Hi All,

I need a little bit of extra guidance in the everlasting quest for perfect tone. I know that everyone's perception of the "perfect" tone is different, so here's a few examples of the bands I listen to and thus, what kind of tone I'm after. Sikth, Meshuggah, Chimaira, Bury Your Dead, Soilwork, In Flames etc etc. Generally I want a very crisp and clear, yet booming metal tone. I have had problems "standing out" against other guitarists because of my tone, but I can't quite get it just so.

Here is a list of my gear:

Marshall JCM 2000TSL100 head w/ Marshall 1960A lead Cabinet.
Line 6 MM4 Distortion Modulator
(I run the Marshall on clean tone and use the MM4 for my distortion - I can't stand Amp distortion, even on a good valve amp!)
Boss Ns2 noise suppressor, Tu2 tuner, Tr2 tremolo, Ch1 Super Chorus
Ibanez LF7 lo-fi, ph7 Phaser, wd7 wah, de7 delay/echo.

I know most people dont really like the Ibanez effects, but as far as effects go, these were the better ones for my tastes.

I run an Ibanez SZ530 with it's stock pickups and a cheap (dont ask) les paul copy that I have modified heavily and dropped an EMG 85 into the bridge of.

I run it all in this manner:
Guitar > Tu2 > Ns2 > WD7 > MM4 > JCM2000 TSL

FX Send > LF7 > PH7 > DE7 > CH1 > TR2 > FX Return

I generally tune my guitars to Drop C (d,a,f,C,G,C), Drop B (c#,g#,e,B,F#,B), Drop A# (c,g,d#,A#,F,A#) and occasionally to a Hybrid version of Drop C# (d#,a#,f#,C#,G#,G# <No, that isn't a typo, it's a G# an octave below the fifth).

All of this gear was bought brand new quite recently (Except for the les-paul copy) and has been well looked after. I have been told that in order to get a clear but still very chunky low end, that I should replace the tubes in my head with 6550's?? I am willing to do this, I just need a few second opinions on any particular settings that I could try.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

L.

Before you do anything just buy an EQ and have a bash at shaping your sound that way. Some of the problem may be the TSL, its not really a typical Death/ Tech Metal amp.

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Iv'e been considering that, either a decent rack-mount one, or one of the boss GE7's, I've tried a Boss Bass EQ to compensate for the low tuning, but Maybe a Good rackmount one would shape it better.

Any recommendations??

the 2000 is a good metal amp.
get a decent eq.(mxr,boss,art)
get rid of those damn pedals,and buy a multi effect unit like the tc electronic g-major, then get a midi pedal board controller.
remember all those pedals your running is degrading your tone.
and jj's are good tubes for metal.

and you dont have to use eq pedals for your guitars "low-tuning",they're made for tone shaping. i use to play in f# for sshits and giggles and my tsl held up fine.

[QUOTE=disinformation](I run the Marshall on clean tone and use the MM4 for my distortion - I can't stand Amp distortion, even on a good valve amp!)[QUOTE]

I personally don't see how people can not like the sound of an overdriven tube amp. What amps have you tried before settling on your marshall? Just wondering about that because the tone your gunning for is what an ENGL powerball can do for you WITHOUT any pedals in front of it.

If you don't want to try a new amp though, the EQ will let you shape your tone a lot more then a 3-band one on an amp. Also, I'd have to recommend a parametric EQ over a graphic one because I like the way they shape the sound.

eeew sikth

all the pedals are going to be hindering your tone... you might want a linebooster for that. Another alternative is to switch out your guitars pots with 1megk ohm pots. Dont worry about the FX loop because they have line boosters built in, just increase the "send volume" a tad.

Heres the best way i find to get tone.
Remove ALLL effects. Find a decent tone from guitar to amp. Add each effect one at a time, and compensate for the tone suck with your EQ. If EQ cant do it, add a pedal EQ at the end of the line and/or a linebooster at the front.
Its a bitch, but honestly, it will help soooo much.

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I've heard many great things about ENGL, but unfortunately, In Australia, it's so hard to find a place or someone that has one to have a listen to it, it's even difficult to track down MESA/BOOGIE gear here... I hate this country. If I could find somewhere that I could try one, I would seriously considering upgrading... How about VHT gear? I've heard I can get a killer tone similar to what I'm after through their stuff, either that or Framus. I'll hunt around and see what I can find as far as ENGL goes, but in the mean time, I'll try the "remove each pedal and tweak the tone as I go" thing. Hopefully the re-sale on my gear would be reasonable enough to be able to afford new gear.

As for my effects, I could go for Rack gear with a midi controller, but there's no way I'd give it up, I have a very diverse style, lots of weird shit going on.

Any recommendations on a particular brand/model EQ in a rack model??

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Or you could be just losing all the 'stand-out' frequencies along your line.

I too would get rid of the pedals. Try using your effects loop, if you have one. That way, your guitar gets to your amp' first then it can go through the pedals.

I presume your 'hybrid-drop' G# is for playing Sikth?

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I do run them in the fx loop > look at the "diagram" I drew up, where it says FX send>pedal>pedal(etc)>FX Return

And yes, I use the hybrid for playing sikth (they use this tuning for a fair bit of the "Death Of A Dead Day" album, the rest of it is drop C#) plus some stuff I have written, it's a very fun tuning to play in, a bit sketchy at first, but after a while, its great fun.

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You certainly arent going to get anywhere with that Line6 Distortion Modeler. They are great for bedroom practice and maybe recording but not for live stuff. The TSL's arent the greatest amps in the world for that style of music. As far as the effects go, every one of those should go in your effects loop except the Wah. I would definitely recommend a tube swap. Get some JJ 12AX7's to put in the pre and if your amp has a 6L6/EL34 switch on the back, switch that to 6L6's and drop in either some Winged C 6L6's or some JJ's.

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Don't use the Line6 piece of shit for your tone, please don't, you're better off selling it and buying beer!
Your TSL100 needs to be cranked to get good tone out of it, you can't play those buggers at bedroom levels and get great one out of 'em unless you got a Hotplate. Don't use a bloody pedal for your distortion, that way you're using £800 of amp for £50 of distortion!!

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I play it in a studio... cranked up, as all good valve amps should be played... But the amp distortion still blows big, leathery chunks. I only know one other person who prefers to use a distortion pedal in front of the amp as opposed to the amps distortion. I'l muck around with it when i go up there later on, and I'll try getting hold of An MXR KFK 10 band EQ, or a Boss EQ-20 - Anyone have anything good/bad/neutral to say about either of these units?

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I've had a look at the ENGL Website and spotted the Special Edition E60 EL34. It looks great, what's everyones thoughts on these?? What would be a good cabinet to run it with (preferably ENGL to match - I'm pretty meticulous with stuff like that)?? and What is the Retail pricing (In your countries dollar value, so I can convert it to AUD) of these babies?? - I can't find anything on the net as far as Australian Pricing, except for the Distributor (Inter music Australia) of ENGL.

Put it this way, to me, money is no issue (just an issue of time) when it comes to good sound.

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Price: one arm, both legs.
Isnt it something like 3200$ US?

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... And a left nut

I had a look on Harmony Central, and one guy paid $3799 (USD) for one - that's just the head itself. So I'm looking at nearly $4600 (AUD), I seriously doubt I would find one second hand. I have emailed the Australian distributor of ENGL for an "up to date" Australian R.R.P. for the head and a suitable cabinet, hopefully, I can work out a deal for the rig (I used to work in a guitar shop... I am kicking myself that i'm not still there).

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not to say that the marshall doesn'tr sound good, but with those styles of tones, you're probably better off with an amp that's darker and more on the low end.

Heres some ideas which i'm surpised havent popped up yet.
Crate Blue Voodoo --> all the clean headroom you want for your pedals, and can also have rediculous gain.
Peavey 5150/6505 (same thing) --> cheap, high gain, insane in the membrane.
Engl Powerball/fireball --> both have good gain and cleans, but are more pricey than the BV or 5150.

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It's interesting to see the tolerance level here has increased dramatically. I can recall what would happen to someone stating he's using a distortion pedal in front of a $1500 amp two years ago.

I'm guessing that you're speaking in USD, it was about $2600 AUD and the pedal was about $700 AUD, I just prefer the sound of it to the amps distortion, and on top of that, I get a hell of a lot of noise when I run the amp distortion (Even with a noise supressor - This can't be normal).

And I know what you mean, people must have given up on the idea of having a go at someone just because they do something different.

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I got a reply from the Australian distributor of ENGL... The news is Bleak Ladies & Gents. Australian R.R.P. on the ENGL Special Edition is $6999... I know I said money is no issue - but no amp is worth that much - honestly, what, does it suck your d**k too?? It might as well.
I think I'll have a look at the Invader150 at $4999, it's slightly more affordable, or yet again, the powerball at $3999.

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dude if you're in sydney try billy hyde for ENGL stuff, that's where I ordered my e530 pre amp, they have had a few ENGL amps in stock when I've been in there so they're worth a try...

powerball is not going to steer you wrong,they're worth every penny.
or you could do rack unit shit. they're loads of fun.
get the engl 570 or 580
then a poweramp (engl, mesa, vht)
multi fx
power conditioner
noise gate and your set for life nigga