Tom Morello

Tom Morello is the guitarist of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, and a solo artist in his own right, known for a heavy, groove-driven sound built as much from effects and the switches on his guitar as from what he plays on the strings¹². Dunlop, his longtime gear partner, describes his approach in terms a player can picture: his creative use of technique, effects, and even the knobs and switches of his instrument have let him walk the line between guitar player, keyboard player, and DJ¹. Boss's own history writing puts it another way: Morello utilized radical pitch sweeps to produce wild pitch jumps and DJ-style effects³.

His rig is famously small. MusicRadar notes that he made room for a wah as the pride of place on a notably spartan pedalboard⁴, and the core of his tone is not a wall of pedals but an amp: a Marshall JCM800 2205 head through a Peavey 4x12 cabinet that he has used since 1988⁵. Morello says that setup has been on all 21 of his studio albums⁶⁷.

The sound Tom Morello is known for

Morello's sound rests on two elements he names himself: his amp-and-cab setup, and the effects he layers over it. Dunlop's artist page for him says those two key elements of his signature sound are the amp-and-cab setup, recreated in pedal form as the MXR Power 50 Overdrive, alongside his Cry Baby wah¹. The amp side is the foundation: for more than 30 years, the key component of his raw, hard-hitting sonic voice has been that amp setup¹³¹⁴.

The effects side is where his reputation for invention comes from. Guitar World counts the pitch shifter as a pedalboard staple under the boots of players from Tom Morello to Jonny Greenwood¹⁵, and Pedal of the Day groups him among the masters of the DigiTech Whammy series, part of his signature sound for decades¹⁶. Delicious Audio's octave-pedal guide places him alongside players who have used octave up and down devices to varied and powerful effect¹⁷. In Rage Against the Machine he paired the Whammy with amp distortion¹⁸, and Gearnews notes he used his wah to conjure up a host of effects for his riffs¹⁹.

His gear relationships have changed over time. MusicRadar reports that Morello declined gear endorsements for years, but has since taken on signature gear including a Fender 'Soul Power' Strat, a Dunlop Cry Baby wah, and the MXR TBM1 Power 50 overdrive⁵. Guitar World adds that the Power 50 followed the launch of the Fender 'Soul Power' Stratocaster and the Cry Baby wah¹². He also plays a trademark Arm the Homeless electric guitar⁷.

Beyond his own bands, Morello has appeared on other records with his pedals in tow. He recorded the song Heavy Lifting with Wayne Kramer for the last MC5 record using the MXR Jail Guitar Doors Drive, and he demoed that pedal for its release, showcasing its sound and shining light on Kramer's legacy²⁰²²¹.

The wah in Rage Against the Machine

The wah is the effect most tied to Morello's name in Rage Against the Machine. Dunlop says that as a member of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, and in his solo work, he has long harnessed the expressive power of the Cry Baby wah as an integral part of his sound²²²³. Gearnews points out that the number of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave tracks that use wah is huge²⁴.

The specific pedal is a standard Cry Baby. Dunlop's own buying guide calls it the exact pedal Tom has used on every album and every tour throughout his career⁸, and Guitar.com and GuitarPlayer both report Dunlop's claim that he has used it on every album and every tour through his career¹⁰²⁵. MusicRadar singles out what it does for his riffs: "It's what puts the renegade funk in tracks such as Bulls On Parade"²⁶. JHS Pedals' blog captures the pedal's reach in plainer terms, noting that any kid could go to their local guitar shop, buy one, and play Bulls On Parade just like Tom Morello²⁷.

In 2020 that long relationship became an official product: Dunlop announced a limited edition signature Cry Baby wah for Morello¹⁰²⁵. Premier Guitar reported the release of the Tom Morello Cry Baby wah alongside the MXR FOD Drive¹⁴⁷.

For a player chasing that part of his sound, the relevant pages here are wah-wah pedals and, for the drive side of his rig, overdrive pedals.

The Whammy two octaves up

The DigiTech Whammy is the other half of Morello's effects identity. MusicRadar describes the treadle, the rocking lever, as the defining feature of the Whammy, whether used for expressive garbling of notes like Tom Morello, sound effect-like squeals, or kicking a solo up a notch²⁸. He uses the original DigiTech WH-1 Whammy²⁹, and Guitar World reports he still prefers his WH-1⁹.

His most famous Whammy moment is the solo on Killing In the Name. Morello explained it himself:

Guitar World's history of the WH-1 credits his extensive use of the Whammy on his solos on the early Rage Against the Machine albums with probably selling more units than every other early adopter combined⁹. MusicRadar documents another Whammy application: his solo from Bulls On Parade is created entirely out of pick scratches, kill switch and Whammy, set to +2 oct, to spine-chilling effect, and the same setting appears on the Voice Of The Voiceless intro²⁸.

The two-octave-up lead style carried into Audioslave. In a demo video of the DigiTech Whammy 4, the presenter Rob of The Guitar Effect demonstrates what he calls that Tom Morello style lead where you use the pedal to bend up two octaves, playing the solo from Like a Stone to show what the pedal does, and noting there is nothing else that could really do that except for the Whammy³⁰.

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Players looking for this kind of effect today can compare models on the octave and pitch pedals page. MusicRadar's review of the DigiTech RP250 multi-effects notes that Tom Morello's Rage Against the Machine tones are on tap in that unit, with Whammy sounds among them³¹.

Pedals through the amp's effects loop

The most unusual part of Morello's setup, and the one that shaped his signature overdrive, is where his pedals sit in the chain. Guitar World reports that he runs all his effects pedals through the amp's effects loop¹². Delicious Audio adds that he places his wah there for a more aggressive edge, giving his signal chain a unique tonal twist⁶.

That habit is baked into his signature pedal. The MXR Tom Morello Power 50 Overdrive, his first signature overdrive with MXR⁵³², carries its own effects loop with SEND and RETURN jacks; the manual instructs users to run a cable from the TBM1's SEND jack to the input of the first pedal in the loop³². Guitar.com explains where the loop sits: it breaks out the pedal's signal path between the EQ and the volume and presence controls, so you can, as Morello does, put all of your other effects post-distortion¹¹. Guitar World notes MXR included this idiosyncrasy via the in-built effects loop, which runs before the Presence control and gives extra adjustment for the entire pedal chain at the output¹².

The pedal itself is a recreation of his amp rig. MusicRadar says it was designed to replicate the sound of his Marshall JCM800 2205 through a Peavey 4x12 in a pedal³³, and Guitar World says it distills the tone of that long-running rig⁷. Premier Guitar's reviewer describes it as ostensibly built for Marshall-in-a-box tones, delivering those sounds with a twist³⁴. Morello's own pitch for it:

In Guitar World's demo coverage, Morello used his trademark Arm the Homeless electric and an identical pedalboard for each setup, connected to the Power 50's onboard effects loop, which emulates the way he runs his effects through his Marshall, with results the writer calls uncanny⁷. MusicRadar's demo story frames the pedal as the first signature Morello drive pedal, built around the same setup he has used since 1988³⁵.

For players thinking about their own chain order, the practical takeaway from Morello's routing is simple: time-based and filter effects can sit after the distortion rather than in front of it, either in an amp's loop or, with the Power 50, in the pedal's own loop. Related pages: overdrive pedals, distortion pedals, and switching pedals.

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