In December 2020, when Alexi Laiho left us, the metal world lost one of its greatest guitarists, composers, and frontmen. Nevertheless, after ten studio albums with Children of Bodom, his legacy is well-kept and will live forever in the shape of songs.
I remember very clearly listening to this cool Finnish band and showing my friends what a monster guitar player the singer was back in the early 2000s. Albums like Are You Dead Yet? and Follow the Reaper are Death Metal masterclasses.
I’ve been chasing Alexi’s tone for some time, trying to mimic the power and punch of his amazing riffs and soaring leads. I thought it was a good idea to share that with you so we can shred together in his memory.
Table of Contents
Alexi Laiho Guitars
Like many metal guitar fans in the world, Alexi played Jackson Randy Rhoads models, the RR to be precise. This guitar is Jackson’s take on a Flying V sporting a shorter side on the bottom and a longer one on the top.
Alexi started his career on what is now known as a Jackson RR1, a magnificent instrument with an ebony fingerboard and a mahogany body and neck that represents the finest of the Jackson USA craftsmanship.
If that number is too much for your budget, you can go for the next best thing in the Jackson lineup, the made-in-Japan Jackson RR24-MG. If that continues to be too bulky, more affordable versions include the Jackson Pro Series Rhoads RR3, the Jackson X Series Rhoads RRX24, and the Jackson Rhoads JS32.
Later on in his career, Alexi got an endorsement from metal giants ESP and the signature model they made for him was the guitar he played until the end of his career. The particularity of this guitar is that it sports a passive EMG pickup loaded with an active preamp circuit acting as a boost with adjustable EQ and up to +18dB of extra juice.
The guitar is made of alder with a 3-piece maple neck, and a 24-fret ebony fretboard (frets 21 to 24 are scalloped) sporting a 12” radius. These are the specs from the top-of-the-line made-in-Japan by the ESP Custom Shop Alexei signature.
Again, just like the Jackson RR, there are more options to choose from like the more affordable ESP E-II Alexi Ripped. Also available but from LTD, ESP’s affordable line is the Signature Hexed (sans the preamp boost), and the very affordable LTD Alexi-200.
The ESP and LTD guitars feature a neck-through-body construction to give alder an extra dose of sustain and make it a more aggressive instrument for the riffs and the leads. Alexi only toured with several Custom Shop models of his signature in different colors and he played either of them depending on his mood the night of the show.
Alexi Laiho Amps
Alexi Laiho, in the early days of his career, played through an unobtainable piece of gear called Lee Jackson Perfect Connection GP-1000. This is a preamp that feeds a power amp to get the needed volume. Since it wasn’t very reliable, the frontman of Children of Bodom decided to change to a mighty Marshall JVM410H.
This is the amp that would accompany him throughout the last part of his career. It is an all-tube 4-channel head boasting 100 watts of pure Marshall grit. He used it with a couple of Marshall 1960 cabs with Celestion Vintage speakers.
If your budget isn’t as bulky or you don’t have the room to make a 100-watt Marshall roar through two 4x12s (as most humans playing guitar on planet Earth), you can get close with a Marshall DSL20HR, a 20-watt all-tube Marshall head.
You might have spotted Alexi playing through an ENGL head (hello Rammstein fans!) in the EMG TV series. Well, that head is also a mammoth all-tube 100-watt head with four independent channels. It sports quite a hefty price tag, but the people at ENGL recently came up with a smaller, more affordable version called the Fireball 25.
Alexi Laiho Effect Pedals
Alexi’s use of effects was very minimal but he did have an ace up his sleeve. To achieve that bigger-than-God ‘80s metal sound, he relied on his Boss CH-1 Super Chorus pedal, which he left on all the time. This gave him spatial audio that was great for occupying more sonic territory with his bombastic riffs and screaming solos.
Other than the Chorus, he used a now-discontinued Boss DD-7 Digital Delay, which you can replace with a DD-8 or a DD-3T, and a Dunlop KH95 Kirk Hammett Signature Wah.
Alexi Laiho Amp Settings
The key to understanding Alexi Laiho’s tone is the amount of gain. The guitarist didn’t use a crushing amount of gain on his amp but relied mostly on the boost preamp of his signature guitar. That said, even with the preamp on, he never played with modern amounts of distortion.
On the contrary, he tried to keep it tamed so he had to dig harder on the guitar. In other words, he preferred a clearer sound, without the mud gain can generate, and that made him play more aggressively, getting more out of the guitar.
He stringed his guitars with a custom set that went from 0.10 to 0.56. This way, he was still able to play fast solos as a killer shred guitarist and also bring mayhem with his iconic riffs. Also, it’s worth noting that the guitars aren’t tuned to standard but alternating between drop-B and D standard (one step down).
So, I’m about to list some cool settings from the Marshall and you won’t see a lot of distortion there. Nevertheless, the Marshall has four distinct voicings, one for each channel, and Alexi only played through the most distorted one. Therefore, it might mean a lot more gain for an amp like the DSL20H.
Also, he compensated for that gain with the guitar’s boost switch. You can do it with an overdrive or a distortion pedal as well if you like. What’s important is keeping the midrange beyond noon to get that clarity you hear in his tone and dial in a generous low end to get the chugging element going.
So, let’s divide this into two different settings, the first is for having a boost pedal or the EMG preamp on the guitar.
- Volume – 4
- Gain – 3
- Treble – 4
- Mid – 6
- Bass – 6
- Presence – 5
The second is for just playing your guitar straight into the amplifier.
- Volume – 7
- Gain – 7
- Treble – 4
- Mid – 6
- Bass – 8
- Presence – 5
If your guitar tone gets muddy when you’re playing those intricate, fast riffs, then just lower the gain level. Also, it’s worth noting that the Chorus is what gave Alexi the epic element and he didn’t use any reverb on his sound at all.
The Bottom End
Alexi Laiho left us way too soon but the amazing records he made with Synergy, Children of Bodom, and Kyllahulut will live forever.
This writer and guitar player cut his teeth and grew his chops listening to his guitar rip the fabric of reality throughout my teenage metal days. Hopefully, dialing in his tone will help you grow yours too.
Happy (fast, menacing, and heavy) playing!
