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General Tone Tips

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  • Re: General Tone Tips

    I have some contributions for more modern amps, particularly for metal.

    Nearly all modern metal amps have extremely clean power amp sections with plenty of headroom so high gain, high wattage 6L6/EL34 etc. clipping properties are not used as much and most of the distortion comes from the preamp.

    The original post is more appropriate for overdrive circuits such as a marshall plexi or the JCM800 etc. which did get a lot more gain from the power amp section of the circuit, but they originally had no master volume, so you only got hi-gain by cranking it and deafening yourself. Venues even requested that you faced the cab towards the BACK of the stage.

    Compare a Mesa, an ENGL, a Splawn, a later marshall (like a JVM), an all tube Randall and run a CD player through the power amp and some hi-fi speakers... it will actually sound decent. Do the same with a vintage amp and it will distort. Quite a few people even go as far as to complain that they can't get any decent cleans out of their marshalls when cranked.

    Anyway... my tips.

    Throw your Metalzone in the trash

    Tune to E standard (I'm pretty sure alot of people won't want to do this )

    Back your gain off and play more precisely instead of trying to rely on heavy gain saturation to cover your mistakes, which will ultimately give you a fizzy, mushy tone.

    Keep your mids up, in fact keep everything up on an amp with a passive EQ (which is most of them)

    When you are playing live, turn down at the amp and hire a decent sound guy to mix everything properly.

    To get a great studio tone you take 2 mics. Flip the phase on one of them and position them on the rims until they cancel each other out. Then return to the normal polarity on the mic which you flipped the phase of.

    If you want a really tight sound with cutting pick attack, run an EQ BEFORE the amp and cut down on the bass frequencies. Restore these after the preamp. You can do this with an EQ in the fx loop or the bass knob on the amp if it is after the gain stages.

    Change your strings regularly and make sure you keep a consistent guage which your guitar is set up for each time.

    If your amp is not a fixed biased like a Peavey, check the bias and keep it running at an optimal level.

    Spend some money on decent cables, especially the speaker cable between the amp and the cab. http://www.lavacable.com. Great value, service and ship just about anywhere

    Throw your metalzone in the trash.
    The opinions expressed above do not necessarily represent those of the poster and are to be considered suspect at best.

    Lead guitarist and vocalist of...



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    • Re: General Tone Tips

      Originally posted by Beer$ View Post
      Throw your metalzone in the trash.

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      • Re: General Tone Tips

        If you want a really tight sound with cutting pick attack, run an EQ BEFORE the amp and cut down on the bass frequencies. Restore these after the preamp. You can do this with an EQ in the fx loop or the bass knob on the amp if it is after the gain stages.
        +1 Took me ages to work this one out by myself back in the day.
        Even better is to have a ^ eq curve before pre-amp, then bring back the v curve, post- pre.
        Last edited by Redmist; 05-23-2008, 03:47 AM.
        👣
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        • Re: General Tone Tips

          If you are wanting to start writing your own material, and have put in all the donkey work learning your theory and covering other guitarist's styles and chops, then it helps to STOP playing like other people.
          It will all have been very worthwhile and essential, but it is time to develop your own style.

          Far too often, a new band just sounds like another clone of their favorite band and, admirable as that may be, it will not get you noticed, nor progress your own personal style any further.

          It will be hard at first, cause every new riff you come up with, and every solo you scream out may just sound like a re-hash of everything you have ever played (and still sound like your idols) - but after a while you will be cloning your OWN style, and that is when it gets both more interesting and more productive.
          👣
          👣
          💀

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          • Re: General Tone Tips

            Friends don't let band members date crab infested groupies
            (for the sake of good tone).
            👣
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            💀

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            • Re: General Tone Tips

              Originally posted by Redmist View Post
              +1 Took me ages to work this one out by myself back in the day.
              Even better is to have a ^ eq curve before pre-amp, then bring back the v curve, post- pre.
              That works pretty well. That's how Dime still got a cutting heavy tone with pretty much no mids on the amp. That and it’s which mids he scooped that are important (and which ones he massively boosted with his Furmans.)
              Last edited by El Dunco; 08-07-2022, 11:48 AM.
              The opinions expressed above do not necessarily represent those of the poster and are to be considered suspect at best.

              Lead guitarist and vocalist of...



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              • Re: General Tone Tips

                Stop Going to forums and play your guitar! Lol...
                Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

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                • Re: General Tone Tips

                  If you have noise problems with your pedal chain, or are encountering maintenance issues all the time - just go for a all-in-one multifx pedal such as the boss GT-8. A lot less hassle, than carrying pedals, cables and power supplies, and no noise. That is ofcourse if you like all the sounds it offers you. It has hundreds of programmable patches though. Something your pedals won't.
                  my youtubes Instagram Medium blog
                  A few original tunes: "The Grand Eclipse" and "Timeless Moments"

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                  • Re: General Tone Tips

                    Originally posted by Frantic_Rock View Post
                    If you have noise problems with your pedal chain, or are encountering maintenance issues all the time - just go for a all-in-one multifx pedal such as the boss GT-8. A lot less hassle, than carrying pedals, cables and power supplies, and no noise. That is ofcourse if you like all the sounds it offers you. It has hundreds of programmable patches though. Something your pedals won't.
                    But can it do an mxr. :P

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                    • Re: General Tone Tips

                      Probably not I also use a Keeley Ultra DS-1 instead of it's native distortion, and a Crybaby 535Q instead of the wah. But what are u gonna do... The delay, chorus, compression and other settings can come from the multifx though.
                      my youtubes Instagram Medium blog
                      A few original tunes: "The Grand Eclipse" and "Timeless Moments"

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                      • Re: General Tone Tips

                        If there's a sound guy/girl at your gig - talk to them, be friendly, tell them how you want to sound but don't be arrogant. Offer to buy them a beer - nobody buys the sound person a drink. If you're rude to them they're not going to care too much about your requirements so be nice. Remember - it's their rig and they want it to sound good, they want another gig too so work with them, it's in everyone's interest.

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                        • Re: General Tone Tips

                          If you find you can't get a good tone or sustain without your compressor being constantly on, TURN IT OFF and turn up your amp's volume. You'll get the thicker tone, more sustain, and lot's of dynamics. Then you can use the compressor for that infinite sustain or chickin' pickin' or funk rhythm.

                          If you run a clean amp with pedals, you can turn down the gain because much of the thickness and the sustain will already be there clean.
                          Last edited by Brett Valentine; 10-10-2008, 01:55 PM.
                          Hamer XT Sunburst Archtop Flame- Phat Cats; Hamer Sunburst Archtop Quilted- Jazz(n)/Pearly Gates(b); Brian Moore i21 - Alnico 2 Pro(n)/Pearly Gates(b); Tex Mex Strat - Classic Stack(n)/Lil' 59(b); Carvin DC135T - used oval HotRails(n)/CustomCustom(b); '68 Gibson ES-335 - Jazz(b); RI Fender Bass VI (bari-electric Hot Rails bridge?); Standard Tele-Ash(SE)pickups?

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                          • Re: General Tone Tips

                            "The left hand makes the virtuoso, but the right hand makes the artist"---Paganini.

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                            • Re: General Tone Tips

                              Originally posted by Diego View Post
                              Back off that gain - you surely don't need it on 10 - and rejoice on how sloppy you actually play!

                              Time to practice a bit more on the clean channel!
                              It took me YEARS to realize this. So true! Even on the heaviest stuff I play the gain rarely goes above 6-7 these days, and it's still more than adequate.

                              The biggest thing I've been doing in the last year or two is minimizing equipment. I used to have a whole ton of pedals, stereo chorus/delay, all kinds of fancy crap. It was fun, complicated, flashy, and I thought it sounded 'huge'. But if you really just open the amp up and let it do its thing, you don't need a ton of effects to get a big sound - it's really just the opposite.

                              That's the biggest reason why I was so impressed with the Valve Junior...I spied it after lamenting over the lack of simple amps at a local store, without all the effects and stuff built-in. Being able to have such organic control over the sound really makes a difference instead of squashing it with stereo chorus on your 2x12 combo.

                              edit: same goes for recording. Almost everything I record is totally dry coming out of the amp, with the occasional exception for a classic tremolo/spring reverb. Add your delay and reverb later in the mix to really allow the guitar to stand out.

                              I also noticed a difference in clarity by simply changing picks. Going from a full-size normal pick to one of the little jazz picks really got rid of a lot of extraneous noise that I didn't even notice, but I can still dig in and get great attack when I want it.
                              Last edited by Vetteboy; 10-10-2008, 02:22 PM.
                              - Jackson USA Soloist SL1
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                              - 1968 Gibson B25 Natural
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                              - Epiphone Valve Junior head w/custom cab in the works
                              - 1978 Univox solid state combo w/nasty spring reverb


                              Interstate X - my recorded stuff

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                              • Re: General Tone Tips

                                If you use any pick in the standard "Fender" shape, learn to play the rounded corners as well as the pointy one. The rounded corners give you a smoother attack and a fuller, warmer tone.
                                Hamer XT Sunburst Archtop Flame- Phat Cats; Hamer Sunburst Archtop Quilted- Jazz(n)/Pearly Gates(b); Brian Moore i21 - Alnico 2 Pro(n)/Pearly Gates(b); Tex Mex Strat - Classic Stack(n)/Lil' 59(b); Carvin DC135T - used oval HotRails(n)/CustomCustom(b); '68 Gibson ES-335 - Jazz(b); RI Fender Bass VI (bari-electric Hot Rails bridge?); Standard Tele-Ash(SE)pickups?

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