Tera-pies

Now that I'm officially assignmentless, all these random post ideas are starting to come in. I'm sure every guitar player who frequently delve in the realm of distortion would have his or her idea of what their ideal high-gain tone would sound like; tight, punchy, boomy, etc. For me, there's definitely sponginess involved. But it's gotta be clear enough for full complex chords to ring, while at the same time, keeping metallic riffs and chugs tight and chunky. Anyway, for this first part, we shall be looking at 3 of my absolute favourite high gain tones, both in studio and live(yes, I too find it weird that all 3 band names start with A);

1. Alice In Chains

Guitarist of interest; Jerry Cantrell

This would be the starting point towards my holy grail of heavy guitar tone. Once I'm able to dial in a similar tone such as this on any pedal or amp, I'm a happy camper. This is more or less the type of sound I set my main distortion pedal/amp too, and then use another pedal(either an eq or overdrive) to bump up the frequencies for the aforementioned "metal chugs".

2. Alter Bridge

Guitarist of interest; Myles Kennedy(left track)

While Mr Tremonti will always be the resident six-stringed backbone of Alter Bridge, I tend to favour Mr Kennedy's live and studio tone more. It's not as "in your face" or "all-out metal" as Mark's. "Super-charged classick rock" would be a good way of describing his sound. It's also the reason why I will forever be intrigued by Diezel amps(although I wouldn't necessarily own one...there's no practical reason for me to fork out that much cash on an amplifier).

3. Abingdon Boys School

Guitarist of interest; Hiroshi Shibasaki(right track)



In a similar gear-related sense, Mr Shibasaki is the reason why I'm enamored by Music Man guitars; specifically the Luke models, as well making me rediscover the beauty and versatility of a HSS config strat-style guitar. I also consider him as a huge influence in my playing; not that I'm anywhere near his level, but I really appreciate his blues-meets-jazz-inspired lead work, 80s-effect-laden textures and making use of prog-ish chord progressions in a catchy, mainstream setting.

My go-to high gain tone is more to the "modern rock"/"alternative metal" side of things. Believe it or not, it's quite hard to find a pedal that can do that in its stock form. The best results are still best achieved with an amp. Even then, not all high gain amps have that balance of sponginess-meets-clarity-meets-tightness that I mentioned earlier. At the top of my head, I can only think of these names; Marshall JVM, Orange Rockerverb, Diezels, ENGLs, PRS Archon(I've only had first hand experience with the first 2 amps...the latter 3 belum try lagi, just basing it on youtube reviews and live/studio tones of other bands).

So the key here is "heavier-than-most-mainstream, but still relatively 'tame' than straight-up metal"(and that I also tend to favor warmer rhythm-friendly tones than sizzling cutting lead tones). There's this studio back home that a friend of mine works/frequents. The main room has a Marshall JVM combo and a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier stack. I would always make a beeline for the JVM straight away. Right off the bat, it's got that particular sound I like.

As an amateur, semi-intermediate guitarist, I'm in search of a rig that's both portable and more importantly, practical(c'mon, lugging 2 tube heads memang out of the picture la), yet still have a really good sound(see that, not decent, but REALLY GOOD). Thus, my options are limited to either modeling gear, like your Line 6s and Digitechs, or analog distortion pedals. While I'm not necessarily a tube snob, and can competently dial in tones on both forms of guitar technology, I do prefer pedals, just because it's a whole lot simpler, and there's just much less things to go wrong.

So recently I've been trying a MXR Superbadass distortion pedal at the store in the CBD, and I've gotta say I'm in love with it. It's got plenty of gain and character on its own, without mushing out or being too fizzy(typically speaking, most "high gain" pedals will have that problem). It really does sound like a dirty channel of an amp. It can go from light break up to Mastodon-heavy distortion. Frankly, that's more gain than I'll ever really need. Over the years, I've learned to be more particular about the overall eq of the tone, rather than just diming the gain for saturation and chunk. On both occasions, I've used a secondary pedal to help bump up the needed frequencies for my riffy metallic stuff. The first time, I used a MXR GT-OD(basically MXR's version of the infamous Tubescreamer), and for the second, I used an Earthquaker Devices Tone Job EQ pedal. Personally, I prefer the second round of testing. Boosting a distorted signal with an EQ pedal allows for more fine tuned tone sculpting, without the need to add more gain. I was able to get Myles Kennedy's live tone through a very bright, "clean" setup; I used a Fender Deluxe Lonestar Strat with a maple fretboard, through a fender combo(if I'm not mistaken, it was a Hot Rod Deville). Imagine that? Best of both worlds! I can do poppy-clean, Paramore/Hush Sound stuff, and immediately switch to Alter Bridge/Abingdon Boys School with a tap. Another tap(for the EQ pedal), and I was in KSE territory.

Since I wasn't able to record any samples, here are some demos from youtube to give you a rough idea of what this pedal is capable of;

The Marshall JVM isn't exactly the most sought after amp in the history of guitar amplification, let alone the history of high gain amplification. But it is, at least to me, an underrated workhorse, allowing any guitarists to dial a myriad of guitar tones on the fly; from passable cleans to heavy downtuned metal, and almost everything in between.

Right off the bat, you'll be happy to note that the Weehbo JVM Drive comes with a 3-band eq. I feel that any so-called high gain or amp-replacement pedal should at least have separate knobs for bass, middle and treble; it just makes it easier to fine tune and sculpt tones than with a single tone knob. The eq knobs on this pedal is quite responsive though. I hate to use this cliche, but it does feel amp-like in terms of how it responds. This could work as the perfect backup rig, or on gigs where you can't get a particular high gain amp that you like.

There are quite a few interesting features on here as well. The first is a 9v-18v dynamic internal supply voltage switch. This essentially adjusts the amount of headroom the pedal would be able to dish out, thus changing the overall feel and sound being produced;

9v setting;

The keywords here are compressed, squashed, focused, tight, and modern. This setting is perfect for the "modern" sounding distortion dwellers like yours truly, or if you're the type of person who plays in low volume.

18v setting;

This adds more headroom and definition to the distortion. Think of a more open and classic-rock inspired sound. It's also perfect if you need your sound to cut through a mix, without being too shrill or piercy.

Then there's the input knob. I've never really had experience with input knobs with other distortion pedals before, so it was a first for me. What this knob does, is essentially controlling the level of impedance, and according to the website, "amount of bass". "So there's basically two bass knobs?", you're thinking. Not quite. I think the input knob adjusts the "sag" of the distortion, which I guess does affect how "bassy" your tone would sound. It's a lot easier to understand when you twiddle this knob around when playing palm muted riffs. It's that extra "thunk" you get when you palm mute.

Let's not forget that this is a 2 channel pedal! The easiest way for me to differentiate the two channels is that channel 1 would be your rhythm channel, while 2 is for your lead, as it's got more compression and more bite. In channel 2 you basically get more sizzle, but lose some of the chunk. Perfect for leads. It's also good for thrash. But I personally wouldn't use channel 2 for modern metal riffing. The better route for that would be to pair channel 1 with another overdrive or eq pedal(I used a Xotic BB Preamp for this demo, which did wonders!). In terms of gain, channel 1 starts of at Green Day/Billy Talent like overdrive-distortion, and cranking it all the way towards the end, and you can get up to modern rock/post hardcore territory, minus the mud and over-fizziness.

So to recap; a handbuilt J-rock/modern rock in a box pedal from Germany, with super responsive, amp-like distortion and tonal shaping. Is it worth the price? That's up to you to decide.