need tips on amp settings

[rx7]

Hey guys, i was wondering if you guys have any tips on amp and metal zone settings for metal music? Just want it loud and clear and not too much of feedback. Thanks bros

 

[teleholic]

if you're looking for megadeth and metallica style thrash tones, scoop your mids i.e. bring down the mids..if you're looking for a more modern metal sound like today's metal bands say, lamb of god or killswitch engage, then bring up the mids..the gain, bass and treble to your liking..hope that helps!

 

[mikemann]

I think what you are looking for is a guitar with humbuckers in the neck and bridge. You should be able to tweak the sound your are looking for. If not than it's your playing style and understanding at fault.

 

[serialninja]

If not than it's your playing style and understanding at fault.

i think the reason why he's asking is because he doesn't know. :roll: that's usually why people ask questions. we're here to help each other understand, not to tell others that they don't understand.

rx7's question was about amp and metal zone settings, not pickups, so let's stick to that.

if you're a bedroom player and want a "big" kinda muddy sound ala Korn, you may want to scoop your eq (which Jem accurately described as turning down your mids). if you want an As I Lay Dying type of guitar sound with more projection and clarity, and less wall-of-sound effect, you may want to try boosting your mids.

as a rule of thumb, if you're playing with a band, recording, or playing live, you should always boost your mids, no matter what. this is because when playing in a group or recording, you have to keep in mind that your bass frequencies will be dominated by the bassist's, and your high frequencies will be dominated by the cymbals. the guitar is primarily a mid-range frequency instrument, so keep it in mind and eq your sound accordingly to boost your mids so that you can be heard in the mix.

you also want to turn down (yes! down!!) your level of distortion. the heavy sound doesn't actually come from how much distortion you use, but rather your playing technique. if you use aggressive strumming/picking and tight palm muting, you'll sound heavy even with much less distortion. using less distortion is advantageous because it gives your playing much more clarity (along with boosted mids), so you don't end up sounding like a wall of mush.

as far as feedback prevention goes, it's not hard. feedback is essentially when you end up with a signal/sound that loops to infinity. e.g. if you have a microphone pointing at a monitor then a sound that goes into the microphone goes out the monitor, which projects the sound back at the microphone, which sends it out the monitor, which projects the sound back at the microphone, ad infinitum. just make sure that your strings aren't vibrating and that your guitar isn't near your amp speakers. it also helps to turn off your distortion when you're not playing, or turn your volume knob down.

conversely, if you want to create some nice feedback, an easy way to do it is to turn on your distortion pedal while your volume knob is off, hit a 12th fret harmonic of an open string, wait a second or two, and then turn up your volume while your guitar is facing your amp speaker(s). your 12th fret harmonic will start feedbacking and if you have a wah pedal activated you can control the frequencies of the feedback that you want to hear.

cheers!
- serialninja

ps. honestly, the metalzone is a really poor distortion pedal, and if you want some good distortion you may want to look into getting something a little better. the Big Muff Pi is great for fuzz/high gain sounds and seems to work really well especially with single coil pickups and P90s, the ProCo Rat Vintage is great for overdrive to rock distortion, the SansAmp GT2 is an amazing amp+distortion-modelling pedal, and you could also check out some boutique distortion pedals such as the Tonebone and such if you don't have budget constraints that are too tight.

 

[djanggo]

i agree to that,tweaking the middle is important to make your sound stands out in the mix and for cut through solos or even rhythm playing.Mid-scoop is a bad idea unless you are the only guitarist in the band.But metal zone is actually ok for metal.Only the mid eq wasnt that good enough.Metal zone are not harsh sounding or too sharp.

 

[penguin]

on the subject of middle...
just control one mid...i mean u cannot have a heavy mid on the amp and the metalzone..the same goes for tone on the dist and the treble or presence on the amp..

abt the feedback issue, it could be too much gain

 

[sadiq_gravity]

speaking of metal zones... where can i go to rent metal zones ?

 

[serialninja]

why on earth would anyone want to rent a metalzone? 8O i'm sure there must be much better pedals available for rent.

 

[Metallando]

speaking of metal zones... where can i go to rent metal zones ?

err....even if u really want to rent........i think buying one would be better....2nd hand can get cheap....