Nail the ToneLamb of God

Redneck

Lamb of God · Sacrament · 2006

Mark Morton wrote and played both rhythm tracks on "Redneck" — hard left and hard right — at Sound of Music in Richmond, cutting direct through Line 6 Amp Farm and reamping through a Mesa/Boogie Mark IV, with a Mesa Stiletto, an Orange and a SansAmp also in the album's reamp pool. Guitars were his Jackson Swee-Tone, the prototype of his Jackson Dominion signature with Seymour Duncan '59s, and a beat-up 1975 Les Paul Goldtop, all on the bridge pickup. Aim for Drop D, a bridge humbucker, and less gain than you think you need: the punch comes from tight low mids and clean note separation, not from piling on dirt.

Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record

Tuning

Drop D

Record sits at concert pitch in D minor, so a straight Drop D works; both rhythm tracks on this song are Mark Morton doubling himself hard left and hard right, so pan one take of your own to each side if you're multitracking.

Part: Riff

Guitar

  • Jackson Swee-Tone · humbucker · bridge pickup
  • Jackson Dominion (Mark Morton signature prototype) · Seymour Duncan '59 · bridge pickup
  • Gibson Les Paul Goldtop (1975) · humbucker · bridge pickup

Amp

Mesa/Boogie Mark IV

GAIN
6.5
BASS
2.5
MID
5.5
TREBLE
7.0
PRESENCE
4.0
REVERB
0.0

Lead channel with the 5-band graphic EQ engaged in a shallow V (80Hz up, 750Hz slightly down, 2200Hz and 6600Hz up); keep bass low on the amp and let the cab do the low end. Guitars were tracked direct through Line 6 Amp Farm at Sound of Music in Richmond and then reamped, so the printed tone is a reamp, not a live mic'd take — Morton's stated rule is to use as little gain as you can get away with for note clarity.

Amp

Mesa/Boogie Stiletto

GAIN
6.0
BASS
3.0
MID
5.0
TREBLE
6.5
PRESENCE
5.0
REVERB
0.0

Guitar World's Sacrament session feature names a Mesa/Boogie Stiletto, an Orange head and a SansAmp alongside the Mark IV in the reamp chain; which combination landed on 'Redneck' specifically is not documented, so blend a second, slightly darker amp voice under the Mark IV if you're layering.

Pedals

  • Line 6 Amp Farm · amp modeling plug-in (tracking/reamp front end) · Documented as the tracking tone for Sacrament guitars before reamping; no patch details published.
  • Noise gate (e.g. ISP Decimator or Boss NS-2) · noise gate · Not documented for the session — inferred. Threshold just high enough to kill hiss between the staccato chugs without clipping the tails.

Tone character

tight palm-muted chug · modern high-gain crunch · controlled gain, clear notes · punchy low mids · bright pick attack · dry, no ambience

medium

The riff itself is one string of low-D pentatonic figures, but it lives or dies on right-hand accuracy: tight palm mutes, a clean 3rd-fret pull-off to the open D, and the syncopated 3-1-0 / 5-6 answers landing dead on the grid at 130 bpm.

Want this on your own amp?

These are the record's settings. Tell us what you play through and we'll translate every knob to the amp you actually own — free.

Adapt it to my gear

Sources