Laid to Rest
Lamb of God
A tight, fast riff on the low strings with a hard, accurate attack.
What is the Laid to Rest guitar tone?
The Laid to Rest guitar tone is a tight, fast riff on the low strings with a hard, accurate attack, heard on Lamb of God's 2000s groove metal recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Lamb of God reportedly tracked it with a Mesa/Boogie Mark IV, the head Mark Morton told Guitar Center he bought used at a music store in Richmond, Virginia, in 1994 and used for a long time, even into Lamb of God, saying he learned straight away that with all its gain and its five-band EQ he did not need any pedals, and that for a lot of years a Mark IV would always sneak its way back into his rack, though no source read here places it on this take; Guitar.com's archived diagram of his 2005 rig, from the year after the album, shows two Mark IV heads into Mesa Rectifier 4x12 cabinets loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s, a Jackson Custom Shop prototype of his signature model as the main guitar beside a Jackson Swee-Tone archtop and two Jackson RR5 Rhoads, all four with a Seymour Duncan Invader at the bridge and a Jazz at the neck, GHS Boomers from .010 to .046 and double drop D tuning, D A D G B D; Morton says the Mark IV's gain is very tight and saturates in a way that suits fast playing on the lower-register strings, where the distortion has to solidify very quickly and be very accurate, and that finding the right mid EQ on it, with the way it saturates, made the perfect storm for his riffing; he has said publicly all along that he was dissatisfied with the guitar tones on Ashes of the Wake, and he told Decibel in 2024 that the album sounded very mid-2000s to him, while he was much happier with the guitar sounds on Sacrament, the next record the band made with the same producer, Gene Freeman, known as Machine; the album's songs mostly began as riffs that Morton and Willie Adler wrote and brought to the band as demos, Laid to Rest came out as its first single on 14 August 2004 with a music video, and a pre-production demo of the song was on the first pressing's bonus disc. Morton's own account is a Mesa/Boogie Mark IV with very tight gain that saturates fast, and a tone he calls more mid-oriented than a lot of modern metal bands, so the deep mid scoop this style usually starts from is the first thing to move.
You do not need that exact gear to land in the same place. What carries this sound is the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup choice and the order of the effects, and all four can be rebuilt on equipment that costs a fraction of the original. The numbers change from amp to amp, because a high-gain head and a small practice amp reach the same voicing from different knob positions. That translation is what Tonelify works out for the rig you actually own.
Laid to Rest amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 8, Bass 6, Middle 2, Treble 8, Presence 7, Reverb 1, with the bridge pickup.
- Gain 8
- Bass 6
- Middle 2
- Treble 8
- Presence 7
- Reverb 1
- Signal chain
- Amp distortion; Morton says the Mark IV needed no pedals
- The control that matters most
- Middle, then tightness. Morton says his Lamb of God tone is more mid-oriented than a lot of modern metal bands, so raise the middle well above the scooped value here, keep the gain short of full saturation, and tighten the bass until fast riffs on the low strings stay distinct; he says the distortion has to solidify very quickly and be very accurate.
These positions are free and they are a starting point. A Katana, a Spark and a valve head reach this voicing from different knob positions, so Tonelify rewrites every value above for the amp and guitar you own. A first plan starts with 7 days free, $0 today.
Adapt these to my amp- Pickup
- Bridge pickup
These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. If you tell Tonelify which amp you own, it rewrites every value above for the controls that amp actually has.
Does the Laid to Rest tone sound off on your amp?
Pick what you hear. You get the knobs to turn from the starting point above, and how far.
What gear did Lamb of God use on Laid to Rest?
A Mesa/Boogie Mark IV, the head Mark Morton told Guitar Center he bought used at a music store in Richmond, Virginia, in 1994 and used for a long time, even into Lamb of God, saying he learned straight away that with all its gain and its five-band EQ he did not need any pedals, and that for a lot of years a Mark IV would always sneak its way back into his rack, though no source read here places it on this take; Guitar.com's archived diagram of his 2005 rig, from the year after the album, shows two Mark IV heads into Mesa Rectifier 4x12 cabinets loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s, a Jackson Custom Shop prototype of his signature model as the main guitar beside a Jackson Swee-Tone archtop and two Jackson RR5 Rhoads, all four with a Seymour Duncan Invader at the bridge and a Jazz at the neck, GHS Boomers from .010 to .046 and double drop D tuning, D A D G B D; Morton says the Mark IV's gain is very tight and saturates in a way that suits fast playing on the lower-register strings, where the distortion has to solidify very quickly and be very accurate, and that finding the right mid EQ on it, with the way it saturates, made the perfect storm for his riffing; he has said publicly all along that he was dissatisfied with the guitar tones on Ashes of the Wake, and he told Decibel in 2024 that the album sounded very mid-2000s to him, while he was much happier with the guitar sounds on Sacrament, the next record the band made with the same producer, Gene Freeman, known as Machine; the album's songs mostly began as riffs that Morton and Willie Adler wrote and brought to the band as demos, Laid to Rest came out as its first single on 14 August 2004 with a music video, and a pre-production demo of the song was on the first pressing's bonus disc.
Sources: Guitar Center: Mark Morton on aggro mids, tight gain and Mesa/Boogie, Guitar.com: Mark Morton's 2005 rig, from the archives, Decibel: Mark Morton reflects on 20 years of Ashes of the Wake, Wikipedia: Ashes of the Wake
Tonelify's tone matcher reads that chain and translates it to the amp and guitar you already own, returning gain, bass, mids, treble and presence values along with a pickup position.
How do you get the Laid to Rest tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Laid to Rest
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Laid to Rest tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Laid to Rest?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 8, Bass 6, Middle 2, Treble 8, Presence 7, Reverb 1, with the bridge pickup. These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. Tonelify rewrites the same values for the specific amp and guitar you own, because a high-gain head and a small solid-state combo reach the same tight, fast riff on the low strings with a hard, accurate attack from different positions.
What amp did Mark Morton and Willie Adler use on Laid to Rest?
Amp: Mesa/Boogie Mark IV, Morton's amp of the era (not placed on this song). Guitar: Not documented for this song; Morton's 2005 rig was Jackson guitars. Sources: Guitar Center, Guitar.com, Decibel and Wikipedia.
What were Mark Morton and Willie Adler's amp settings on Laid to Rest?
None of the sources cited on this page gives Mark Morton and Willie Adler's full amp settings on Laid to Rest. The numbers here are a starting point for that kind of part, not the settings from the session, and Tonelify rewrites them for the amp and guitar you own.
How do you get Mark Morton and Willie Adler's tone on Laid to Rest?
Middle, then tightness. Morton says his Lamb of God tone is more mid-oriented than a lot of modern metal bands, so raise the middle well above the scooped value here, keep the gain short of full saturation, and tighten the bass until fast riffs on the low strings stay distinct; he says the distortion has to solidify very quickly and be very accurate. Play it with the bridge pickup.
Can you get the Laid to Rest tone without the original gear?
Yes. The parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order, and those translate to other equipment. Tonelify's adaptation step works them out for the amp and guitar you own.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
A match for your own gear takes a plan, and a first plan starts with 7 days free with nothing charged that day: Stage is $6.99 a month for 20 matches, Headliner is $10.99 a month for unlimited matching within a fair use limit of 150 new matches a day, and yearly billing works out cheaper on both. Reading this page and the rest of the library costs nothing and needs no account.
