STL Tones Tonality: Wes Borland

STL Tones bring the sound of Limp Bizkit’s unique guitarist to your DAW.

Nu‑metal gave us a different kind of ‘guitar hero’: monstrous down‑tuned riffs, lots of creative tones, fewer guitar solos. Whether you’re a fan of Limp Bizkit or not, Wes Borland was one guitarist leading that revolution, and he was as creative in his playing and his tones as in his larger‑than‑life stage persona. STL Tones now offer a taste of that tonal palette in Tonality: Wes Borland, the latest in their series of artist collaboration plug‑ins. As with previous titles, it emulates the artist’s total rig, including stompboxes, amps, cabinets and effects.

Take A Look Around

Tonality: Wes Borland can run as a standalone app or a DAW plug‑in (VST, AU or AAX formats). The GUI is logically laid out, with the various stages of the signal flow from input to output accessed using tabs at the bottom. In the gear‑focused sections, the graphics provide a cool representation of Wes Borland’s equipment choices, complete with some of his artwork on the cabs, and there are some unique combinations. For example, in the Stomp Boxes tab, you get modelled pedals inspired by the Electro‑Harmonix Mini Q‑Tron (an envelope filter that can create all sorts of auto‑wah sounds) and a Big Muff Pi fuzz. The post‑amp/cab Effects selection provides two different delays (based on Boss and Dunlop units) and an Ibanez chorus/flanger. It’s a compact selection but one that reflects the key pedals found on Borland’s live board.

The combination of the three modelled amps and six speaker cabinets also emulate the live rig, and the modelled Diezel VH4 is based on the amp that’s been the source of most of Limp Bizkit’s heavier guitar tones since the early 2000s. For cleaner sounds, such as used for some of the cleaner parts in ‘My Way’, the modelled Roland JC‑120 does the business. Sitting between these two, at least in terms of available gain, is a more unusual choice: Borland’s 1965 Selmer Zodiac amp, which provides some very cool edge‑of‑breakup sounds.

The cab selection features an impressive choice of mics, with the ability to mix and match between any two cabs with full control over the mic placement. If required, you can bypass the cab emulation completely and use an alternative cab sim in your DAW. The feature set also includes a gate, a tuner, MIDI support (to configure preset switching and some parameter automation options) and some mono/stereo routing choices. There’s also a neat Input Level Listener tool that can assist you in setting a suitable input signal level, to optimise gain staging into the modelled amp.

My Way Or Break Stuff?

The plug‑in includes a compact selection of presets, some created by STL Tones that cover more generic styles, and others designed by Wes Borland, which are perhaps more idiosyncratic to the man. There are some very cool sounds to be found here and, for those presets whose song inspiration is obvious from the title (for example, My Way 1 or Hot Dog Clean), if you can play the parts, the tones seem very faithful to the original.

The modelling really does sound very good, and I’d have no problems putting these sounds up against any of the other guitar amp sims I use.

But if you don’t want to do it exactly Wes’ way, the compact pedal selection and diverse amp/cab combinations let you break out of the Limp Bizkit mould. The modelling really does sound very good, and I’d have no problems putting these sounds up against any of the other guitar amp sims I use.

All that said, this is very much a signature guitar rig with a signature sound. If you’re a fan of the colourful, creative, aggressive — and sometimes downright weird! — tones Wes Borland manages to weave into Limp Bizkit’s music, you’ll love it. Beyond nu‑metal, though, the plug‑in can also be great for a range of more modern rock/metal guitar tones. If that appeals, download the free trial... and may your nu‑metal riffs keep Rollin’.