howdy, this may be a big problem for other guitarists as well, hopefully this is the right part of the forum to post in. if not, i'm new, gimme a goddam break.

Ok, so the bulk of my problem is my guitar tone. Can anybody recommend setting that are conducive to a crystal clear but distorted as hell metal tone. I love fat bottom end but its killing my clarity when i play fast and i just can't find an even middle ground. That early SYL Peavey sound is probably what I'm after ( I play a valveking head with EMG p/ups) so if you have the secret Devy-tone knowledge, please let me know. I'm getting desperate and frustrated.....

Turn the gain down lower, around 5 or 6 and play hard with your picking hand. Most of the tone lies in your hands anyways.
Don't go stupid with the bass, the bass in a bands sound should be provided by the bass guitar, so don't worry if your bottom end sounds lacking.

pick lightly

thanks. I know bottom end should be provided by a bass player, but i also want to seperate my tone just a little from the other guitarist in our band so we are'nt competing for all of that midrange freq. (if that makes sense?) he has a jcm800 and that thing is all mid, but i guess we should be trying to work as one at any rate...
thanks again.
hey, does anyone else have any tone settings or secret weapons they wanna share?

[djskrimp]

No real secrets here, but I tend to use a little compression and an equalizer to massage my sound so that it sounds a little different than a second guitarists. Not a lot on either, but just enough to sweeten the sound.

I'd suggest you try even lower gain, start with 3 then play and assess the sound of

1. long single tone (low and high; check the sustain)
2. long open power chord (it should growl, not buzz; check the sustain)
3. tremolo picked single tone (low and high)
4. fast power chord chugga-chugga

Then raise the gain a little (little changes DO make a difference) and repeat those steps. Work it out which compromises are you willing and not willing to make. It's cool to record this process and compare the sounds without the guitar in your hand. The way you hear stuff differs if you're listening as you play or if you're just listening to what you recorded. Good luck.

And no matter what peopel say, avoid scooping your EQ, as previously noted about the bass, in a band situation it will generally sound yucky

Volume up gain down thats how i see it. but i use a grands worth of modeling amp so i'm technically cheating anyway.

As other's have said, back off the gain a bit. If you want that early SYL sound, then get yourself a Peavy 5150 (now known as the 6505). The head is usually around $1,000, and the cab is about $600. If you manage to afford that, try these settings:

High gain input, Lead Channel

Pre gain: 4.5 - 5
Low: 6
Mid: 3.5
High: 6
Post Gain: 3 - 4
Resonance: 6
Presence: 6

I'm almost positive those were the settings Dev mentioned for his 5150 for City (which I believe was also modded by some dude named Morin). Hope that helps, and remember, back off the pre-gain a bit. You're probably using too much and burying everything in noise.

What I've done is to have my gain up full (probably because of my weird set-up) and as much a lot of people claim that mid scooping owns, it really doesn't. The middle frequencies on your EQ make the sound chunkier and more powerful. I say have a "W" shaped EQ. That's what works for me anyways.

Cool, thanks guys, thats awesome. I've been trying some different shit out and alot of your suggestions have been helpfull. Rolling off the gain made a huge difference and i think i'm pretty close to a tone i'm very happy with.
Thanks to A-Daamage for the Devy settings, that sounds cool. I wish I could afford a 5150 man, but amplifiers in Australia are very expensive. I just got a new head so i'm trying to figure out what might make it sound cool. It's a teething issue i think. But i'm happy with it at the moment so i'm sure it will only get cooler.
It's my first valve amp so i'm still adjusting to it. they sound superior in everyway. they're just cool

actually, what rigs are you guys running? does anyone have any secret weapons they wanna share? i use a boss digital dimension for chorusy sounds, that thing is the best chorus ever made, it sounds fucking evil.

Don't go stupid with the bass, the bass in a bands sound should be provided by the bass guitar, so don't worry if your bottom end sounds lacking.

one thing about that part i´d like to know:
most of the songs i compose have 1 guitar line and 1 bass line, but they´re usually doing counterpoints and all kinds of stuff that aren´t in unison or exact harmony (as in "the notes not having the same lenght and being played at the same time").

Should i still leave the guitar tones with little low end?

one thing about that part i´d like to know:
most of the songs i compose have 1 guitar line and 1 bass line, but they´re usually doing counterpoints and all kinds of stuff that aren´t in unison or exact harmony (as in "the notes not having the same lenght and being played at the same time").

Should i still leave the guitar tones with little low end?

Well, one thing you don't want is your guitar tone changing from song to song. So the best would really be to try with various tones and see how it sounds. When recording stuff, you will go nuts during mastering at the latest if your recordings have too much low and and frequencies from various instruments, in this case, bass drum, bass guitar and bass heavy guitar are in the same domain. It's gonna sound like shit because you hear no distinction between the instruments, let alone the different notes.

IMO, even in cases like you described, attempt to fatten the guitar sound with two guitar tracks and leave the bass doing the low end.

Well, one thing you don't want is your guitar tone changing from song to song.

I actually prefer it when each song on an album has its own little unique characteristics of tone, mixing, etc... It sorta bugs me how every single song on any given album nowadays sounds like it just uses the same preset. Sure, the production on an album should sound consistent throughout, but not to the point of 'cloning' the sound of each song.

I think I know what you meant, though. I'll just uh... go hide over there now.