Deftones Amp Settings & Guitar Tone
Deftones carved their own lane between nu-metal and shoegaze. Stephen Carpenter's ADA MP-1 preamp delivers crushing heaviness that breathes and swirls with atmospheric texture — heavy music you can lose yourself in.
Signature Sound
Carpenter's tone is thick and fuzzy rather than tight and precise. His ADA MP-1 preamp provides saturated distortion with a loose, textural quality. Unlike the clinical tightness of other heavy bands, Deftones' guitar sound breathes and has movement. Clean passages use reverb and modulation for dreamy atmosphere. The contrast between delicate cleans and overwhelming heaviness is the core of their dynamic.
Featured Tone
Change (In the House of Flies) (2000)
ESP Custom Horizon (turquoise, same as ATF) / ESP SC-600 series → Marshall JMP-1 MIDI tube preamp + ADA MP-1 tube preamp into Marshall 9200 power amp
Haunting, spacious clean verse with shimmering delay and chorus—ethereal and fragile. Chorus builds into warmer, fuller driven territory. EMG 81's higher output and tighter response versus the passive JBs on ATF contributes to a more defined, modern sound. Key gear changes from ATF: pickups changed from passive SD JBs to active EMG 81s, tuning dropped to Drop C, added Marshall JMP-1 alongside ADA MP-1.
Typical Gear & Settings
Average Amp Settings
Amplifiers
- ADA MP-1 tube MIDI preamp into Marshall 9200 Dual MonoBlock valve power amp
- Marshall JMP-1 MIDI tube preamp + ADA MP-1 tube preamp into Marshall 9200 power amp
Guitars
- ESP Custom Horizon (turquoise, neck-through, alder body, maple neck, ebony fretboard)
- ESP Custom Horizon (turquoise, same as ATF)
- ESP SC-600 series
Pickups
- humbucker
- active humbucker
Effects & Pedals
multi-fx (in loop)
Rocktron Replifex Multi-FX (1 song)
chorus
Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble (or Rocktron Intellifex) (1 song)
delay
Boss DD-5 Digital Delay (or Rocktron unit) (1 song)
fuzz
Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz (1 song)
Deftones Song Tones
My Own Summer (Shove It) (1997)
ADA MP-1 tube MIDI preamp into Marshall 9200 Dual MonoBlock valve power amp
Change (In the House of Flies) (2000)
Marshall JMP-1 MIDI tube preamp + ADA MP-1 tube preamp into Marshall 9200 power amp
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