EMG HZs: Why do they get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield?

Re: EMG HZs: Why do they get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield?

It's a given they were using JCM800s for Lightning and Puppets, which by today's standard is low gain, as well as the IIC+, and Scott Ian has said numerous times that all of them (Slayer, Anthrax, Metallica) were using a Big Muff Pi and a Rat. Having run those pedals through my JCM800, I can point out pretty accurately where Kirk was using a Rat, and James was definitely using a BigMuff for the rhythms.

Huh. No 900s? Or were those more late 80s/early 90s?

I would have thought Tube Screamers were the weapon of choice.

Something else interesting to think about is the Recto vs. the Mark and James's continued preference, to my knowledge, for the Triaxis, which pretty much puts all the Marks in one rack.

I always heard Marks to have much more midrange than Rectos. For a long time I loved Rectos in the 90s, but these days they sound flabby and scooped to me, like Korn. They seem to be increasingly mixed in to give body to a sound as opposed to standing on their own (say with a lot of metal bands using Rectos and 5150s together). The gain they do have seems quite fizzy, and with the usual scooped mid sound it seems like definition goes away quickly.

I heard a Triple Rec played through a Recto cab and then through a Marshall 1960A and of course the Marshall sounded much tighter, probably due to its smaller dimensions.

If there's truth to the perception that older Rectos are better, much of this probably also has to do with the widespread preference for older dual channel Dual Rectos vs. newer three channel Dual Rectos.

This isn't to bash them too much. Some of the best Dual Recto high gain guitar sounds ever recorded are on the Godsmack and Creed albums. But I find them to be very finicky to dial in. They have potential to sound great or very, very bad.

The funny thing is Godsmack always used to appear in promos with Randalls, but used Mesas when I saw them (at least in 2004).

For my money, the long neglected Randall RG100ES is probably one of the best amps out there if a person wants a tight scooped sound or a cutting solo tone. You can't go wrong with old Dimebag or George Lynch. And they're to be had for very cheap and are reliable, being solid state.

They're a little noisy, but I think this clip sounds great for the intended sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ9FeCz1Dng
 
EMG HZs: Why do they get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield?

It's a given they were using JCM800s for Lightning and Puppets, which by today's standard is low gain, as well as the IIC+, and Scott Ian has said numerous times that all of them (Slayer, Anthrax, Metallica) were using a Big Muff Pi and a Rat. Having run those pedals through my JCM800, I can point out pretty accurately where Kirk was using a Rat, and James was definitely using a BigMuff for the rhythms.

"James had this special Marshall amp that had been modified when he recorded Kill 'Em All. We had to get all the Marshall amps from some of the metal bands that were in Denmark at that time, so like nine Marshall amps, and spent the first day testing them. We actually recreated James' guitar sound on Kill 'Em All, but just beefed it up. He was really pleased with that."

Rolling Stone article

Sound On Sound also had a great article on the recording sessions from ...And justice for all:

"They hated the guitar sound. Mike Clink had been around for a long time and he was from the old school where they'd stick a mic in front of the amp and that was that. Well, I had done a lot of tweaking on Master Of Puppets and maybe they'd gotten used to not having to fiddle around. I therefore took everything apart and started over. They had some new Boogie amps with graphic EQ on everything, and they sounded pretty dodgy in my opinion — I couldn't get them to sound as crunchy as I liked, so I inserted a B&B Audio equaliser on the amps' insert loops. That meant I could actually sit and adjust their sound from the control room — the amps with my inserted EQ were in the control room while the cabs were in the studio when we recorded the rhythm guitars and the solos. So ...And Justice For All probably ended up being the most tweaked sound we ever did.”

SoS article

Most tweaked sound they ever did... ;)

And from the Kirk Hammett himself regarding boost:

"I had the [Dunlop] Cry Baby wah I’ve always had and an [Ibanez] Tube Screamer. On Kill ’Em All, I used a Boss Super Distortion, because my Tube Screamer got stolen. But on Ride the Lightning and on every album since, there’s always been a Tube Screamer for the solos. Actually, we were just rehearsing some acoustic stuff for an acoustic gig. I needed a boost to drive my solo, and what do I go for? The Tube Screamer. And it worked perfectly."

GW interview
 
Last edited:
Re: EMG HZs: Why do they get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield?

Interesting!

I always loved/hated the Justice sound. It reminded me of a distortion pedal with more balls. But it was so saturated.

I remember always trying to recreate it in the mid 90s, but without sounding thin.

I think if the production on that album had been better, it might not have sounded so aggressive.
 
Re: EMG HZs: Why do they get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield?

Love the Randall RG100 ES. My buddy has one along with the Randall 4x12 with the Jaguars. We had to replace two of the speakers though and used 70/80's. I have heard that the 70/80 has a harsh top end but they seem to pair well with the original Jaguars. It's set for a loud clear clean sound and then fed dirt pedals. Very convincing dry scooped 80's/90's death metal tone.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
 
Re: EMG HZs: Why do they get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield?

Love the Randall RG100 ES. My buddy has one along with the Randall 4x12 with the Jaguars. We had to replace two of the speakers though and used 70/80's. I have heard that the 70/80 has a harsh top end but they seem to pair well with the original Jaguars. It's set for a loud clear clean sound and then fed dirt pedals. Very convincing dry scooped 80's/90's death metal tone.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

Yeah those amps don't have much brown sound, but for what they do I like them. I have what might be considered the RG100ES's grandson--a Randall Cyclone with graphic and parametric EQ. It's noisy and it only does scooped crunch and a sterile clean, but it does it well and is reliable. The double EQ makes it easy to really hone in on what sound you want. And gain gain gain.

Randall seems to have gotten away from solid state since its Titan/Cyclone/Warhead/VMax days of the late 90s.
 
Back
Top