Tom Morello's Guitar Rig

From the last 30 years, we can’t think of many guitar players as influential, inventive and original as Tom Morello. His style is instantly recognisable — blending powerful pentatonic-based riffs with percussive killswitch and DJ scratch effects, wild modulation, and squealing whammy-drenched solos.

Do you want to know how to sound like Tom Morello? Of course you do, that's why you’re here! And it’s actually not as hard as you might think. That’s because the Rage Against The Machine and former Audioslave guitarist’s rig has largely remained the same for the last three decades — using equipment that’s very easy to get your hands on. We’ve compiled all of that essential Tom Morello signature guitar gear on this page, along with similar products that can get you pretty close to achieving his unique tones!

Tom Morello’s Guitars

Tom Morello has a few staple electric guitars that he’s used for thousands of gigs over the years. His custom “Arm The Homeless” Super-Strat is perhaps the most famous; boasting a distinctive light blue body adorned with hand-painted cartoon hippos, a graphite neck, an Ibanez locking tremolo and an EMG pickup pairing. Most dual-humbucker, Floyd Rose-equipped guitars — particularly those with a killswitch installed, or that have two volume controls which allow you to turn one pickup down and employ the toggle switch to create the same Tom Morello killswitch effect — can emulate the iconic “Arm The Homeless” guitar.

Another guitar synonymous with Tom is his ‘82 “Sendero Luminoso” Fender Standard Telecaster, which he’s used extensively on-stage and in the studio since RATM’s debut record. He recorded “Killing In The Name” and other hits with it! And of course, there’s also the stealthy “Soul Power” Stratocaster which Tom started using during his tenure in Audioslave. The Fender Tom Morello Stratocaster is a signature model based off of this Strat, with similar specs to the original — including a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails bridge pickup, a mirror scratchplate, and a Floyd Rose tremolo!

Tom Morello’s Amps

The Marshall JCM800 is the Tom Morello amp. It’s all he’s used professionally for the last 30 years or so, paired with a powerful Peavey 4x12” speaker cab! That punchy Tom Morello tone is pretty much all generated by this simple yet potent amplifier and cab pairing. Want that signature amp setup in a box? Try the MXR Tom Morello Power 50 overdrive pedal!

Tom Morello’s Pedals

What pedals does Tom Morello use? Well, he relies on a small and trusty selection of stompboxes to create some of the weird and wonderful effects that make his style so unmistakable. Running everything through his JCM800’s effects loop, the Tom Morello pedalboard features a Jim Dunlop Cry Baby wah, Digitech Whammy pitch-shifter, Boss DD-2 digital delay, MXR Phase 90, DOD Equaliser, and a Boss tuner. Oh, and occasionally a Boss TR-2 tremolo. That’s about it when it comes to Tom Morello guitar pedals!