Them Bones
A two-and-a-half-minute chromatic riff in 7/8 that slams into a 4/4 chorus.
What is the Them Bones guitar tone?
The Them Bones guitar tone is a two-and-a-half-minute chromatic riff in 7/8 that slams into a 4/4 chorus, heard on Alice in Chains' 1990s grunge recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Alice in Chains reportedly tracked it with Jerry Cantrell's G&L Rampage, the single-pickup 'Blue Dress' guitar he bought in Dallas in 1985 and says is on 98.9 percent of everything he has recorded, through producer Dave Jerden's rhythm setup for Dirt: a Lucas Deceiver splitter feeding three amps at once, a Bogner Fish preamp into a VHT power amp and a Marshall cabinet with Vox Bulldog speakers for the lows, a Bogner Ecstasy for the mids and a Rockman pocket amp recorded direct for the highs, the two amps miked with Shure SM57s and each of the three tracks doubled and panned left and right, six tracks in all; Jerden says Reinhold Bogner modified the Fish and the Ecstasy to sound as brown as possible, that every guitar was compressed with Summit compressors and recorded flat with no EQ, and that the leads went through his own 1988 Marshall Super Lead, modified by Mike Moran with an extra preamp stage; that is Jerden's account of the album as a whole rather than of this song; the riff is chromatic and in 7/8 apart from the chorus, which is in 4/4, Cantrell called it a great off-time song and wrote it about mortality, and the band recorded Dirt from April to July 1992 at Eldorado in Burbank, London Bridge in Seattle and One on One in Los Angeles, starting as the Los Angeles riots broke out; the song opens the album and went to US radio as its second single on 14 September 1992. The point here is a raw, barely controlled tone, so cleaning it up too much moves it away from the record rather than towards it.
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.
Them Bones amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 6, Bass 6, Middle 4, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 2, with the bridge pickup.
- Gain 6
- Bass 6
- Middle 4
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 2
- Signal chain
- Lucas Deceiver splitter into three amps → Bogner Fish preamp and VHT power amp, Bogner Ecstasy, Rockman direct → Summit compressors (studio)
- The control that matters most
- Low end and blend. On Dirt, Jerden built the rhythm sound from three amps at once, one for the lows, one for the mids and a Rockman for the highs, so on a single amp keep the bass full and the treble smooth rather than fizzy, with moderate gain. The 7/8 riff needs tight, even picking more than saturation, and the record's thickness comes from doubled tracks.
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. Your first match is free with an account, and needs no card.
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.
What gear did Alice in Chains use on Them Bones?
Jerry Cantrell's G&L Rampage, the single-pickup 'Blue Dress' guitar he bought in Dallas in 1985 and says is on 98.9 percent of everything he has recorded, through producer Dave Jerden's rhythm setup for Dirt: a Lucas Deceiver splitter feeding three amps at once, a Bogner Fish preamp into a VHT power amp and a Marshall cabinet with Vox Bulldog speakers for the lows, a Bogner Ecstasy for the mids and a Rockman pocket amp recorded direct for the highs, the two amps miked with Shure SM57s and each of the three tracks doubled and panned left and right, six tracks in all; Jerden says Reinhold Bogner modified the Fish and the Ecstasy to sound as brown as possible, that every guitar was compressed with Summit compressors and recorded flat with no EQ, and that the leads went through his own 1988 Marshall Super Lead, modified by Mike Moran with an extra preamp stage; that is Jerden's account of the album as a whole rather than of this song; the riff is chromatic and in 7/8 apart from the chorus, which is in 4/4, Cantrell called it a great off-time song and wrote it about mortality, and the band recorded Dirt from April to July 1992 at Eldorado in Burbank, London Bridge in Seattle and One on One in Los Angeles, starting as the Los Angeles riots broke out; the song opens the album and went to US radio as its second single on 14 September 1992.
Sources: Guitar.com: the gear Jerry Cantrell used on Alice in Chains' Dirt, Wikipedia: Them Bones, Wikipedia: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)
Tonelify 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 Them Bones tone on your own amp?
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Them Bones tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Them Bones?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 6, Bass 6, Middle 4, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 2, 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 two-and-a-half-minute chromatic riff in 7/8 that slams into a 4/4 chorus from different positions.
What is the most important control for the Them Bones tone?
Low end and blend. On Dirt, Jerden built the rhythm sound from three amps at once, one for the lows, one for the mids and a Rockman for the highs, so on a single amp keep the bass full and the treble smooth rather than fizzy, with moderate gain. The 7/8 riff needs tight, even picking more than saturation, and the record's thickness comes from doubled tracks.
Can you get the Them Bones tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with Jerry Cantrell's G&L Rampage, the single-pickup 'Blue Dress' guitar he bought in Dallas in 1985 and says is on 98.9 percent of everything he has recorded, through producer Dave Jerden's rhythm setup for Dirt: a Lucas Deceiver splitter feeding three amps at once, a Bogner Fish preamp into a VHT power amp and a Marshall cabinet with Vox Bulldog speakers for the lows, a Bogner Ecstasy for the mids and a Rockman pocket amp recorded direct for the highs, the two amps miked with Shure SM57s and each of the three tracks doubled and panned left and right, six tracks in all; Jerden says Reinhold Bogner modified the Fish and the Ecstasy to sound as brown as possible, that every guitar was compressed with Summit compressors and recorded flat with no EQ, and that the leads went through his own 1988 Marshall Super Lead, modified by Mike Moran with an extra preamp stage; that is Jerden's account of the album as a whole rather than of this song; the riff is chromatic and in 7/8 apart from the chorus, which is in 4/4, Cantrell called it a great off-time song and wrote it about mortality, and the band recorded Dirt from April to July 1992 at Eldorado in Burbank, London Bridge in Seattle and One on One in Los Angeles, starting as the Los Angeles riots broke out; the song opens the album and went to US radio as its second single on 14 September 1992, but the parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order. Those translate to other equipment, which is what the adaptation step does.
Is Them Bones a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a riff part with a distorted character, from Alice in Chains' 1990s grunge catalogue.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
Your first match for your own gear is free with an account, and needs no card. After that both plans start with a 7-day free trial: 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.
