I hate my guitar tone

Hey guys I am very unhappy with my guitar tone. I would love for your guys help since I really have nowhere else to turn. So heres a quick rundown of my gear right now: Jackson USA Soloist (Jb,59) and a Fender MiM Strat (Jb, Sentient). Marshall Dsl40c (all stock) a delay pedal for leads, Reverb pedal for rhythm, noise suppressor for unwanted hiss, and a Boss SD-1 for tightening up the low end of my amp since it is kind of flubby. The tone I want is one that is very tight for metal (I do not play any Black/Death metal or anything below C# tuning) and has nice liquid and fluid leads.I would also like to have good cleans as well (but this is not my priority as long as it play cleans and it is not muddy) I find my tone in contrast to that as of now. My rhythm is not as thick and tight as it could be. My leads sound sharp and spikey and untasteful. I have experimented with the positions of my pedals and the pedals themselves along with the EQ on the amp and honestly I cannot find my 'sound'. I have played a Blackstar Ht Club 40 whenever I go into Sam Ash and with just the guitar (one that I am trying out at Sam Ash, not one of my own) plugged in it sounds beautiful and lovely, and that is just at low volumes, I could only imagine it cranked. I am only 15 and do not have a lot of money to be on a 'tone quest'. The types of bands I look up to are Slayer, Megadeth, Venom, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne (Randy Rhoads era only) and Pantera. Could these things be attributable to the reason I hate my tone??

-Pickup Selection (Maybe the Jb is not for me

-Amp (Would the Blackstar be a better choice? If this would be the cause I would like something that is versatile at the least)

-Too thin of a string gauge

-Pickup height

-Can't find the sweetspot on my amp

-Placebo? (Maybe to others I might have an epic guitar tone? Am I overthinking the whole thing?)

-Or is it my technique? (I have significantly improved my technique over the past 8 months so I doubt that this is it, but I am open minded to new ideas!)

Well there you go, that is my problem in conclusion. Is there any advice/tips you guys would like to pass onto me? Is there anything I shoud try to do with my current setup before spending money on new gear or making drastic changes? Did any of guys have the same problem as me and if you did. did you have any solutions for it? Thanks guys for taking your time out of your day to try to help me out, I deeply appreciate it.

[br]Also if you guys would like me to post some videos of me playing on my setup and I can do that, just to let you know though it will be taken on an Iphone so it won't sound like what I am hearing on the other end. Anways thanks again I sincerely appreciate it taking valuable time out of your day in an effort to help Thanks!

-Justin

If the amp and guitar eq are not giving you the sound you want , try a dedicated eq pedal . That will give you fine control over virtually all frequency bands . Boss makes a seven band eq , but there are hundreds out there . Place it first in the chain after the tuner and before any effects .

The JB pickups should be fine for what you are looking for. Jake E. Lee used them, Dave Friedman also. Dave Mustaine used a JB for most of the Rust in Peace album as well. I wouldn't worry too much about string gauge either. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Randy Rhoads used 9's.

As far as amps, the bands you mentioned for the most part use Marshall style amps - JCM 800's and super leads for the most part - Adrian Smith I think was actually using a DSL at one point. The DSL should be able to get you in the ball park of what you are looking for. I don't have any experience with blackstar amps, but have had a DSL and a JCM 800. For me, the 800 was a monster, but had to be cranked to sound right. The DSL sounded ok at bedroom volumes, but cranked up sounded really good - the sweet spot for me seemed to be about 4.5 - 5 on the master volume.

If I was in your shoes with your setup and looking for those tones my first thought would be to try a tube screamer type od in front instead of the sd1. MXR makes a nice one that's cheap as well - the classic od. has an internal switch that can change it from the standard ts type to their zack wylde circuit - can find some info here

https://reverb.com/p/mxr-classic-overdrive

also as suggested earlier, an eq pedal could help. I use a Carl Martin Boost Kick as an eq (even though it's really a boost pedal) and it's not too expensive but in that same price range mxr has a 10 band eq that's pretty nice as well - or for a smaller footprint maybe the boss ge-7.

Those bands you mentioned have pretty "mid" heavy sounds. If you can, I'd try turning the master volume up first (that can make a huge difference in tone on a tube amp like the DSL), If not, without knowing your settings I would guess that you may need to bring your mids up a little and the bass down a little, but that is worth a shot. After that, if it's still needed, I'd look at switching to a tubescreamer type pedal instead of the sd-1 or/and an eq pedal. Adding some mids will definitely help with tightening up the sound

I recently bought a lot of gear and watching these vids help. They go over loads of different players/bands and you can pick up some great tips.

Looking at the sound you want I would think the amp and the guitars should get somewhere in the area but maybe look at trying a few different high pedals like these....

When i was looking for the right pedals I ordered through Amazon as the are so easy to return and get your money, all online. Went through 10 or dirves and 6 or so Fuzz pedals before I was happy.

Environment can play a big role in how your tone sounds. I play in small bars and restaurants. There are times where the room has a good sound I feel like my tone soars. There are others where it sounds completely lifeless. In each case, I'm playing the same gear. If you are playing in a very small room it can have a big bearing.

Also, consider that your tone will sound different in isolation from "in the mix" (whether it be a backing track or in a band). When I get my tone to where it sounds good with the band, it's definitely not how I would have set it up in ilsolation.

It would be an interesting experiment if you could play that Blackstar at home somewhow to see if it's environment that's playing a big role.

Disclaimer: Not that familiar with any sort of metal.

Before throwing money at the problem with more gear, try the following...

All of these steps can be done with little to zero money added. So even if I post a video that has a product for sale, the intent is to do this without spending any more money.

Step 1: Re-EQ your guitars

I would start-over with twisting the knobs of your guitars. In other words, re-EQ. I know most simply dime both the volume and tone controls but maybe try having both the volume and the tone knobs at the top of the "sweet spot" rather than just dimed. That gives you some adjustment room.

Step 2: EQ your amp

I believe the key to high-gain is roll-off (reduce) the bass in the pre-amp section and add it back after the pre-amp and before the power-amp. This is what the "resonance" knob is supposed to do. So drop your bass knob to 0-4 and increase the resonance knob correspondingly.

Generally, people who play at low levels while practicing turn the treble way way up because it sounds "clearer" at that lower volume. Then at high volume it turns treble-y. I would get that clarity from turning down the gain a-bit and bumping the master volume a-bit.

The 2 standard approaches to EQ-ing your sound seem-to-be...

1. Find the "sweet spot" of dial sensitivity and adjust from there

2. Start with everything maxed and turn down what you don't like

I would do a hybrid and start with your EQ at the sweet spots for each and then subtract what you do not like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1dRBLZu1Og

I would start this process with a tone that is as clean as possible in each channel (drop the volume/gain to 0, turn up the master volume, and then add just enough gain to hear it well.

After you EQ each channel with a clean tone, you and dirty-up your dirty channels by doing the reverse. Add the level of gain you want (top of sweet spot) and then adjust the master as needed. Make slight adjustments to EQ.

Step 3: Adjust your pick-up height.

The first video really demonstrates the warbling you get with pickups that are too close. I know he is not your genre but the rumor is that SRV dcrewed his pickups to be as far away as possoble so he you almost dime his amp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqE1xMUvVq4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2biWMx6q8U8

Step 4: Block the beam with some DIY

Sound is very directional especially at higher frequencies. That is why your home theater systems has only 1 subwoofer but 4 high-frequency speakers to do the surround. There is a phenomenom called "beaming." Here is video showing beaming and 2 videos on cheap, DIY fixes for beaming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_BaO7Mg3oQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofy8Jz-HxBo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmECNGU-4HM

Step 3: Reduce your amp (or its power)

The Marshall DSL40c is a huge amp. Probably a little too large. Run it on half-power so you can push the master volume past 1.75.

Hope this helps.

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