No. 1211999·alternative-metal·6 blocks
Guerrilla Radio
The Battle of Los Angeles lead single, and the riff that proved Morello could make a guitar sound like a siren and a turntable in the same three minutes. He cut it on his 'Arm the Homeless' custom in Drop D into the same 50-watt Marshall JCM800 2205 and Peavey 4x12 he has used since 1988. The verse is a percussive, palm-muted wah 'wacka' over the low D; the solo is the DigiTech Whammy hauled two octaves up into a rising siren squeal while the toggle and pickup volumes do the rest. No fuzz, no extra gain — a mid-forward Marshall and a lot of right-hand control.
The Battle of Los AngelesSignal path · input → output · 7 blocksLive values · Fractal Axe-Fx
Guitar
'Arm the Homeless' custom (Performance body / Kramer neck)
Pickups
HH
Tuning
bridge
Strings
drop_d
Noise Gate
Studio Comp
Brit 800
4x12 G12-65
Digital Delay
Filter Tilt
Noise Gate
← Studio noise gate (FRFR essential)
Threshold
-52dB
Decay
0.2s
Level
0
Studio Comp
← Tracking compression
Threshold
-32dB
Ratio
2:1
Attack
8s
Release
120s
Mix
0.4
Level
0dB
Brit 800
← Marshall JCM800 2205 (50W)
Drive
8.5
Bass
10
Mid
9
Treble
7
Presence
7
MV
5
Cut
4
4x12 G12-65
← Peavey 4x12 (Celestion G12K-85)
LowCut90Hz
HighCut10000Hz
Level
0dB
Digital Delay
← Boss DD-3 (FX loop)
Time
400ms
Feedback
2
Mix
0.2
Filter Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
0.5
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0
Engineer's note
File 121
The Battle of Los Angeles lead single, and the riff that proved Morello could make a guitar sound like a siren and a turntable in the same three minutes. He cut it on his 'Arm the Homeless' custom in Drop D into the same 50-watt Marshall JCM800 2205 and Peavey 4x12 he has used since 1988. The verse is a percussive, palm-muted wah 'wacka' over the low D; the solo is the DigiTech Whammy hauled two octaves up into a rising siren squeal while the toggle and pickup volumes do the rest. No fuzz, no extra gain — a mid-forward Marshall and a lot of right-hand control.
— Tom Morello
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