Making High Gain Guitar Tone Sound Better...

[Sonixx]

Cool.
You could try not using the amp distortion and using pedal distortion and see what you can get from that.

Eck

I went thru that stage 30 years ago... I'm not dissing it, but it's presently just not what I'm doing

 

[Sonixx]

Sonixx, that guitar tone is great as usual.

I've recently made a big improvement with my own high gain stuff by switching to Vintage 30's. I always underestimated the difference it would make.

thanks... I use V30s a lot, but I'm careful using V30's with the Cobra. They seem similarly voiced which can lead to freq overload.

You know, that thought has crossed my mind lately. I am curious exactly how much difference in recorded tone the speakers in a 4x12 cab make, all else being equal. That is something I haven't really experimented with.

Speaker - it can be a huge difference... every item in the chain can make or break the tone.

 

[ecktronic]

I have the speakers that come with the Marshall 1960 cab. Celestiens I think.
Would love to try out new speakers but skint. bah

Eck

 

[BRIEFCASEMANX]

what frequencies do you adjust that are almost the same every time?

 

[Sonixx]

what frequencies do you adjust that are almost the same every time?

I really wish Email notification worked...

Here's a tip I received and have found it spot on...

When mixing, the following frequencies are good ones

Boost
80 Hz - Bottom
400 Hz - Note
1.5K Hz - In your face
3.5K Hz - Bite

Notch
2.3K Hz - Hurts my ears. I always notch this... always

I use low Q (Wide BW) when boosting and high Q (narrow BW) ~10 when notching. I'm never afraid to use a healthy boost... 6 to 12 db.

View the EQ as massaging the tone. Don't bring only one up, say 400Hz, but boost all say 6db, then move the frequency of each some and vary the Q, looking for the best tone. It's there. Learn each area for what it does good and bad. Oh yeah, be sure to notch 2.3K

The mic position matters, matters, matters. A fraction of an inch can make or break it (left/right and in/out) and one needs to start with a usable tone.

 

[Steve Henningsgard]

Hey, I'm not sure if you've listened to much Opeth, but to my ears their tone transcends guitar tone and becomes something else all together. Like, you know it's a distorted guitar, and it seems like you reproduce it, but it's just so... clear, yet distorted I dunno man. Any clue?

 

[Sonixx]

Hey, I'm not sure if you've listened to much Opeth, but to my ears their tone transcends guitar tone and becomes something else all together. Like, you know it's a distorted guitar, and it seems like you reproduce it, but it's just so... clear, yet distorted I dunno man. Any clue?

I'm not up on what Opeth uses, but I'm sure they spend what it takes to dial the amp and place the mic choosing various guitars, pickups, amps, speakers mics, preamps etc to get it and there's a very fine line between over and under saturated and gained and it takes patience to get it.

FWIW here's a clip I re-amped a day or so ago which I'm generally pleased with:

Dual Rectifier

 

[metalhead28]

Hey, I'm not sure if you've listened to much Opeth, but to my ears their tone transcends guitar tone and becomes something else all together. Like, you know it's a distorted guitar, and it seems like you reproduce it, but it's just so... clear, yet distorted I dunno man. Any clue?

I have read Michael Akerfeldt discussing their guitar recording. (On "Deliverance", I think). He said that they use very little gain (he said specifically that it didn't even sound like metal guitar) and then layered the tracks 4 times.

 

[hoops]

Out of the very first clip I like the first half better. The natural sound of the amp before processing sounds fuller. In the second half I hear way too much hi mids.

 

[Sonixx]

Out of the very first clip I like the first half better. The natural sound of the amp before processing sounds fuller. In the second half I hear way too much hi mids.

making no changes is always an option... sometimes raw and natural are what's called for, other times not.

 

[Jamz0r]

Gee, I wonder what jackass gave me neg rep in this thread...