Rage's Guitar Sounds don't use Distortion

My interview with Garth Richardson about Rage Against the Machine's first album :)

[stevedunch]

“Clean”

“Well there was a little bit of overdrive”

[Samzee]

Morello does use less pre-amp gain than you'd think, but to say he used none is ridiculous.

[nonyobussiness]

We ran it just clean. We ran a tiny amount of overdrive. We ran overdrive. I hate guitarists

[tony_potsandpans]

So he did EQ and it had a tiny bit of overdrive on top... So the Marshalls were not "clean".

[Aaron-zhkj]

Debut RATM is a masterclass in why bass tone is so important and why subtlety with overdrive is so powerful in electric guitar tone. Overdriven/distorted bass guitar and very controlled overdrive in electric guitar is what makes the best, larger than life rock and metal sound.

[martinwesterstrand]

This blew my mind. But makes total sense, when you HEAR it.

[golach]

Thank you for your work with Rage, Garth. The soundtrack of my youth. 😊

[JamesKnightSmith]

Also a single coil on the guitar. Great sound from that guitar and that Peavey amp.

[steverolfeca]

Classic. So many amateurs make the mistake of overdoing it when trying to create heavy tones.

[TheSurfRyder]

The recording is so clean that it’s a go to track to tune audio systems to test for their weaknesses

[threepe]

“Those guitar sounds were clean” - anyone with ears 🤔 no

[Loooosszeeerrrr]

It doesn't matter. the energy, your soul, that's what matters!!!clean and loud 🔊🔊🔊🔊

[cuprum]

If you put the amp on max and it distorts you still using distortion must have been quit deafening to be with.

[metalheadblues]

Morello played so hard and loud his amps had no choice but to distort. That's badass!

[wukket]

Based on that explanation, it was in fact not clean 😂

[ryanlandes]

I played with a similar tone too.. I ran a Marshall JCM 800, 100 watt.. No pedals 99% if the time.. I did sometimes run a Crybaby for leads.. It was a monster tone, brutal, and very clean.

[tylerthompson]

That is such a common misconception with rock guitar in general is that most of the time they were just really fcking over driven amps

[macktheknife]

Yea he's def exaggerating a bit...

[jamieholmes]

What song/album are they talking about????

[swimpsmagbayao]

So they were clean but with a little bit of distortion