Nail the ToneSystem of a Down

Toxicity

System of a Down · Toxicity · 2001

The main riff is a drop C power-chord figure cut at Cello Studios in Hollywood through two amps at once — a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier for cut and articulation, blended with a Marshall for weight and body. There are no dirt pedals in the chain; the engineer says Malakian doesn't like playing through effects, so all the gain is amp gain, with mics and an 1176 doing the tightening. Chase a mid-forward, bright, dry crunch rather than a scooped modern metal tone, and keep the bass down so the palm mutes stay punchy instead of boomy.

Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record

Tuning

Drop C (C G C F A D)

Malakian wrote most of the album in drop C, and both the clean intro figure and the heavy main riff sit in that tuning; heavy rhythm parts were double-tracked, so a second pass panned opposite gets you closer to the record.

Part: Riff

Guitar

  • Gibson Les Paul (black) · stock humbuckers · bridge pickup
  • Ibanez Iceman IC300 · stock humbuckers · bridge pickup

Amp

Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier Solo Head

GAIN
7.5
BASS
3.5
MID
5.0
TREBLE
6.5
PRESENCE
6.0

Malakian named a Triple Rectifier as his studio and live amp for these sessions in a January 2002 Guitar Player interview; engineer Dave Schiffman said the Mesa supplied "the teeth" and it was blended with a Marshall, each cab miked with an SM57 and a U87 into blackface 1176s.

Amp

Marshall Super Lead 100 (1959SLP)

GAIN
8.0
BASS
4.0
MID
7.0
TREBLE
6.5
PRESENCE
6.0

Schiffman confirms a Marshall head and cab blended with the Mesa for body, but names no model; the Super Lead comes from studio photos of the sessions, while forum accounts and some gear guides claim a JCM800 instead, and a mid-gain Marshall of either type does the job.

Tone character

tight, dry high gain · forward mids · bright pick attack · controlled low end · hard palm-muted chug

easy

Two-finger power chords low on the neck, but the riff lives or dies on tight palm muting and on holding the 6/4 grouping against the drums as it flips into the three-beat hemiola pattern.

Want this on your own amp?

These are the record's settings. Tell us what you play through and we'll translate every knob to the amp you actually own — free.

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Sources