CS v HD v MM v PK metal shootout (guess the songs)

[Antag]

A rare day off + the house to myself = time to wind the amp up! :D Threw together this quick'n'dirty set of riff comparison clips.  Kudos to anyone that gets all five songs whose riffs I'm butchering... :)

The first two are ch3 of my Savage, trying to get a more "trad" metal tone, the last three are ch4 on full brutality mode.  Yes, there are mistakes (I fat-fingered horribly in the middle of the MM clip) & I didn't bother with a click track so my timing is all over the place.

Perhaps my ears are a bit tired (been playing all morning :lol:) but the differences between the clips are a fraction of how they sounded when I played them, but here they are anyway.

Guitar: Gibson Les Paul with Cold Sweat
Guitar: Jackson RR1T with Holy Diver
Guitar: Gibson Flying V with Miracle Man
Guitar: Jackson KV2 with Painkiller
Amp: Engl Savage 120, Engl 4x12 (Celestion G12K-100)
FX: BBE 482
Mic/Recording: Shure SM57, Presonus Bluetube DP, Fostex MR16HD

Enjoy :)

[Antag]

PK & MM...

[Demolisher]

did you listen to them?

[the prince of shred]

im very sorry becuase ur undoubtedlly a much better guitarist than me but i find these clipps too harsh trebly and fizzy.... sorry  :oops:

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

In the Pk clip at 01:09 to 01:40 is megadeth rust in peace and the end of it is Exodus Piranha
Q:P

In comparison to the PK , the CS is more articulated at the middles, high middles and highs. is it an impression of mine?
and also sounds tighter, but, of course, with less bass.AND HAS A SLIGHTLY, SLIGHTLY SLIGHTLY scooping in the middles.
i liked the CS a lot. ill consider getting ONE. Q:)
i really really cannot decide if i want to get more emgs, more bkps, or more duncans. well, fact is, i want all of the emg upgrades that Dmz, SD'S are releasing. and also the new EMG X series too.
thats fact. cause i want to test them and see which one ill like MORE. and keep just one .

but i also want to have some look into the bkp range. MM and PK didnt suited me. i disliked the MM'S lack of middles.
and the Pk was too bassy in the bass, but i loved its highs. JUST PERFECT.
middles are ok, but still not what im looking for.

Now im listening to the Hd and MM clip. HD First. its tone sounds like its a little Sparkle. and has a boomy bass, and middle bass. The playing on this clip is different, a little bit out of tune on the low E string and its a a little bit dirty. i guess it was the playing, not the pickup.
Its ok, but i woudl need more clips to make my mind on a possible HD.
q:)


MM? Good tightness overall, a little dry sound. thats it. i preffer the CS over them all.
q:)
which woods does the CS matches better?!
does it matches Mahogany, basswood, Alder in the body?!!?

Ah, i would agree with Prince of Shred, but i wont be that harsh...
i would just say it could be Less Bright . Q: )
Tone is Meaty, but its also skinny sometimes and tiny!
Hails
Antag. Thanks for the Clips Man
im tryign to shoot a Warpig and nailbomb video clip right now.
let's see if ill succeed.
JP

[darkbluemurder]

First of all thanks Antag for doing all these clips. Great playing BTW!

HD seemed to be the smoothest of the quartett.
CS sounds similar to the HD in the midrange timbre and in the bass but with more highs on top.
PK has definitely more punch than the others. Also a lot of highs on top.
MM I liked the least of these.

Comparing your neck pup shootout it appears funny to me that the HD set has a smooth bridge pup with a bright neck pup and the CS set has a bright bridge with a smooth neck pup. Anyway I am happy with my HD bridge and CS neck which make a very balanced set in my guitar. If I ever want to go brighter in this guitar, CS bridge and HD neck would be the way to go.

Cheers Stephan

[Antag]

im very sorry becuase ur undoubtedlly a much better guitarist than me but i find these clipps too harsh trebly and fizzy.... sorry  :oops:

Ah, i would agree with Prince of Shred, but i wont be that harsh...
i would just say it could be Less Bright . Q: )

No offense taken :) Having been away for a few days & taken another listen, it's not a great representation of either the BKPs or my Engl Savage.  I guess the thing to take away from this clip is that I really suck at recording... :roll:

Actually, where I've really gone wrong is that I've stopped experimenting.  In the last two years I've changed most (OK, almost all :lol:) my rig, but have never really played with different mics & mic placement to capture a good recorded sound with the new gear.  I've just found a tone that I like in the room, stuck an SM57 in front of it (aligned dead centre of the dustcap) & hit the Rec button.

Trust me, in the room the Savage sounds anything but harsh/fizzy & the differences between each guitar were really clear (just to clarify, I did not touch a single control between recording each clip).  Also, listen to some of my older clips (e.g. this or this) & I was getting a far, far better tone onto disk than now.  But "in the flesh", the Engl is better than the Mesa in almost every way.  The Mesa was a nice amp (& I hope Joe is still getting as much pleasure out of it as I did), but I do not regret replacing it with the Engl for one minute.

Hmmmm, perhaps a good starting point would be to get the Sennheiser E906 out again next time I fancy recording a clip...

Anyway, if anyone was interested in the five riffs:
Kiss: Creatures of the night
Judas Priest: Desert plains
Megadeth: Holy Wars
Exodus: And then there were none
Exodus: Piranha

[the prince of shred]

im very sorry becuase ur undoubtedlly a much better guitarist than me but i find these clipps too harsh trebly and fizzy.... sorry  :oops:

Ah, i would agree with Prince of Shred, but i wont be that harsh...
i would just say it could be Less Bright . Q: )

No offense taken :) Having been away for a few days & taken another listen, it's not a great representation of either the BKPs or my Engl Savage.  I guess the thing to take away from this clip is that I really suck at recording... :roll:

Actually, where I've really gone wrong is that I've stopped experimenting.  In the last two years I've changed most (OK, almost all :lol:) my rig, but have never really played with different mics & mic placement to capture a good recorded sound with the new gear.  I've just found a tone that I like in the room, stuck an SM57 in front of it (aligned dead centre of the dustcap) & hit the Rec button.

Trust me, in the room the Savage sounds anything but harsh/fizzy & the differences between each guitar were really clear (just to clarify, I did not touch a single control between recording each clip).  Also, listen to some of my older clips (e.g. this or this) & I was getting a far, far better tone onto disk than now.  But "in the flesh", the Engl is better than the Mesa in almost every way.  The Mesa was a nice amp (& I hope Joe is still getting as much pleasure out of it as I did), but I do not regret replacing it with the Engl for one minute.

ah thos clips are wikid :D i like them very much :) sorry to be harsh as WFD said...  :oops: but yh the savage sounds kick ass, personally i hate dual rec's but the mk IV ... (is that what joe has?) is pretty cool, i think i may get an engl fireball, (only need crisp cleans n full on metal...) as all others are out of my price range....   :plasma:

[Dr. Vic]

That CS is a great surprise. Huge tone. Well done dear jackson endorser !

From all :D the clips you posted here, my favorite ones were the HD's loaded on your Rhoads (whereas the PK on the KV wasn't my tastes).

BUT now I think I like the CS more, as it seems to be a very good compromise - or in between - those 2 ! I found it more versatile to cover well the different metal songs you played.

Indeed I like the sound of the punishment is due parts you played with the CS (and the PK), over the ones played with both MM and HD.   

[dheim]

PK and MM sound surprisingly similar.
very surprisingly indeed, beacuse i thought they were at the opposite sides of the spectrum! i can't hear much more mids in the PK clip, but i think it's because you put it in a scooped guitar and used MMs in a middy guitar... maybe.

[MDV]

I like the PK best. Its got the grind+tightness+clarity combo in there that the others cant quite match.

Followed by MM, followed by CS, and the HD is a fairly distant last - I didnt think it was as distinct and clear as the others.

Its so frustrating when these recordings dont do the sound difference in the room justice, isnt it!