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 · 9 blocksLive values · Line 6 Helix
Guitar
'Arm the Homeless' custom (Performance body / Kramer neck)
Pickups
HH
Tuning
bridge
Strings
drop_d
Noise Gate
Deluxe Comp
Teardrop 310
Pitch Wham
Brit 2204
4x12 Mars G12-65
Simple Delay
Tilt
Noise Gate
← Studio noise gate (FRFR essential)
Threshold
-52dB
Decay
0.2s
Level
0
Deluxe Comp
← Tracking compression
Threshold
-32dB
Ratio
2:1
Knee
6dB
Attack
25s
Release
150s
Mix
40
Level
0dB
Teardrop 310
← Dunlop Cry Baby (GCB95)
Mix
100
Level
0
Pitch Wham
← DigiTech Whammy WH-1
Mix
100
Level
0
Brit 2204
← Marshall JCM800 2205 (50W)
Drive
8.5
Bass
10
Mid
9
Treble
7
Presence
7
ChVol
5
Master
8
Bias
5
BiasX
5
Sag
4.5
Hum
5
Ripple
5
4x12 Mars G12-65
← Peavey 4x12 (Celestion G12K-85)
LowCut90Hz
HighCut10000Hz
Resonance
0.5
Level
0dB
Pan
0.5
Delay
0
Simple Delay
← Boss DD-3 (FX loop)
LowCut200Hz
HighCut6000Hz
Time
400ms
Feedback
2
Mix
16
Level
0
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
Sources · Verified by
