Lateralus amp settings — Line 6 Spider IV

The TOOL guitar tone for “Lateralus”, dialed in for a Line 6 Spider IV with a Fender American Original 60s Stratocaster. Studio version, Lateralus (2001) - main distorted rhythm/riffs

Original rig

Diezel VH4 (Channel 3) blended with Mesa Dual Rectifier, 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom Silverburst (Seymour Duncan JB bridge), MXR Phase 90, MXR Micro Amp

Mid-forward grinding high-gain with slow phaser sweep, tight lows, articulate aggression — NOT scooped

Amp settings — Line 6 Spider IV

CHANNELMetal (Red)BOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	6
Bass	7
Mid	8
Treble	5
Reverb	1
Master	6

Don’t have a Line 6 Spider IV? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE7 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner

Bypassed during play

02Jim Dunlop Cry Baby GCB95

Used parked for vocal mid filter accents on specific leads or bypassed for main riffs

03Spider IV Onboard Phaser (FX Block)

Built-in modulation effect; slow rate replicates Adam Jones's subtle Phase 90 sweep

Speed 2 · Depth 6

Why these settings

The Line 6 Spider IV's Metal (Red) voice provides the aggressive, cascaded preamp crunch of Adam Jones's Diezel VH4 Channel 3. Because your Stratocaster uses vintage-output single coils instead of a hot bridge humbucker, push the amp's mids to 8, boost the bass to 7 for low-end body, and roll the guitar's tone knob down to 7 to smooth off single-coil glassiness. Use the Spider IV's onboard phaser set to a slow speed to capture the signature sweeping texture without needing external pedals.

PRO TIPPick forcefully directly over the bridge pickup with a heavy pick (Adam uses a heavy gauge or silver pick) to get that metallic percussive scrape and keep drop-D chugs tight.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Line 6 Spider IV. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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Song, artist and gear names are used to identify the tone being matched; ToneAdapt is not affiliated with or endorsed by the artists or manufacturers mentioned. Settings are AI-generated starting points — trust your ears.