment, and don’t bother asking for scans since I won’t do it.  Good to hear that they’re already thinking about the next album, though i do remember talk around Lateralus time of them not having a long gap between releases….

Adam in Guitar world

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Just read the interview with Adam from the Guitar World magazine.  Thanks to dvn and boatloadoffunk on Toolnavy for the scans.  Here’s some of the highlights I picked up:

  • Adam uses a Talk Box during one track.  Not sure if I misread it, but I got the impression it was on the track 10,000 Days.
  • There’s more guitar solos on this recording.
  • Justin uses a Fretless Bass.
  • Maynards vocals are heavily processed and distorted.  Much more part of the music than up front.
  • The album is self produced, with Barresi engineering and mixing, though Joe’s role is about the same as previous producers.
  • All of the members of Tool agree on Sacred Geometry.
  • Adam and Joe had plenty of Pedal modifications done.
  • Adam uses the Gig-FX Chopper pedal, and uses it with a volume/wah pedal to control the effect.
  • All songs except for one were written before entering the studio.
  • A “Pipe-bomb Mic” was used during record.  It’s basically a brass tube with a guitar pickup inside used as a microphone.
  • He was impressed with Bogner, Rivera and Joe’s Peavey amp, though will probably continue to use his Diezel/Marshall setup.
  • “Please don’t say that I play an E-Bow” – Adam doesn’t use one apparently, despite what the E-Bow website says.
  • Adams sustain comes from Attitude and Effect pedals.
  • One of Maynards lyrics is “Who are you to wave your finger?”.  To which Adam replied “That’s the pot calling the kettle black”.  From the song The Pot?

It’s a good interview, and there’s some much I haven’t mentioned here, so do the right thing a buy the magazine when it comes out (this Wednesday I believe).