Toxicity guitar tone
System Of A Down · Daron Malakian
Toxicity (American/Columbia, 2001) - produced by Rick Rubin, recorded at Cello Studios, Hollywood
aggressive drop-C high-gain rhythm, gated and close-miked, with almost no ambience
The rig System Of A Down used
Researched from interviews, production write-ups and gear histories — not guessed.
Guitar
Ibanez Iceman, tuned drop C (C-G-C-F-A-D)
Amplifier
Marshall JCM800 2203
Cabinet
Marshall 1960A 4x12 (Celestion Vintage 30)
Microphone
Shure SM57
Signal chain
The order the original sound was built in. The exact settings get dialled for your own amp or modeller when you generate the tone.
Get this tone on your rig
Pick your amp or modeller and we’ll build Toxicity for it — with a preset file you can load, not a list of knob positions.
Why we think this is right
The title track of Toxicity (2001): a drop-C Ibanez Iceman into a JCM800 through a Vintage 30 4x12, recorded close and almost completely dry by Rick Rubin at Cello Studios. The stored record had the right five blocks but NO sections at all, no control values anywhere and a stray prose mention of a pedal the chain did not contain - which is the graded missing_gear fault. WHAT CHANGED: (1) five sections written from the arrangement, each bound to the amp with absolute knob positions; (2) controls with units and declared ranges on the guitar, the gate, the amp and the microphone; (3) the gate bound honestly - engaged for the four driven sections, bypassed for the quiet bridge; (4) that claim resolved as a negative finding rather than left dangling: there is no wah on this track and none is written into the chain; (5) the quiet bridge explained as the same head with the guitar volume rolled back, so the mapping stage does not invent a second amplifier for it. KEPT: all five stored blocks with their gear names unchanged.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicity_(album)
- https://www.premierguitar.com/videos/rig-rundown-system-of-a-down-daron-malakian
- https://www.ibanez.com/usa/products/series?series_id=27
- https://www.guitarworld.com/features/system-of-a-down-toxicity-20-years
- https://equipboard.com/pros/daron-malakian