No. 1231996·alternative-metal·5 blocks
People of the Sun
One of Morello's most ingenious noises: the main 'riff' of People of the Sun is made by scraping a hex (Allen) wrench across the strings between the pickups, not by fretting notes — a metallic, machine-like screech that became an Evil Empire signature. Underneath it is his usual rig in Drop D: the 'Arm the Homeless' custom into the 50-watt Marshall JCM800 2205 and Peavey 4x12. The Whammy adds dive-bomb squeals over the chorus. The tone itself is plain mid-forward Marshall crunch — the magic is the technique sitting on top of it.
Evil EmpireSignal path · input → output · 8 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
Pitch Wham
Brit 2204
4x12 Mars G12-65
Simple Delay
Tilt
Noise Gate
← Studio noise gate (FRFR essential)
Threshold
-50dB
Decay
0.2s
Level
0
Deluxe Comp
← Tracking compression
Threshold
-32dB
Ratio
2:1
Knee
6dB
Attack
25s
Release
150s
Mix
40
Level
0dB
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
HighCut9500Hz
Resonance
0.5
Level
0dB
Pan
0.5
Delay
0
Simple Delay
← Boss DD-3 (FX loop)
LowCut200Hz
HighCut6000Hz
Time
360ms
Feedback
4
Mix
16
Level
0
Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
0.5
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0
Engineer's note
File 123
One of Morello's most ingenious noises: the main 'riff' of People of the Sun is made by scraping a hex (Allen) wrench across the strings between the pickups, not by fretting notes — a metallic, machine-like screech that became an Evil Empire signature. Underneath it is his usual rig in Drop D: the 'Arm the Homeless' custom into the 50-watt Marshall JCM800 2205 and Peavey 4x12. The Whammy adds dive-bomb squeals over the chorus. The tone itself is plain mid-forward Marshall crunch — the magic is the technique sitting on top of it.
— Tom Morello
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