🎸 Alternative Rock · 2000s

Cochise (Riff · Distorted) — Guitar Tone

by Audioslave · riff

The Cochise by Audioslave guitar tone is built on a Marshall JCM800 2205, dialed in at gain 8.5/10, bass 8, mid 8, treble 7, presence 7 (community-researched baseline). Full breakdown below — then adapt every knob to your exact guitar and amp, free.

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Amp settings (0–10)

8.5
GAIN
8
BASS
8
MID
7
TREBLE
7
PRESENCE
2
REVERB

Community-researched baseline. Your rig is different — GuitarToneAdapt re-dials every knob for your specific guitar, amp and pickups.

Original gear

Amp: Marshall JCM800 2205 (50W, overdrive channel) into a Peavey 4x12

Pickups

bridge humbucker (Seymour Duncan Hot Rails)

Effects / signal chain

distortion, delay, pitch-shifter

Tone character

thick mid-forward gain, Marshall chime, expressive, effects-driven

Recording context

studio

How it’s played

thick, mid-forward JCM800 high-gain distortion. This shapes how hard the amp is pushed and where the EQ sits for the Cochise sound.

What makes the Cochise part tricky

Whammy technique, kill-switch rhythms, expressive bends. GuitarToneAdapt gets the tone right so you can focus on the playing.

Note: Cochise opens with that helicopter sound — a Boss delay set to fast slapback with high feedback. Then a thick, mid-forward JCM800 riff. Crank the gain and bass/mids., Tom Morello kept the same rig from Rage Against the Machine into Audioslave: a 50-watt Marshall JCM800 2205 (overdrive channel only) into a Peavey 4x12. His long-standing settings are roughly Presence 7, Bass high, Middle high, Treble 7, Gain ~9 — a thick, mid-forward high-gain with Marshall chime. (Sources vary between bass/mid maxed and bass/mid ~4 with treble up; the maxed version is the most-cited.), The signature moves are effects: a DigiTech Whammy (the Like a Stone solo, plus Cochise / Revelations) and a Boss DD-2/DD-3 delay set to a fast slapback with high feedback (the helicopter intro of Cochise). Guitars are his 'Soul Power' (Seymour Duncan Hot Rails, kill switch) and 'Arm the Homeless'., Settings are community-researched starting points, not official recall sheets — a Whammy and a slapback delay get you most of the way to the signature parts.

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Settings are community-researched estimates, not official. GuitarToneAdapt adapts them to your gear. guitartoneadapt.com