Lateralus amp settings — Boss ME-80

The TOOL guitar tone for “Lateralus”, dialed in for a Boss ME-80 with a PRS SE Silver Sky. Studio album cut, Lateralus (2001)

Original rig

1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom Silverburst (Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distortion bridge pickup) into Diezel VH4 (Channel 3) blended with Mesa Dual Rectifier & Marshall Super Bass

Thick, aggressive high-gain crunch with heavy midrange bark, tight low-end, and articulate pick attack

Amp settings — Boss ME-80

CHANNELLEAD Preamp TypeBRIGHToffBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	7
Mid	8
Treble	5
Reverb	2
Master	6

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01ME-80 NS Block

Built-in noise suppressor to clamp high-gain hum

Threshold 6

02ME-80 COMP Block

Type: COMP — adds sustain and thickens single-coil attack

Sustain 5 · Attack 4 · Tone 5 · Level 6

Why these settings

Adam Jones uses a heavy mahogany Les Paul with a high-output Seymour Duncan Distortion bridge humbucker, whereas the Silver Sky has lower-output vintage-voiced single coils. To compensate on the ME-80's LEAD preamp, gain is pushed to 7, midrange is pushed to 8, and the guitar tone knob is rolled back to 8 to shave off Strat treble spikiness. The onboard compressor fattens the single-coil attack to mimic high-output humbucker body.

PRO TIPTune to Drop D (D-A-D-G-B-E) and dig hard into the lower strings right above the bridge pickup with a heavy pick (1.0mm+) for Adam Jones' signature percussive chug.

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These settings are for a Boss ME-80. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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