Hardcore/death metal Distortion, how?

breeeeza

breeeeza

Senior MemBREH
I am new to distorted electric guitar as in the past i havnt been too interested in guitar (drums was my main priority) but recently i have taken an interest. I have a 15 watt fender amp, yamaha pacifica guitar and (oh dear) really cheap behringer 'ultra metal' distortion pedal ( all i could afford) :o
I cant get the distortion i want, I want distortion like hatebreed or throwdown,
Link= http://www.myspace.com/hatebreed

On the pedal i can EQ it, are there any tricks or tips on how to get that distortion? Or will i have to get a new pedal, if i do whats a reasonably cheap one that will do it?
Thanks :)
 
breeeeza said:
I am new to distorted electric guitar as in the past i havnt been too interested in guitar (drums was my main priority) but recently i have taken an interest. I have a 15 watt fender amp, yamaha pacifica guitar and (oh dear) really cheap behringer 'ultra metal' distortion pedal ( all i could afford) :o
I cant get the distortion i want, I want distortion like hatebreed or throwdown,
Link= http://www.myspace.com/hatebreed

On the pedal i can EQ it, are there any tricks or tips on how to get that distortion? Or will i have to get a new pedal, if i do whats a reasonably cheap one that will do it?
Thanks :)
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Does your guitar have a humbucker pickup in it!


You will not achieve big time distortion in regards to the levels and tone you refer to with Hatebreed etc with small, cheap gear.

The Boss Distortion pedals are tried and true!
 
yer it has a humbucker. and thats what i was using. i have seen the boss pedals i went for the behringer because i read that it was supposed to basically be a copy but for much less $$$. i was Naïve
 
breeeeza said:
yer it has a humbucker. and thats what i was using. i have seen the boss pedals i went for the behringer because i read that it was supposed to basically be a copy but for much less $$$. i was Naïve
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Not necessarily, a combination of the amp, guitar and effects all can play a part in the type of Overdrive/Distortion you can achieve!

You won't achieve the same distortion from a 15 watt Fender amp, distortion pedal and guitar as you would a Marshall/Laney/Crate etc Head and Quad Box and a more expensive effects processer.
 
Gorty said:
Not necessarily, a combination of the amp, guitar and effects all can play a part in the type of Overdrive/Distortion you can achieve!

You won't achieve the same distortion from a 15 watt Fender amp, distortion pedal and guitar as you would a Marshall/Laney/Crate etc Head and Quad Box and a more expensive effects processer.
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yer i was going to make a guitar cab (4 x 10") but i would need to buy a head and as far as i know good ones are expensive.
 
1st of all, there will be absolutely no way to get your tone to sound like a band such as hatebreed or throwdown with what you have...those guys use walls of high-powered tube amps, which is about impossible to emulate with a small amplifier

that being said, if you have a decent pedal, turn your gain all the way up, lows around 8-9, highs in the 6-8 range, and then set the mids to where you feel you like it the most...old-school death metal style usually scoops the mids out, but if you want a more modern, "biting" tone, set the mids around 6-7
 
I know people hate hearing this but if you do a search you'll find a few threads that are just a month of two old that contain a ton of info on this subject. Unfortunately none of it is going to get you the tones you want. You need to play good, have good equipment, and a decent recording chain to get the kind of sound you're looking for. Also, layers. Learn to layer tracks to get a nicer more full sound.
 
yer i have tried recording it And layering it. i was just trying to figure why. and btw i did search for threads of the same thing cause i hate seeing the same thread posted twice but i got to 10 pages of differnt threads and i diddnt see one the same or close.
 
I've learned to stay the hell away from any distortion pedal that has the word "metal" or "death" or "grunge" or "punk" or any other corny as description of how ripping the pedal will make you sound.

They're OK for leads but sound like crap playing chords most of the time.
 
breeeeza said:
yer i have tried recording it And layering it. i was just trying to figure why. and btw i did search for threads of the same thing cause i hate seeing the same thread posted twice but i got to 10 pages of differnt threads and i diddnt see one the same or close.
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Well they are there, I participated in a few. One guy actually took our advice and got a good amp and suddenly he liked his tone much better. A cheap amp will never get you where you want. A great player could probably get close but really you need that sweet sweet amp.
 
I think you could get a useable sound fairly cheap. It won't nail the sound you want on the head, but for a few hundred bucks you could do it to the style at least.

You will want a amp with a 12" speaker for some low end and thickness to the sound. A fender will work if you find a pedal that works good, but other wise maybe a Marshall ATV50 or something simular would do very well.

If you go that route (the Marshall), you could do it for about $250-300 I think.


If you get a fairly cheap Fender for the clean sound (with a 12" speaker of course), you could get a pedal to make all the distortion. As for pedals, you will beed to go play them and play a lot of them. Everything form $25 Danelectro pedals to $400 Mesa BottleRockets and ElectroHarmonix Tube Zippers and Budda ZenMan distortion.

When you find the sound decide if its worth your money or not.

But for the guitar you might wanna also consider upgrading to a more suitable guitar. Shector (spelling ?) makes some good guitars for only a couple hundred dollars that are really good (...so I hear) for the money. They are heavier woods than the Pacifica will be and will have more metal style humbuckers than whatever Yamaha put in the Pacifica.


I would start with the amp first, and see if you can't find the sound you are happy with right there. Otherwise if you find it in a pedal (even at $200-400), maybe consider it....you can always test the pedal on your amp and see how it sounds. (most 15 watt Fender solidstate practice amps are 8" speakers if I recall....not much low end)
 
for 400 bucks you can get a peavey valveking tube amp with one 12" speaker. I've heard samples of it. It sounds pretty good. As far as pedals go, try out the sansamp tri ac pedal.
 
I'd say change the amp ASAP. For around $500 you can get a decent amp that will do what you want. Marshall, Peavey, Randall all makes amps in that range that'll weork for you. You could also hook a POD up to your computer, if you don't think you'll be playing out.
 
I have a feeling that you don't really want to hear the real answer...in fact you probably already know the real answer and you're just looking for an inexpensive alternative. There are plenty of alternatives. In fact there is an entire industry based on alternatives, but they never really get you all the way there. It just depends on how close you have to get before you're happy. That point is different with everybody.

My advice. Go get a new amp. If you can afford an ass-kicking high gain tube amp that's great. If you can't, go and audition the amps you can afford until you find one that sounds sufficiently "Death Metal" to you. That could be a little solid state combo....it's a matter of your personal taste.

That being said, the huge and heavy guitar sounds you're used to hearing are generally high quality tube amps, a high quality recording chain, superb playing, strategic layering of sounds and performances, and mixing know-how.

By the way, you probably don't want to fool with 10" speakers for death metal.....just a thought.
 
To sound like Hatebreed or Throwdown, you must play lots and lots of power chords. If you even think of playing a lead line or a single note, you will not sound like them. This is the most important part.
 
booyah14 said:
To sound like Hatebreed or Throwdown, you must play lots and lots of power chords. If you even think of playing a lead line or a single note, you will not sound like them. This is the most important part.
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yeah and make sure you have lots of reguritated breakdowns and blast beats on every song.
 
I agree, these guy use very expensive gear to get their trademark sound. I think the gear you're using is more suitable for playing rock and blues, not metal. My advice is to SAVE. That's the trick. don't buy cheap, you will end sounding cheap. So, here's a list of what you might need to get that guitar tone:

1. A solid body electric guitar
Considering you're worry about your busget it could be an Ibanez, Gibson Epiphone
or a student series Jackson. Must have two humbuckers to get the best of the distortion without feedback.
You should spend $300-$450 bucks in a decent guitar

2. Amp modeler
Yeah, this guys have tube amps and cabinets and noise gates and rackmount units and blah blah blah. A Line 6 POD 2.0 Amp Modeler will do the job to emulate the amp sound. About $200 bucks but you can buy an used on eBay.

3. Stompboxes (optional)
Line 6 Uber metal or Digitech metal master are good choices. The good thing about the Uber metal is that it has a noise gate. What does a noise gate do? Well, when you're signal reaches a certain level, the gate is closed so the groundnoise and other hums are virtually eliminated. Very useful when you're doing those a la Hatebreed palm mutings.

4. Another amp (optional)
There's nothing like the a valve amp. A Peavey 5150 is great, but is too expensive. A good sounding combo will do the job for now. Peavey Bravo 112 is a good choice, it has tubes on the preamp and the power amp. Get one for about 150 bucks on eBay. It has a very modern metal sound so.. what are you waiting?

Good luck man. And start saving... I'm doing the same.
 
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