Originally Posted by: mahukillI need BALLS and CLARITY!!![/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Dr_simon]Turn your treble up to full and your bass up to full, turn your mids down to nothing. Now wind your gain right up as far as it will go !

Doing that will give you everything BUT balls and clarity.

You might not like a mid-rangy sound when you're playing by yourself, but in a band situation mid frequencies are your best friend. The mids is where the guitar belongs, don't try overpowering the rest of the band or you'll all end up sounding like crap.
Try keeping your EQ very flat, not too much bass, not too much treble, and use your mids to poke through in the mix. When it comes to gain/distortion, less is more. The more technical music you play, the less distortion you'll want in order to remain clear.

Remember that a lot of metal albums use tons of layering of guitars with support from the bass, there is no way you can recreate that kind of sound by yourself. What it comes down to when playing live is achieving a tone that simply works with the music/songs, which means filling up your part of the spectrum, and making sure whatever you're playing is being heard not because you're loud, but because you're clear.

If all you're doing is playing by yourself in your bedroom, then Dr_Simon's advice is all you need.