Slipknot is arguably one of the biggest bands in metal. They are as synonymous with the genre as bands like Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden.
Their sound has shaped modern metal and laid down the foundations for the modern metal guitar sound.
One half of Slipknot’s guitar duo, Jim Root, has cemented himself as a modern guitar hero. The other part, Mick Thomson, is a low-profile player with some serious chops.
But how do you create the modern sound of metal? In this article, I will do a rundown of the gear Jim Root and Mick Thomson use, as well as the settings to recreate their sound.
Table of Contents
Root’s Guitars
The most interesting part of Jim Root’s entire rig is perhaps his choice of guitars. Because of the heavy sound of his band, Slipknot, you might expect him to play Ibanez, Jackson, or something similar.
But instead, Root plays predominantly with Fender guitars. Specifically, he plays Teles and Jazzmasters.
These guitars aren’t really associated with such a modern metal sound, but rather softer genres like country, blues, and jazz.
His main guitar is his signature Fender Telecaster. It is fairly similar to a standard Tele, with the notable differences being its ebony fretboard and its two EMG active pickups instead of single coils.
He also plays a signature Fender Jazzmaster. It also has an ebony fretboard and EMG active pickups like his signature Tele.
Squier also has a few similar, budget-friendly guitars Like the Squier Contemporary Jazzmaster which has active EMG-like pickups. Although it doesn’t have active pickups, the Squier Affinity Telecaster is also a great budget option.
Thomson’s Guitars
While Jim Root sticks to Fenders, Mick Thomson had an endorsement with Japanese giants Ibanez and now has moved to Jackson Guitars.
Contrary to what Jim prefers, Mick plays Super Strats exclusively. When he was with Ibanez he had his own mahogany-body version of the quintessential RG shape by the Japanese brand. With Jackson, he’s gone for the Soloist model which is another version of a Super Strat.
That said, there’s a USA Soloist version and a Pro Series version of Mick’s signature Soloist. They’re both made of mahogany and sport a maple neck. The difference is that in the USA version, it’s a multi-piece reinforced neck that goes through the body. On the Pro Series, you get a regular maple neck.
Speaking of which, both guitars feature ebony fingerboards with no markers on top. This feature makes them look sleek, elegant, and menacing at the same time.
Plus, the wood combination having a mahogany body, a maple neck, and an ebony fingerboard is a big bottom end matched with stellar mids and a high-end that can simply cut through the mix.
Both guitars also feature a set of Mick’s signature Seymour Duncan Blackout pickups and a fixed bridge that looks like a floating one but is really just a more accurate stop tail with the micro tuners and the double-locking system.
An affordable alternative could be getting a Jackson X Series Soloist SLX DX or, for a little bigger budget, a Jackson Pro Series Soloist SL2P with a hardtail bridge.
Whichever guitar you choose to get, don’t forget about the active Seymour Duncan Blackout set.
Root’s Amps
While Root has used a number of amps throughout his career, in 2008 he switched to Orange amps and they have been his main amps ever since. He has said that he likes Orange amps for their creamy mids, their massive headroom, and Orange’s “less is more” approach.
His amp head is an Orange Rockerverb. A powerful amp that has found its way into the rigs of many modern metal guitarists. The Rockerverb is paired with a 4×12 Orange cabinet to help drive the amps massive power.
If you are looking for something on a budget, you don’t have to look too far. Orange actually has a few excellent budget-friendly amps on offer.
The OR15H and the very popular Terror are both fantastic amp heads that pair great with the 1×12 PPC112 cabinet. And if you are looking for a combo amp, then look no further than the Rocker 32.
Thomson’s Amps
Mick Thomson’s first amp was a Marshall JCM800 2203. This is a mid-gain 100-watt English head that boasts brown sound from four EL34s. It’s broadly known as Marshall’s quintessential master volume design.
Nowadays, though, Mick Thomson has an endorsement deal with legendary amp company Rivera. Paul Rivera, in case you didn’t know, is an amp guru well-known for shaping tone in the eighties and nineties building amps for Fender (who can forget the red-knob “Evil” Twin Reverb?) and his own company.
Rivera heads and combos are considered connoisseur amps that ooze quality, tone, distortion, and reliability. After using the Marshall and a VHT Pitbull amp, the transition for Mick Thomson wasn’t a steep curve but rather an easy, smooth endeavor. Both brands, Rivera and VHT, are known for making complex, great-sounding, high-gain animals.
Mick’s signature amp is called KR-7 and is a 120-watt beast of an amp. It’s powered by EL34s as a factory standard (that old Marshall flavor never wore out) although Mick is known for running it on KT-77s as well for extra low-end. It’s a 3-channel amp going from clean with massive headroom all the way to face-melting distortion.
Speaking of which, Mick has his own signature speakers inside the Rivera cabinets, the Eminence DV-77 Mick Thomson Signature.
Is there a more affordable alternative to this amazing amplifier? Well, there are four options I can think of.
- First, the EVH 5150IIIS 100-watt EL34, a 100-watt head ready to bring mayhem with enough gain to melt a solar system.
- Second, the EVH 5150III 50-watt follows the same trend but with a 50-watt power section that makes it pub-friendly.
- Third, a Marshall DSL100 boasting 100 watts and oozing the same brown tone from those EL34s but in a much more affordable package.
- Finally, the DSL20HR uses the same gain structure but in a 20-watt head that’s even bedroom-friendly.
Root’s Pedals
Jim Root has a few pedals in his arsenal, but overall, his pedalboard isn’t anything too crazy.
The Electro-Harmonix Nano Small Stone is a phaser pedal that Root says he uses on nearly every Slipknot song. This pedal is used to add color to harmonies and octave parts. It’s a pretty popular pedal with artists like Korn and Chris Stapleton also using it regularly.
It is a great pedal for any genre, not just metal. The Nano adds a very nice swirl to your guitar sound.
The DigiTech X-Series Synth Wah is used to add some additional flavor to riffs and licks. It can mostly be heard in the song Eyeless. The X-Series can be a bit hard to come by these days, in which case the Electro-Harmonix Micro Q-Tron is a great alternative envelope filter.
Whenever Root wants to give his lead tone a bit of a push, he uses an MXR GT-OD. The GT-OD is a great overdrive pedal that provides a smooth and warm tone without coloring the tone too much.
For delays, Root uses the MXR Carbon Copy. This is a very popular delay pedal due to its wide range of delays and ease of use. The Carbon Copy can create anything from snappy, slap delays to huge, expansive delays, all at the turn of a dial.
Thomson’s Pedals
Mick Thomson’s pedalboard is as straightforward as it can possibly be. With the exception of the rack-mounted Boss GT-PRO. This is a discontinued, kind of odd piece of equipment. But there’s a reason why it’s part of this riffmaster’s rig.
Mick wrote and recorded some of the weird sounds in Slipknot’s first album with a Boss GX100. Songs like “Spit it out” for example, have a Humanizer effect that’s very hard to get anywhere else.
Therefore, the GT-PRO found a way into Mick’s rack of effects and amplifiers. It could be replaced by a Boss GT-1000, a GX-100, or even a Pocket GT. All of these products share the same cutting-edge Boss technology.
Other than that multi-effects unit (which should go into the amp’s effects loop), Mick uses a Death By Audio Fuzz War, one of the most extreme fuzz pedals on the market.
Also, an Electro Harmonix Bass Balls, which is kind of a dynamic filter with distortion that makes the guitar sound like a synth.
The third pedal in his rack is a Maxon One Drive Plus, a very similar pedal to an Ibanez TS-808. The fourth is an MXR Carbon Copy, one of the best-sounding analog delays on the market right now in my opinion.
Finally, the rack of pedals also contains a one-of-a-kind fuzz with an octave made by Kevin Allen, Mick’s guitar tech.
To power it all up, Mick uses a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 Plus and it’s controlled by a switching system that’s handled by Kevin Allen rather than by Mick.
Root’s Amp Settings
Recreating Jim Root’s sound is actually much easier than many other metal and even non-metal guitarists.
If you dial in a modern metal tone, then you are already about a third of the way to achieving the Slipknot guitar tone.
When it comes to Slipknot amp settings, the most important settings are the gain and the bass. Those two settings should be set quite high, almost maxed out. The mids and the treble can be kept at around halfway.
Basic metal settings:
- Gain – 8
- Bass – 8
- Mids – 5
- Treble – 6
The cleans are a bit more of a scooped mids sound. Bass and treble are turned up, with bass turned up more, and mids turned to less than half.
Clean settings:
- Bass – 10
- Mids – 4
- Treble – 8
All you need to do then is simply adjust the settings according to your amp. There is also a slight variation between songs. Here are the settings for some of Slipknot’s most famous songs.
Duality
- Gain – 8
- Bass – 9
- Mids – 5
- Treble – 6
Before I Forget
- Gain – 9
- Bass – 8
- Mids – 5
- Treble – 7
The Devil in I
- Gain – 7
- Bass – 8
- Mids – 6
- Treble – 7
Wait and Bleed
- Gain – 7
- Bass – 7
- Mids – 4
- Treble – 6
Thomson’s Amp Settings
Let’s try and dial in some of the tones that became the cornerstone of Slipknot’s fierce sound and of modern metal as well. Let’s cover some of the most iconic tunes Mick plays through his Rivera amplifiers.
Psychosocial Amp Settings
- Gain – 8
- Volume – 3
- Bass – 8
- Mids – 5
- Treble – 6
- Presence – 2
Duality Amp Settings
- Gain – 6
- Volume – 3.5
- Bass – 5
- Mids – 4
- Treble – 7.5
- Presence – 0
Unsainted Amp Settings
- Gain – 10
- Volume – 4
- Bass – 6
- Mids – 5
- Treble – 7
- Presence – 2
Before I Forget Amp Settings
- Gain – 8
- Volume – 3.5
- Bass – 8
- Mids – 7.5
- Treble – 7
- Presence – 0
Wait and Bleed Amp Settings
- Gain – 10
- Volume – 3
- Bass – 9
- Mids – 5
- Treble – 7
- Presence – 0
The Devil in I Amp Settings
- Gain – 7
- Volume – 5
- Bass – 7
- Mids – 6
- Treble – 4
- Presence – 2
Root’s Strings
To counteract the twangy sound of a Tele and Jazzmaster, while also adding some extra low end to his sound, Jim Root uses heavy gauge strings. He also specifically has his own custom-wound Dunlop strings.
But any Dunlop Heavy Core strings will do just as well. Either .011, .012, or .013 depending on what is comfortable for you.
Thomson’s Strings
Mick Thomson and Jim Root play different tunings for different songs in the various records they’ve put out. We’ll get to that in a minute, but whenever they play in drop-B, Mick uses 11-56 or 11-58 and when they play in drop-A he plays 12-66.
The strings can be either D’Addario XT or D’Addario EXL.
Root’s Mask
Slipknot is famous for the masks that each musician wears on stage. Their masks are almost just as important as their sound.
Watching Slipknot play live is a theatrical experience rather than a musical one. Indeed, between the masks, the paraphernalia, and the number of people on stage, what you get is a feast for the senses.
If you want to truly recreate Jim Root’s guitar sound, I would argue that you need a mask as well. Something unique, and intimidating, but is also a great representation of who you are.
Thomson’s Mask
In that spectacle, each band member has their own alter-ego, and Mick’s character features a mask that resembles iron and that has a series of bars covering his mouth. It’s sharp on the edges and painted mimicking iron or aluminum.
Slipknot Tunings
Slipknot is a band in continuous movement. When it first came out into the mainstream, it caused a revolution. This movement is not only fueled by the theatrical on-stage performances but also by their musicianship.
The band uses two different tunings mainly:
Drop A (from thick to thin)
- A
- E
- A
- D
- F#
- B
Drop B Tuning (Thick to thin)
- B
- Gb
- B
- E
- Ab
- Db
Bear in mind that the tension level of down-tuned guitars varies drastically, thus, you’ll need to put heavier strings on them to make up for that loss.
Closing Thoughts
Jim Root is well-known in both guitar circles and among Slipknot fans for his ability as a guitar player and a songwriter. It can be argued that without his sound and talents, Slipknot might not have been the band they are today.
And without Slipknot, many other bands might not have existed. Like so many other guitarists before him, Jim Root and Mick Thomson are the source of inspiration for so many others. That is why understanding his sound is so important, especially if you’re looking to get that much desired Slipknot guitar tone!
