Hey guys, I just found this forum, and I was looking for a little help, since you guys seem to know a hell of a lot more about this stuff than I do.

Firstly, let me state that I am not a great guitarist, by any measure. I had to move around a lot growing up because my dad was in the marines, and I never got to know many guys who were into guitars or who knew much about them or how to play them. But, my mom got me a POS fender starter guitar with matching amp when I was 9, and I played it off and on until I was about 13. I never learned much, and I sorta stopped playing altogether until 15, when I bought a POS acoustic from a pawn shop for 100 bucks. Unfortunately for me, just a few weeks after that, I discovered Tool, and I sold the acoustic to a friend I made

Anyway, long story short, Tool/APC is really about all I play, but I've really started to focus more on Tool (the Lateralus CD especially). I just want to learn to play/sound like Adam does, or at least close to it. So a while back, I finally got a little cash together and bought this:

http://www.schecterguitars.com/spec.asp?id=29

Now, firstly, I want to say that I know it's not the best thing out there. I was sort of strapped for cash, and the one in the store sounded best (at least to me, at the price). So, first question is: Is this thing crap? If I want to get the sound I'm looking for, should I sell it? I really wanted a Gibson SG. What do you guys think of those? Could I change the pickups to some Dimebuckers or something to get closer to the sound? What gauge of strings?

Actually, that was like 3 questions...Anyway, next question: I'm sort of tired of "settling" for gear because I don't have the cash. In light of that, and the fact that I got a new job, can any of you recommend an amp that will work for my purposes? Money is really not an issue (can't spend it till you've got it), but if you could recommend "tiers" of head/speaker combos at different price levels, I'd appreciate it.

The release of 10,000 days has really done a lot to motivate me to continue to play, and I'm telling you man, that amp has got to go. I'd post a picture of it just to let you guys make fun of it, and maybe I will if I get a camera handy or something. Anyway, I know you guys read lots of posts like this, but I won't bother you about this stuff once I get a better idea of what to look for.

Thanks in advance,
Matt

first a little tip. use the search engine on this forum. theres a lot of info on peoples opinions and experiences with guitars/amps/other gear, by doings this you will save yourself a lot of flaming. but anyways.

schecters have never been my favorite gutiars but its not utter crap so until you've played a little more extensivly and really know what tones/necks you like that guitar should be just fine. and yes you can change the pick ups in any guitar so if you like the dimebucker thatll be fine. but anything will still sound liek crap through a practice amp. as for string gauge 10s are kinda the standard if you play in standard tuning but again is personal preferance and if you tune lower you will need a higher gauge so the strings arent all floppy. and if you like Tools tone you should find out what gear they use and try those brands out for yourself. thats always the best way. just go to a guitar store and try things, different combinations of guitar/amps etc.

thanks grim. I'll look around a little more, but I didn't see a lot of stuff specific to Tool's sound. There's a ton of stuff on much, much heavier sounding setups though, and gj to you guys on that.

I would advise against that. You can get all the gear your idol has, but it won't make you sound like him, not even with the same settings.

Hmm, you might want to get a reeaally clean amp, like a Fender, and use lots of effects pedals for a Tool sound

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haha yea i should have added that in. and as for the pedals you could always look in to a gt8. they tend to have a slight learning curve to get good tone and you would still need a better amp but you can get lots of different tones/effects that way. i persanlly prefer a good rack over a pedal but thats a lot of money away from a gt8 and you would still need something for effects.

Ok. I found this:
http://guitargeek.com/rigview/593/
Would you still say pedals and effects are the right way to go? It looks like Adam's not using a lot in the way of effects pedals and whatnot, and I've read somewhere that he really doesn't like to use them that much...

Also, as far as I can tell, his riffs aren't all that technical, relatively speaking. Nothing like the offerings of some other players (Dime).

al id like to add...

its hard to egt a sound some band has on a cd, cuz they recorded that stuff in a studio, with plenty of unpayable gear effects, its most likely mixed after recording equelized etc, in other words, nearly impossible to sound just like it.

maybe u should try lookign for some pics of them playing live, ans see what amps they play, or dgo to a show of em and see what amps they use, that way youll atleast be close to what they sound like... i think

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Yeah, Tool use a LOT of crazy fucked up effects at times. Im sure its mentioned somewhere what gear Adam uses, i know he uses Les Pauls.

Go Tool, but 10,000 days just sucked...

http://www.sweetwater.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10481
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Jones
http://guitargeek.com/rigview/593/

There ya go, the guitargeek site has a pretty detailed diagram of his gear.

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The VH-4 is where he gets most of his tone from what I know, and that amp is 4000$. As for the guitar, it's an awesome choice for beginners, I still play on mine, mainly metal core drop D type shit, but it's still a joy to play on nonetheless. As far as amps go, I'd reccommed a line6 flextone II Combo if you don't want a halfstack, or if you want to go rack, a pod pro and carvin DCM1000 into a Marshall 1960 4x12. Thats really good and not too expensive setup, compared to some things you could get.

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Hey, thanks innards. I kinda feel the same about the Schecter. Not the best in the world, but I've been playing it for a while and I think it can handle everything I can throw at it. And I'll definitely check out your recs for amps. I appreciate your help.

Any time man. The main thing is that you enjoy playing guitar, or else theres really no reason to do it.

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why the hell does he need 3 amps, especially since he has one that'll do all three?

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Makes sense to me. The recto and VH-4 sound completely different, and he's in a very popular band, so I'm sure he can afford it.

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