Monkey Wrench
Monkey Wrench opens The Colour and the Shape at a full sprint — a frantic single-note main riff and a chorus wall of high-gain distortion. Dave Grohl tracked the heavy parts on his Gibson Trini Lopez semi-hollow through a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier, with the lighter verse and the bridge breakdown leaning on a Vox AC30. Producer Gil Norton double-tracked the rhythm hard left and right, and the dirt is all amp — no distortion pedals.
The Colour and the Shape
What we checked
Computed by a program, on this recipe, every time this page is built. How this works
Preset files — 1 of 3 complete
- Helix builds complete — every block in the recipe is in the file
- Quad Cortex 6 blocks replaced with a stand-in model
Which ones
Replaced with a stand-in: Gate, LA Compressor, Recto, 4x12 Recto V30, Room, Tilt EQ. These load cleanly but are not the model named above — the file will sound wrong here until we map them. Set these blocks by hand.
- Katana 3 blocks replaced with a stand-in model
Which ones
Replaced with a stand-in: Brown, Tight Boost, Reverb. These load cleanly but are not the model named above — the file will sound wrong here until we map them. Set these blocks by hand.
What we didn't check
- Nobody played this through a real amp. There is no human listening test behind any number on this page.
- The settings are reasoned from the sources below, not measured off the record.
- No audio has been rendered for this recipe yet, so you cannot hear it before you load it.
- 3 platforms on this page (TONEX, Kemper, Fractal) get a model pointer, not a preset file — nothing was built or checked for them.
Affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. The mic is listed because the chain uses it, not because anyone paid for the placement.
