Let’s talk about Korn’s original tone..

[Soundstorm]

The guy posting about Head’s guitar history the other day got me thinking about their tone in general. As far as I can recall, their early setups were:

Ibanez Universe w/ stock pickups tuned to A standard
Mesa Boogie Dual/Trip Recs
Ross Robinson

Now in the years following those first couple of albums, it seemed like EVERY band both local and on the radio had these setups, but I don’t recall anyone ever having that early Korn tone. That weird grunty thing happening in the song posted above. Am I missing a piece of their original setups? Have any of you been able to get that tone? I’ve never gotten sounds like that from a stock Recto. My hunch is that Ross Robinson probably had more to do with it than specific equipment.

 

[japetus]

I remember reading Ross Robinson had some modded Big Muff that he liked to have bands use and that pedal played a huge role in their first 2 albums tone.

 

[311boogieman]

IMO there was a lot more going on in Korn's tone than just Ibbys and Rectos.



love me some Korn btw

 

[Soundstorm]

I remember reading Ross Robinson had some modded Big Muff that he liked to have bands use and that pedal played a huge role in their first 2 albums tone.

Ahhh that makes a lot of sense

 

[Philhouse]

That's cool as hell.

I also needed a reminder to listen to Roots again. Been many years for me and it still kicks arse.

 

[Ben Waylin]

25th January 2013

"Hello,
Richard Kaplan here,
Roots Bloody Roots was recorded at Indigo Ranch. Since Sepultura had two guitarists at the time we got most of their tones with a rack-mount Mesa amp and Ross' 50 watt Marshall head through my vintage 25 watt marshall cab. One of the secrets for the distorted tones on that album was a pedal I built (I later built only one rack-mount version for them to use on their tour) that we called 'the Bigger Muff.' You can see a picture of it at STUDIORATHQ.COM or click on this link here

Hope this helps,
RK"

note < links are broken >

 

[Techdeth]

IMO there was a lot more going on in Korn's tone than just Ibbys and Rectos.



love me some Korn btw

The first 2albums have a tone so nasty it’s great .

 

[lowmantotempole]

I wonder if there's a pedal wizard somewhere I can contact to try to duplicate this

I’d like to get in on that. Let me know.

 

[RaceU4her]

korn and roots do have a similar kind of darker grittier thing going on

 

[psychodave]

korn and roots do have a similar kind of darker grittier thing going on

I hear it as well. Super close tone for both bands.

 

[Ben Waylin]

I wonder if there's a pedal wizard somewhere I can contact to try to duplicate this

It's been done. A guy over at DIYStompBoxes was building clones a while back.

The original version was both dangerous and noisy - it was only ever used in studio, never on the road.

The circuit has two power supplies. A 9VDC for the board, and line powered for the tube (250V ?).

Rich Costey purportedly owns the original "pedal".

 

[Filter500]

That weird grunty thing happening in the song posted above. Am I missing a piece of their original setups? Have any of you been able to get that tone? I’ve never gotten sounds like that from a stock Recto.

I thought I had read/seen a long time ago that they had used a JCM 900 at least in part early on. Maybe that's part of it? Here's a post from SS that says H&K and Peavey:

https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/korn-gear.42261/
Korn Self Titled:

Amps:
They used Hughes and Kettner and Peavey in the Studio.
Live from 1994 - 1997, they used Mesa Dual Rectos.
1998-on, as we all know, triple rectos / line 6.

 

[Dino 939]

The original drummer is my top 3 influence on the drums, his snare sound rules!!!
The super-riff at the end of Freak On A Leash with
the PUMMELING off the 4 on the floor with dimed Mesa Triple Rectifiers & 7 string guitars.
The most original band of the latter 90’s and maybe ever.
Who does Korn sound like????
Themselves.
Exactly.

 

[RaceU4her]

The original drummer is my top 3 influence on the drums, his snare sound rules!!!
The super-riff at the end of Freak On A Leash with
the PUMMELING off the 4 on the floor with dimed Mesa Triple Rectifiers & 7 string guitars.
The most original band of the latter 90’s and maybe ever.
Who does Korn sound like????
Themselves.
Exactly.

dude is stupid good. i dont think they ever really captured his awesomeness on their records. ray luzier is amazing too but that dude had his own groove

 

[311boogieman]

^ Agreed guys.

David Silveria was a huge part of the draw for me.

Got the Life?

forgeta bout it

 

[RaceU4her]

I hear it as well. Super close tone for both bands.

yeah im not really a fan of the tones on either despite liking the albums, im not the biggest fan of that ross robinson sound

 

[japetus]

I thought I had read/seen a long time ago that they had used a JCM 900 at least in part early on. Maybe that's part of it? Here's a post from SS that says H&K and Peavey:

https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/korn-gear.42261/
Korn Self Titled:

Amps:
They used Hughes and Kettner and Peavey in the Studio.
Live from 1994 - 1997, they used Mesa Dual Rectos.
1998-on, as we all know, triple rectos / line 6.

Fieldy was using Peavey bass amps at that time, and they were using H&K 4x12s. They were using mostly Marshall amps with pedals back then in studio, and then Mesa live.