How do i get this tone (guitar)?

Question:i like it that Otep's guitars are very clear, yet still distorted and metal sounding. also, i like the tone for the tag before the second prechorus in A Farewell to arms by machine head.

both sound muddy and distorted, yet clear and defined.

how do i get that general tone with EQ dials and distortion? if i cant tell me how i can...

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: i like it that Otep's guitars are very clear, yet still distorted and metal sounding. also, i like the tone for the tag before the second prechorus in A Farewell to arms by machine head.

both sound muddy and distorted, yet clear and defined.

how do i get that general tone with EQ dials and distortion? if i cant tell me how i can...

My advice would be to dial down some of your bass *before* it reaches your amp. Bass = warmth, but too much of it = mud. By cutting your lower mids (300-800 hz depending on the guitar) and lowest lows (below 200 hz, esp below 100hz) you will trade off some of your warmth and some of your distortion for clarity. I prefer to cut before I boost, but you can also try boosting a few db around 3khz - this helps define your "attack" frequencies.

So, do all that before your amp. On your amp itself, start with your mids between 50 and 75% and treble and bass all the way down. Balance your gain and treble until it sounds about right. Now you can add in a bit of bass for warmth and not muddy farty noise.

Keep your gain low - it basically should never be over half-way. The more gain = less note clarity. You'll have to use your ears, as these are just guidelines.... the final result will depend on your guitar, pickups, amp, and speakers - and playing volume, believe it or not. Different volumes will require different eq tweaks.

I used to crank my mids all the way, but at loud volumes I was having problems with feedback and this weird chiming quality to my tone, so I'm now playing with my mids closer to halfway than fully up. I prefer it over cutting mids because that's where your volume is at - cutting mids means you lose all of your volume, and you'll no longer cut through a mix, you'll just disappear.

Playing through a tube amp helps.

If you don't like your amp's distortion, you can try pumping it up with a DS-1 or a Rat, or running something like a Metal Zone through your clean channel. I like the Metal Zone, it's a pretty sweet heavy pedal, one of the best. The Boss OD-20 is an amazingly versatile pedal as well, it can do any number of different Boss pedals very well. It's Rat model is pretty good, and its DS-1 and MT-2 emulations are as good as the originals. Consider it.

PS I feel the same way about Mastodon's guitars... clear and defined yet metal as hell.

Saul

Probably need a new amp or pedals. You can get really good VOX amps with pretty much all of the sound possible on them.

A Boss Heavy Metal Pedal is pretty close to what you're talking about. Gary Moore has used one for several years. Try the YouTube link of him I'll leave and see if it's close to what you're after.