Tone library / Skillet / Awake and alive

Awake and alive amp settings — Vault Frenzy 40

The Skillet guitar tone for “Awake and alive”, dialed in for a Vault Frenzy 40 with a Squier Classic Vibe 60s Stratocaster. Studio album cut, Awake (2009) - Main rhythm riff and chorus

Original rig

Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier (Channel 3 Modern) & Marshall JCM900, PRS Custom 24 / Gibson Les Paul (humbuckers), TS808 clean boost, 4x12 with Celestion V30s

Aggressive, wall-of-sound modern alt-metal high gain with punchy low-mids and tight attack
Amp settings — Vault Frenzy 40
CHANNELDrive ChannelBRIGHToffBOOSTon
GAIN 8 BASS 7 MID 6 TREBLE 5 REVERB 0 MASTER 4
KnobSetting (0–10)
Gain8
Bass7
Mid6
Treble5
Reverb0
Master4
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Guitar
PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10
Signal chain

01High-Gain Distortion Pedal (e.g. Boss DS-1 / MT-2 or Rat)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned

Tone 5 · Level 7 · Dist 7
Why these settings

The original relies on a cascaded tube Mesa Dual Rectifier with humbuckers in Drop B/Drop C, so on the Vault Frenzy 40 we engage the onboard drive channel with gain pushed to 8. To compensate for the thin, glassy top end of the Stratocaster's vintage single coils, treble is rolled down to 5 and tone to 8 while bumping bass to 7 for low-end weight. Adding a dedicated high-gain dirt pedal later will allow you to run the clean channel and capture the full saturated modern metal chunk. Clean intro/verse: switch your guitar volume down to 6 or toggle to the clean channel.

PRO TIPAwake and Alive is played in Drop B tuning (B-F#-B-E-G#-C#); tune your low E down to B or Drop D to get the proper heavy palm-muted chug, and pick with aggressive downstrokes close to the bridge.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Vault Frenzy 40. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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