Metal Tone

[adz6794]

I have a Fender Jag-stang and have put an Alnico Nailbomb on the bridge but I am struggling to get a good metal tone. Im sure not wether I should upgrade my single coil on the neck with something else but I am just stuck with what to do? Does anybody have any ideas of what I could try?? I had the Nailbomb installed by Mansons so im sure that has been done correctly.

Any help would be great

Adz

[WeAreNotGentlemen]

What's your amp? Plus if you only have the bridge pickup on the neck pickup won't affect the tone. I assume you already knew that though.

[richardjmorgan]

A couple of things which may make it easier for people to offer suggestions:

• What amp you're using (as WeAreNotGentlemen already said), as well as any pedals or additional stuff

• What sort of metal sound you're trying to achieve – there are quite a lot of disparate guitar sounds which all fall under the "metal" umbrella

[adz6794]

Sorry guys posted in my lunch break so rushed it!!

I am using an old Line 6 Spider 212 (150 watt) but will be getting the latest Spider (Spider IV 75 watts) in 3 months time and just use the effects built in to amp (Any pedal recommedations would be appreciated) I am limited by budget which I realise limits my options with amps.

The tone I am after is very similar to Killswitch Engage and that whole Joey Sturgis tone

Thanks for your replies so far guys

[WeAreNotGentlemen]

Well Joey Sturgis uses digital amps/digital amps mixed with real ones for all his tones. (I think.) Line 6 might not be a bad option for that. (Though if I were you I'd just keep using what I had until I could buy the Peavey 6505 combo, which is perfect for Joey Sturgis tone. You could also get a nice used one.) Are you going for the WCAR sound or more like ADTR (Homesick)? There are some differences. WCAR is less fizzy/gainy and is more articulate, while IMO is still heavier sounding. The Nailbomb, I would imagine, is sort of a micture of the two.

You can also get good tones like that from POD Farm software.

Check the connections/wiring too, as BK has slightly different colors.

[BlankPlank]

I'll second the saving for the 6505+ 112. Pretty much identical in sound to the big heads. I'm not particularly experienced with either of the amps you mentioned, but a friend of mine had a Spider III 75w combo. The open back certainly didn't help it for metal tone, as it was muddy most of the time, but it was possible to tame it.

[richardjmorgan]

Are you playing in a band, or just at home? If the latter, you may want to consider something a bit less extreme, wattage-wise. I suspect you could get pretty close to the sort of sounds you're after with a Blackstar HT5 and a decent boost in front of it. Unless you've got very understanding neighbours and/or cohabitees, even the 112 5150 is probably not going to be able to get up to the sort of volumes where it sounds good without getting you in trouble.

[BlankPlank]

I always forget about the HT-5, even though I owned one :lol: I'd say more a boss on the clean channel would work better. I used a Boss Metalcore on my S1 clean channel for home volume extremely effectively. Sounded great surprisingly enough.

[adz6794]

Im playing at home at the moment as I was in a band but now am gonna take a year out and just practice, practice, practice!! I will def check out the Blackstar HT5 so thanks for that!! Do you think th efact that I cant turn my amp up past 1-2 at the moment is having an effect on the qality of the tone?

Looks like a pedal may also be a an avenue to look at rather than relying on the built in distorted channels

In reply to WeAreNotGentlemen I would love a tone like ADTR and have got POD Farm on my comp and get a bit of a bietter sound on that compared to my Line 6 amp.

[BlankPlank]

Volume will most likely always help in tone, do a low wattage valve amp will sound better at lower volumes. I'm actually thinking about buying another soon and buying this metalcore pedal off my mate. Pod Farm is a brilliant option of you have monitors or great headphones.

[adz6794]

Do you know what the metalcore pedal is called? I have a set of M-Audio monitors which are pretty decent but I always prefer playing through an amp Im not sure why though as I get better results through POD farm. I may have to record a section of playing to see what you think of my current tone and then you will be able to actually hear it rather than my description.

[WeAreNotGentlemen]

There are some good pedals for metalcore. The Line 6 Uber Metal comes to mind if you love super high gain. The Blackstar pedals are really good too. And have direct outs with speaker simulation.

[adz6794]

Cool will check the Line 6 one out!

What is Line 6`s reputation like because back in 2006 when I bought my amp there were a few sniggers and people telling me I should have bought a valve amp etc.. instead of a digital modelling one.

[WeAreNotGentlemen]

Cool will check the Line 6 one out!

What is Line 6`s reputation like because back in 2006 when I bought my amp there were a few sniggers and people telling me I should have bought a valve amp etc.. instead of a digital modelling one.

Line 6 just gets a bad reputation because a bunch of 'scene' teenagers get them to make extremely scooped overly gainy metalcore tones so they can be slipknot clones haha. You can actually get some great tones out of them, and the crunch channel is definitely the best. If you like all the effects and tweakability then I agree you should've gotten the line 6. If you like a simple plug and play rock/blues tones then the valve would be for you. It's all preference. The new line 6 DT25 (the one with bogner design and valves) or whatever it's called sounds fantastic.

[BlankPlank]

Do you know what the metalcore pedal is called? I have a set of M-Audio monitors which are pretty decent but I always prefer playing through an amp Im not sure why though as I get better results through POD farm. I may have to record a section of playing to see what you think of my current tone and then you will be able to actually hear it rather than my description.

Boss ML-2 mate :) Seen a few go on eBay for about £60 recently.