+81

I was unaware that a compressor is a type of distortion. I know it balances out the attack of your notes, shapes your tone to an extent, limits volume spikes and such but haven't heard of it being use to produce distortion on it's own. I've played through Electro Harmonix compressor and it can create an overdriven sound but I just assumed it was a side effect of it's purpose.

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asshat

...tune your guitar a half step down, put the treble and bass to max and put mid-range at 0.

...you also want distortion instead of overdrive pedals...and solid state amps instead of tube amps.

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OceanAndSilence

turn overdrive and distortion to 11, play e major

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Janszoon

Haha. Thank you for reminding me of this best forgotten band:

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mr dave

maybe calling it a type of distortion was inaccurate but like you said, that kind of pedal 'can' produce some rather distorted tones.

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Certif1ed

Depends on the "Metal".

If you want a "proper" NWoBHM "Smokin' Valves" type metal sound, you NEED a Marshall JCM 800. Nothing else will do. JCM 900s sell for less money for a good reason.



Personally, I prefer the combo, as you can use it for practising, then wire it through a pair of 4x12s for gigs to get that "Wall of sound" - it's the SAME amp as they put in the heads.

Only use the hi gain channel, and don't monkey about with the tone too much - those things rule the old school metal sound. Add a couple of effects if you want to use the clean channel for those compulsory plinky sections - chorus is always good - because frankly, it sucks by itself.

The guitar should be something with humbuckers. Only get a strat or other single-coiled guitar if you want to play the blues. Gibson SGs, Explorers and Flying Vs are best, but failing that, anything from the Matumoku factory will do the job really well.

Consider Aria Pro IIs, or if those are outside your budget, get a Westone Thunder 1A - those things ROCK with their hi-gain and phase-shift circuits which are perfect for those screamin' solos, because the phase-switching produces harmonics to die for, especially from a JCM 800.

THE best "Uncle Matt" I've ever played (for Metal) is the Westone Dimension IV. It has high output Unbalanced Coil pickups which are easily as good as Seymour Duncan Invaders, if not slightly better, and Westone's Bendmaster deluxe trem, which is great for dive-bombs, but a royal PITA when it comes to string-changing or drop-tuning, like all locking trems.



The main thing is that the guitar should have a great tone when you play it unplugged, with loads of sustain, growl and snarl like an angry bear in a cave full of wasps when you chug out some riffs, and squeal like a boar mid-castration when you crank out a solo.


For "Modern" metal (the sound pretty much established by Metallica on "Ride The Lightning") you need a guitar with EMG 81/85 pickups, like a Jackson, ESP or something like that.

The guitar does not matter as much as the pickups. I bought an Ibanez G10 for £100, dropped EMGs in it, and it now sounds almost exactly the same as my £1500 ESP Kirk Hammett signature (which only has variations on bludgeon as its tone).

You'll aslo need a Mesa Boogie triple rectifier, with a Digitech Zoom or something like that. To tell the truth, I don't really go for these wizzy effects boxes, but I know they're popular.

Alternatively, a Line 6 amp modeller will pretty much give you the same sound on its "Insane" setting, and tons of effects. You can then run the modelled sound through a JCM 2000 (which has a decent clean channel) and it'll sound just like a Mesa at a fraction of the price.

Or just use the JCM, forget the effects, and get into the tone

Finally, for that authentic modern metal sound, get rid of all the middle, drop in a compressor, and, when you record, compress some more, then compress the mix when you've finished, and it'll sound exactly the same squeaky clean non-dynamic nightmare as everything else these days...

Heh - in between my ranting, there is a little sensible advice...

Farfisa

I can get a "Doom" metal sound by cranking the overdrive on both my OD pedal and amp, then I just crank the distortion up on my rat and switch to the humbucker on my Tele. Oh, don't forget to downtune your guitar.

rnrloser_IX

I just get an amp with a great clean channel and find a pedal to do the rest. You can get any distortion with the right pedal or combination of pedals. It helps to pay attention to whether the pedal is a digital pedal or analog, digital pedals are great for versatility but i find that they tend to lack the crunchy punch that analog pedals put out. Humbuckers are very good but Gibson p94s are great with the right setup, really clear and crunchy. Sounds really good for Metallica type stuff, and even for most of the melodic death styles.

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Caleb48kb

turn your pre gain almost all the way up, and your post gain almost all the way down.

Sodacake

Scooping your mids is really god damned useless. Sure, it sounds good when you're on your own but pretty soon you'll get used to playing with that sound and when it's time for you to jam with a drummer and bassist you will not be able to hear yourself very well.