Blood and Thunder
The galloping opener of Mastodon's Leviathan — a wall of cranked Marshall and Gibson. Bill Kelliher tracked it on his own Marshall JCM800, modded with 6550 power tubes just before the 2004 sessions and boosted with a BK Butler Tube Driver, alongside Brent Hinds' Marshall JMP. Recorded in D standard by producer Matt Bayles at Robert Lang Studios, Seattle, the tone is dry, aggressive, and articulate — a boosted EL34/6550 Marshall pushing humbucker-loaded Gibsons.
Leviathan
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 7 blocks replaced with a stand-in model
Which ones
Replaced with a stand-in: Noise Gate, Studio Comp, Tube Driver, Brit 2203, 4x12 Greenback, Tilt EQ, Room 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.
- Katana 1 block missing from the file; 4 blocks replaced with a stand-in model
Which ones
Not in the file: Plate. The recipe calls for this block, but we have no verified model ID for it on this platform, so the preset is written without it. Add it by hand using the settings above.
Replaced with a stand-in: Lead, Noise Gate, Booster, Plate. 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.
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