Get a Korn Style Rhythm Tone with Cab Rig
Get the Patch Here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8rt6yvineoq17hv/KORN%20TONE.cabrig?dl=0
Korn are a staple in the Nu-Metal community. For almost 30 years their drop tuned 7 string riffs have been the soundtrack to many peoples lives. In this lesson we’re doing to dig into their rhythm guitar sound and using the St James 6L6 and Cab Rig, dial in some crushing Korn style rhythm tones.
Throughout their career, they have been consistent with their guitar tones. They overall basis of the rhythm tone has not changed drastically. In the early days it was rawer and these days it is more polished, but the underlying idea is the same.
To nail the Korn tone, you’ll need a high gain amp and a 7 string guitar. In the video I am also using an option Ibanez TS9 Tubescreamer to tighten up the low end slightly.
The guitar will be tuned a full step down, low to high, A D G C F A D
Amp Settings
The Korn rhythm tone comes from high gain, American voiced amps. To get the tone you hear in the video the amp is set as follows:
- Gain – 8
- Volume – 5
- Bass – 8
- Mid – 4
- Treble – 8
- Reverb – 2
This is a very high gain sound and the mids are scooped with the lows and highs pushed up. This tone will get you in the ballpark to achieve a Korn style tone.
If you want to tighten up the low end even further, which is a useful thing to do for the Low A string, you can use a Tubescreamer pedal, or similar. Set the gain to zero and the volume to max with the tone to taste and this will shave off some of the excess lows and make it sound and feel tighter. This is a common trick for getting tight metal tones.
Cab Rig Settings
All the cab and room tones in the video are coming from cab rig. There are 2 cabs running in this video:
Cab 1 – 4×12 Modern USA
This cab is a very tight, modern sounding cab, similar to the ones you’d expect to see Korn use live. The cab is mic’d with the SM57 option as this is great for getting a focused, tight tone.
On this cab the EQ is set fairly flat with a slight cut of the mids and bump of the lows:
Cab 2 – 4×12 Modern UK Ceramic
This cab is based on a modern sounding British cab, which compliments the American cab nicely. It has a very full low end which is great for handling the low tuned riffs. This cab is also using the SM57 mic:
EQ wise, this channel has a more extreme EQ setup. The mids are heavily scooped out and the lows and highs boosted.
Lo and Hi Cuts
Across both cabs you’ notice lo-cut and hi-cut being used to trim the extreme lows and highs of the signal. This helps just keep the low notes in check so that they don’t boom too much. This is especially important if you’re recording low tuned guitars.
Room Sound
The Korn rhythm sound is tight and focused. It doesn’t need much reverb or space added. Korn tend to keep the reverb and ambient tones for their cleaner sounds. To get some natural room sound on this tone, use the Medium room and blend it in low so that it’s just audible under the riffs.
Master EQ
The master EQ section does not have anything too extreme happening because all the main processing has been done on the individual cabs. This is fairly flat with a slight top end boost for extra clarity.
