“I'm like the Pablo Escobar of bass. If a dude works on my pedalboard, it's almost like I have to kill him after he's done!” With Rage Against the Machine, Tim Commerford pioneered an all-time iconic bass tone. No wonder he's cagey about his setup

Tim Commerford of Rage Against The Machine performs during day 3 of the Coachella Music Festival held at the Empire Polo Field on April 29, 2007 in Indio, California. .

For nearly two decades with Rage Against the Machine and six years with Audioslave, Tim Commerford has navigated a never-ending quest for the ultimate distortion tone. He's built his own stompboxes. He's tinkered with his amps. He's even wound his own pickups – by hand. And he's as secretive as he is satisfied about the progress of his one-man tone trek.

“I'm like the Pablo Escobar of bass,” he told Bass Player, referring to the notoriously violent drug kingpin. “If a dude works on my pedalboard, it's almost like I have to kill him after he's done. I don't, but a few times I've told people, ‘If you let anyone know what you've done to my 'board, I'm coming back!’”