🎸 Sludge Metal · 1990s

Graveflower (Riff · Distorted) — Guitar Tone

by Acid Bath · riff

The Graveflower by Acid Bath guitar tone is built on a Marshall JCM900 Dual Reverb 100W OR Randall head, dialed in at gain 7/10, bass 6, mid 5, treble 5.5, presence 5 (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)

7
GAIN
6
BASS
5
MID
5.5
TREBLE
5
PRESENCE
1.5
REVERB

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

Original gear

Amp: Marshall JCM900 Dual Reverb 100W OR Randall head (era sources conflict)

Pickups

bridge humbucker (EMG 81, active)

Effects / signal chain

distortion, wah

Tone character

thick sludge crunch, fat low-mids, saturated, doom-y

Recording context

studio

How it’s played

thick sludgy crunch distortion. This shapes how hard the amp is pushed and where the EQ sits for the Graveflower sound.

What makes the Graveflower part tricky

heavy down-picking, doom-y feel & dynamics. GuitarToneAdapt gets the tone right so you can focus on the playing.

Note: Graveflower is heavy and groove-driven — keep the low-mids fat and the gain saturated but not so much that the chug loses definition., Acid Bath are an underground 90s NOLA sludge-metal band, so the gear is only partly documented and these settings are lower-confidence estimates — clearly a STARTING POINT, not a recall sheet. What is known: Sammy Duet played an Ibanez Rocket Roll II with an EMG 81 in the bridge; the amp during the When the Kite String Pops era is reported as either a Marshall JCM900 Dual Reverb 100W or a Randall head (sources conflict), and a Morley wah was used. Mike Sanchez's exact rig is undocumented., The sound is a thick, crunchy, sludgy crunch — high but not super-tight gain, fat low-mids, not scooped. Aim for a saturated JCM900/Randall-style crunch with the EMG 81's tight high-output; dial bass and gain to taste for the doom-y weight., Estimates are community-researched; verify by ear against the recording.

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Sources

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