Justin Chancellor

Justin Chancellor
Justin Chancellor appearing with Tool at the Roskilde festival in 2006.
Background information
Origin	England
Genres	Progressive metal, progressive rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, Book and record store owner
Instrument(s)	Bass guitar

Justin Gunnar Walter Chancellor (born November 19, 1971) is an English musician formerly in the band Peach but best known as the bass player for Grammy Award-winning rock band Tool. Chancellor is of Norwegian and English descent. Since settling in the US, along with his engagement in his musical projects, he and his wife Shelee used to run a store called Lobal Orning in Topanga, California, dedicated to music, literature and film "that shaped and changed" both of them. The store closed in 2008. He started M.T.Void music project with Piotr "Glaca" Mohammed from Sweet Noise.

Early life

Chancellor was educated at Tonbridge School in Kent, England, where he was the bass player for a school band named Slice of Life and used to perform a cover version of Corey Hart's Sunglasses at Night in the dining room of his boarding house. The band sold a tape eponymously entitled Slice of Life and featuring a song of the same name. Chancellor went on to study at Durham University.

Equipment

Basses

• Wal - Chancellor’s main bass is a Wal 4-string he bought on a friend’s recommendation during the recording of Ænima. The bass’s woods and electronics help create the midrange cut and punch for which he is known. Justin also has three other four-string Wals: an identical model to his main bass, but with less midrange response (used on "Wings For Marie (Part 1)" and "10,000 Days (Wings Part 2)", a Mark III with a greenburst finish (used for the harmonic sections in "Right In Two"), and a lined fretless with a walnut top (used in the second verse of "Lateralus" and parts of "Rosetta Stoned"). Justin normally plays Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky strings (.045, .065, .085, .105) He switches out the low .105 string for the .110 from the Ernie Ball Power Slinky set. For "Parabol" and "Parabola" he uses heavier strings because of the way the song is played but he has not specified the exact gauges. This is different to what bandmate Adam Jones does in that Jones utilises exactly the same string gauge for BEDGBE (and BADGBE) as he does for drop D and plays the song with the bottom two strings "looser" than the other four.
• Music Man Stingray - Used on "Forty-Six & 2", "H.", "Pushit" and "No Quarter".
• Gibson Thunderbird - Used once for "Prison Sex" live in 1995/1996, when he first joined the band.

Amplification

• Gallien-Krueger 2001RB head x2 (1 Dirty, 1 Clean)
• Mesa Boogie Roadready 4x12 (For Dirty)
• Mesa Boogie Roadready 8x10 (For Clean)
• Demeter Amplification VTBP-201S Bass Preamp running direct to PA

Formerly used

• Mesa Boogie M-2000 head
• Mesa Boogie M-Pulse
• Mesa Boogie Bass 400+
• Mesa Roadready 8x10 (in place of the 4x12)

Effects

• Boss TU-2
• Guyatone VTX Tremolo
• DigiTech Bass Whammy - Used on "Eulogy" (fifth up/sixth up harmony), "Pushit(Live)" (fifth up/octave up harmony) "Third Eye (octave up)," "Schism" (octave down/octave up), Ticks and Leeches (fifth up/octave up harmony), "Lateralus" (octave up), "Disposition" (fifth up/octave up harmony), "Vicarious" (octave up harmony), "The Pot" (octave up) and "Right In Two"(fifth up/sixth up harmony).
• Tech 21 SansAmp GT2 Distortion
• Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble
• Boss BF-2 Flanger
• Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
• Dunlop MXR Bass Envelope Filter
• Colorsound Tone Bender Fuzz
• Foxx Fuzz/Wah/Volume-Volume Pot Removed

Distortion(dirty) channel-(Comes after the modulation signal is sent to clean amplifier (8x10), the modulated signal is returned to the grit/distortion channel then sent to the dirty amplifier(4x12))

• Pro Co RAT Turbo Rat Distortion Pedal - run with low gain into his 4x12 before the GEB-7 for a grit channel.
• Boss GEB7 EQ - run into his 4x12 after the Turbo RAT for a grit channel, for presence
• Prescription Electronics-Rx Overdriver used after the GEB7 in his dirty chain

Misc Effects-Live "play" extra pedal board

• MXR Bass Envelope Filter
• MXR Bass Octave Deluxe
• Red Witch Pentavocal Tremelo
• Red Witch Titan
• Guyatone BR-2

These pedals have not been confirmed to be used on any recordings, but have been seen on his board in studio snapshots.

• Lovetone Ring Stinger
• Lovetone Flange With No Name
• Line 6 FM4
• Lovetone Wobulator
• Lovetone Brown Source
• Lovetone Big Cheese
• Lovetone Doppelganger
• Lovetone Meatball

Guest appearances

• Chancellor played bass on the Isis song 'Altered Course' on their 2004 album Panopticon.
• Chancellor also provided additional sounds/bass guitar on Isis song "Weight" on their 2006 live Clearing the Eye [DVD].
• Additional bass on Intronaut's 2010 album,Valley of Smoke.