The clean signal was pretty easy to create. We simply added the Bass Pro amp and used the EQ controls to reduce the bass frequencies and boost the mids. For the distorted channel, we used another instance of Bass Pro, but with a distortion effect before the amp. Commerford has used all manner of distortion effects throughout his career. Fortunately, Guitar Rig 7 has over 20 characterful drive and distortion components so it wasn’t hard to find the right one for the task.
In this case the Distortion component did the trick. This models the sound of a well-known distortion pedal that has been used on stages and in studios for decades. This effect on its own wasn’t quite aggressive enough, so we added an EQ before it to further boost the high frequencies. Using the Solid EQ component, we boosted the high-mid (red) band by +12 dB at about 2 kHz to bring out the bass’s attack.
With our clean and distorted signals ready, we used the Crossfade control in the Split Mix component to balance the two. The aim was to get an even blend of power from the clean channel and aggression from the distorted channel. We found about 60% distorted and 40% clean did the trick. Finally, some compression from Solid Dynamics at the end of the chain helped even out the sound.