That metal lead tone,

Hey All,

Ok so I've been playing 11 years or so of guitar and piano I'm 20, and i just bought a 6505, and jsx cab, i have a pod xt. Ive been playing with ****ty equipment for most of my music career, i like my piano i have , as well as a korg triton le, and a jackson guitar. My sound was never the greatest though. Now that i have the back end power for my sound, i need some tone. Im generally not so bad at finding a good tone, it's the leads that confuse me. I'm looking for that chrisp, almost beep sound. I've never understood how to get a sound like Alexi Laiho form children of bodom, or the lead guitar player for blind gaurdian. I do understand that you need some delay, maybe an eq pedal to boost your mids, some compression/sustain...hold those long notes out. but i just can't get the tone. I know part of my problems could be that im not using emg pickups..i personally think they have a better sounds...but money is tight..so i stick with what i have. Any suggestions on how i might be able to achieve this lead sound. ....i should say this though...for the children of bodom sound im just curious on..I pan on creating my own tone...i just need somthing to work off of, as well, i do understand the difference in live tone and studio tone. thanks
carlo

Alexi uses an emg hz-4 humbucker which is pretty blusey, but after adding loads of distortion, you get that certain tone like he has. I got that humbucker and put it in my Shecter, the leads sounded awsome, but the lows just wern't cut for metal. It all depends on what your setup is.

I too would like to know how some guitarists get that "beep tone." The best example I can give is Back Dahlia Murder's lead tone, it sounds so awsome.

PRSPlaya is out best bet, he's a tone whore. :D

EMG's = tone suckers... they sound the same no matter what you put them in, and they also don't have the dynamics and versatility of passive pickups. 6505/5150 = Tone Monster! I've got the 5150 2x12 combo, and I can't get a bad tone out of it. On the lead channel, start with the pre volume set between 10-12 o'clock (depending on taste), and set all the EQ controls to 12 o'clock and start tweaking from there. Do the same with the resonance and presence controls. Adjust the post volume to taste, but the louder you go with it, the thicker the tone will be.

I'm not sure what this "beep" tone you're talking about is, as I don't listen to those bands you mentioned (can't get past the vocals), so I can't be more specific than that. You've got a great amp and cabinet, so I would leave the PODxt for recording on the computer. I've got one of those too :rolleyes:

I'll send you an email with a song by BDM attached. The vocals will annoy you, but just fast forward to the solo. :)

Cool. I'll be on the lookout for it. Any specific section I should be listening to?

...hey guys, thanks for the replys, if he is sending you a sample..keep in mind this is not fully achievable for live performance, but it'll give you the idea of what we are going for.

After stomaching through some of the track elklandercc sent me, I'm still unsure as to what that "beeping" sound you're talking about is. Unless, you're talking about that harmonic tone that comes through on some notes (higher pitched pick beep type overtone). That is achieved through using a guitar with harmonically rich pickups, and an amp that lets the these tones through. The 6505 is an excellent amp for that type of music and tones. To get those tones to shine through though, you need to be able to play very cleanly. The best way to get there is to practice your lead playing through a clean channel, so you can clearly hear each note that you play. Pick technique helps in this as well, but I don't know how to explain that to you :o

um i find to get a crisp sound you should turn down the middle frequencies. this is generally what a scoop does on metal pedals.

what is good is a compressor if you have one. and also a gate.

the compressor is helps the tone. and the gate shuts out unwanted products of distortion.

for my epiphone les paul guitar i use the bridge pickup. and use the messa boogy dual rectifier amp on my line 6. i turn drive/overdrive to 10, base to /7 middle 4, treble 8.5, presence 10. no reverb. and an delay thing. only a slight one.

thats what i do

Originally Posted by: Fret spiderum i find to get a crisp sound you should turn down the middle frequencies. this is generally what a scoop does on metal pedals.

O boy...don't let prs hear that one... :eek:

yerrrgh, I also disagree with scooping the mids. It thins out your tone way too much. I guess its okay for rhythem, but definatly not a good choice for solo. you want a nice, full thick sound for solos, and boosting your mids definatly helps with that.

scooping the mids is absolutely the worst thing any guitarist can do to their tone! Think about it... what frequency range does the guitar cover..... wait for it..... THE MIDS! So, why on earth would anybody want to take their guitar out of the mix? That scooped sound you hear on a lot of metal albums takes place after the guitars have been recorded, and is done to the whole mix, and not just the guitars. The only time I would say that it would be acceptable to scoop your mids, would be if you were just playing by yourself just for fun. Otherwise, you should keep the mids boosted. Actually, for a guitar to sound huge, thick, and crushing in a mix, it usually doesn't sound all that great on it's on after you take away the bass, drums, and possibly a second guitar.