# "Good" Black Metal Tone On A Budget



## AngryMcMuffin (Apr 12, 2014)

Obviously, when you're going for a Black Metal guitar tone it being "good" is very subjective. But, I was on another forum and someone was asking about how to get a lo-fi super distorted tone, and he wanted to spend as little money as possible. I mean, I'm not going to get into amps because a tube amp will always be your best bet for anything. I'm talking about a pedal you can buy and use really simply for this sort of lo-fi "classic" Black Metal tone you hear on Mayhem's earliest albums or Burzum's Filosoflem. (Which was a Boss Metal Zone MT-2 plugged straight into what he was recording with.) But that's not how we're getting this sort of sound.
Go out and buy a Danelectro Black Coffee Distortion pedal. Though they may be somewhat noisey and have no gain adjustment, this is why it works so well. I bought one for those reasons and that it has tons of high end, but can still crank out a lot of bass. Anyhow, I do plan to get rid of the noise with mine by modding it, (I'll let you all know how that goes) and then it will be wonderful for "old school" or "classic" Black Metal playing.
To quote one user's comment I read on the other forum; "Just turn your amp's kvlt switch to the on position." I now have a "kvlt switch" that's actually existent, and super cheap. So if you have a desire for that horrid tone, as I do occasionally, run out and buy this at Guitar Center or a pawn shop or anywhere with used pedals.


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## Devyn Eclipse Nav (Apr 12, 2014)

First of all, WHAT IS WITH YOUR FONT GOOD LORD

Also that does sound like a good idea. I'm picking up a Boss OD-20 and kinda hoping the HM-2 model is up to snuff, but we'll see.


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## Loomer (Apr 13, 2014)

Heh, I actually have one of those.


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## Grindspine (Apr 13, 2014)

I consider it less "black metal" and more "industrial noise", but I keep an old DOD Corrosion pedal around for when I want to add some texture noise to my rig as opposed to a tight, musical tone. I think it's fairly close to what you're mentioning though.

Also, OP's font was comic sans; I do not know why.


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## JonusGrumby (Apr 13, 2014)

I'm more of an OD guy than a distortion type.
But, I constantly review gear and sometimes get a pedal that surprises the Hell out of me.
Some good suggestions for a black metal tone straight into a clean channel:

Boss Metal Core
Akai Distortion Factory (this little gem does it ALL)
Boss Metal Zone with Twilight Zone mod (easy to do)


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## Necris (Apr 13, 2014)

Alternatively, buy an old Peavey Bandit; dime the distortion, turn up loud, set eq to taste. Boom, black metal tone. For whatever reason they do it really well, you probably won't even need to bother with pedals.
Emperors "In the Nightside Eclipse" features one.
The early burzum albums before filosofem likely feature one as well based on vargs description.

Tube amps are fun, but for black metal they're hardly a necessity considering a few bands, most notably Burzum as you mentioned, have bypassed amplifiers completely and gotten good black metal tones.
The guitars for Emperors "As the Shadows Rise" EP were allegedly recorded without any amps at all, just a guitar into a Digitech Death Metal pedal direct into whatever it was they used to record.


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## Cobhc221 (Apr 14, 2014)

orrrrrrrrrrr you can just buy a used 5150 block lettered model with a mesa boogie rectifier cab with a Maxon 808 overdrive and call it a day?


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Apr 14, 2014)

Cobhc221 said:


> orrrrrrrrrrr you can just buy a used 5150 block lettered model with a mesa boogie rectifier cab with a Maxon 808 overdrive and call it a day?



You've never heard a black metal song in your life, haven't you?


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## User Name (Apr 14, 2014)

Cobhc221 said:


> orrrrrrrrrrr you can just buy a used 5150 block lettered model with a mesa boogie rectifier cab with a Maxon 808 overdrive and call it a day?



 this brings the chucklz


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## MrNotFlyWhiteGuy (Apr 14, 2014)

gonna put in my vote for the digitech death metal. its 50 bucks and doesn't sound very good for most applications but I think it might be able to do black metal pretty well


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## Leuchty (Apr 14, 2014)

Valnott pedal...


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## Shimme (Apr 14, 2014)

My tube peavey vypyr using the XR wild pedal on the twin reverb model actually sounds pretty good


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## Klaptrap (Apr 14, 2014)

Sorry whats the difference between black metal tone and other metals?


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## sylcfh (Apr 14, 2014)

Black metal tone on a budget is a redundant statement.


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## Andromalia (Apr 14, 2014)

If you can find one, DOD's old Thrash Metal pedal will do it. Plus, a pink pedal live will have a true "I don't care about conformity" meaning. 



> Sorry whats the difference between black metal tone and other metals?


No milk. No sugar.


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## Vostre Roy (Apr 14, 2014)

Andromalia said:


> No milk. No sugar.









Back on topic, I'd say get a good Solid State amp (Marshall or Randall) and add some more distortion through a pedal or something.

Probably a good Mesa could do the trick too


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## Shimme (Apr 14, 2014)

Klaptrap said:


> Sorry whats the difference between black metal tone and other metals?



There aren't any hard and fast rules, but generally speaking it doesn't really have the low mid punch of death metal, and it has super high treble with ridiculous amounts of gain that give a biting, but not super defined "buzzsaw" sound.


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## minorseventh (Apr 14, 2014)

Euronymous a played a Les Paul into a JCM 800 with Mayhem. Emperors early stuff was played with Marshall Valvestates. Theres no rules. its whatever works, but generally you want the warmth sucked out of your tone.

I like a Danelectro EQ pedal into ANY amp, with the frown curve boosted. its such a noisy shitty little pedal.. its like blasphemy in a box.


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## Les (Apr 15, 2014)

Find the shittiest cheapo amp you can find, turn the gain up all the way, and play the shit out of it until it blows up. THAT is Black Metal.


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## crg123 (Apr 15, 2014)

Zeno said:


> First of all, WHAT IS WITH YOUR FONT GOOD LORD



 Glad I'm not the only one..

Also.. This!



Les said:


> Find the shittiest cheapo amp you can find, turn the gain up all the way, and play the shit out of it until it blows up. THAT is Black Metal.



I vote for a blown Gorilla amp with a boss metal zone or a DOD Thrash pedal as mentioned earlier. I had it and man that thing sounded totally Kvlt with its Pink color to balance out the fun/ demonic sound of a tru black metal band...



...sorry couldn't resist! In reality, there aren't any rules just experiment with what you have, that's what they did! Good luck!


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## ErkerAsylum (Apr 15, 2014)

MrNotFlyWhiteGuy said:


> gonna put in my vote for the digitech death metal. its 50 bucks and doesn't sound very good for most applications but I think it might be able to do black metal pretty well



Thats awesome. Black metal in a nutshell right? Most people think it sounds like arse but its actually kind of awesome. (well to me anyways)

Also I've totally used the Metal zone straight into an interface before, as mentioned in the initial post; it does work pretty well for kind of an "awful in a good way" sounds. Putting that with a TS9 tube screamer might be even more crispy.... I am curious to investigate this Twilight zone mod mentioned above as well. Hail satan  haha


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## bloodstaindewok (Apr 15, 2014)

The other guitarist I play with has a Crate GTX3500H head that he bought used from Guitar Center for $175. As long as you aren't tube snobbin' that thing definitely gets black metal and beyond without the need for any pedals at all. It's also going through an oversized 4 x 12 that he built himself out of birch ply from a local store and is loaded with B-52 AT-1512 (or whatever that number is that they have when they come out of the AT-412 cabs) speakers. That setup in total set him back less than $400 and not only is it gig worthy, it's extremely convincing. I play tubes myself, but I have no complaints when I jam with him. Thing has headroom for days and as an added bonus, it actually does other sounds well also!


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## Floppystrings (Apr 15, 2014)

This is a good black metal tone:



So is this:



Both are 5150s.

If you like the buzzy hi-fi black metal tone:



I have been able to achieve the third ultra buzzy tone by using dual preamps in line with each other, almost using one preamp as an ultra powerfull overdrive/distortion/fuzz, it isn't easy to achieve though.

Black metal tones don't need to sound horrible...in fact, all a black metal tone is, is more mids and a touch of delay/reverb. In some cases, you might actually want to use less distortion for clarity when playing chords.

Here is an example of barely any gain, in a brutal BM song:


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## Floppystrings (Apr 15, 2014)

AngryMcMuffin said:


> I'm talking about a pedal you can buy and use really simply for this sort of lo-fi "classic" Black Metal tone you hear on Mayhem's earliest albums or Burzum's Filosoflem. (Which was a Boss Metal Zone MT-2 plugged straight into what he was recording with.)



He used ""used only the amplifier on my brother's stereo (that of course was not intended for that use) and some old fuzz pedals." not a metalzone.


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## Floppystrings (Apr 15, 2014)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> You've never heard a black metal song in your life, haven't you?



But Mayhem and Burzum both use 5150s on their later material, and it sounds great.


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## JPhoenix19 (Apr 15, 2014)

Check out a Peavey XXL or similar solid-state amp. Hell, even a bass amp with a distortion pedal would work.

Or just go to a pawn shop and pick the first thing you see.


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## All_¥our_Bass (Apr 15, 2014)

Fabtone Metal, I have one and love it.


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## Les (Apr 16, 2014)

^^^Varg jammin' in socks. Awesome^^^


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## patata (Apr 16, 2014)

Comic Sans,why....


























why...






























why...




























Black metal on a budget


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## Grindspine (Apr 16, 2014)

Andromalia said:


> If you can find one, DOD's old Thrash Metal pedal will do it. Plus, a pink pedal live will have a true "I don't care about conformity" meaning.
> 
> 
> No milk. No sugar.


 
The DOD Death Metal, Corrosion pedal, Thrash, or Metal X would work well. Granted, some of those are based on the Grunge circuit, but they do nail the right upper frequencies.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Apr 16, 2014)

Floppystrings said:


> But Mayhem and Burzum both use 5150s on their later material, and it sounds great.



But you can get a Peavey Bandit cheaper than you can get a 5150, OD808, and a Mesa 4x12.


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## TubeTone (Apr 16, 2014)

sylcfh said:


> Black metal tone on a budget is a redundant statement.



lol'ed my ass off  so much this


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## Stijnson (Apr 16, 2014)

I'll sell you my boss gt8 for next to nothing, plug it into the cheapest laptop speakers and bam, instant kvlt like tones  The amp models have so much fizz in them I think they were actually designed with BM players in mind .Besides, it is a black metal box too, what more do you need?! 

Cool to see Varg in a real studio, using real equipment. Never thought that would happen. I guess even he has the occasional GAS.


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## Cobhc221 (Apr 17, 2014)

Floppystrings said:


> But Mayhem and Burzum both use 5150s on their later material, and it sounds great.



proof. thank you . 

you could go old school and getta randall


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## Devyn Eclipse Nav (Apr 17, 2014)

Decided to report back that, yes, the HM-2 model on the Boss OD-20 is up to snuff. Throw that in front of the Blackface Normal model of the POD HD500X with some reverb and you're instantly walking in the forests of norway 

A Bandit would be tempting, however, for trve kvlt


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## sl0th (Apr 17, 2014)

How about EH Metal Muff with Top Boost?

Top Boost... Our base player really calls it "that black metal switch"


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## Orgalmer (Apr 17, 2014)

MrNotFlyWhiteGuy said:


> gonna put in my vote for the digitech death metal. its 50 bucks and doesn't sound very good for most applications but I think it might be able to do black metal pretty well



Holy shit someone thought the same thing as me.

Seriously? Just get a Digitech Death Metal pedal, plug the "direct" out into your DAW and record. Instant black metal. You have to remember that if it doesn't sound like complete shit it isn't troo cvlt.

EDIT: went back and re-read the entire OP, I'm still convinced my above suggestion is a good one, especially for a budget.


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## All_¥our_Bass (Apr 17, 2014)

sl0th said:


> How about EH Metal Muff with Top Boost?


This works too (I also own a Metal Muff), but not nearly as 'budget' as the fabtone.

On the plus side the Metal Muff is much more versatile, the Fab only does Black Metal, or a 'fizzy' Thrash tone-think of the very first power rangers theme, but with more gain and highs. lol



sl0th said:


> Our bass player really calls it "that black metal switch"


Pretty much.

What I do for Black metal on the Metal Muff, crank the treble, top boost, and the gain.
Leave the mids and bass as is or only adjust slightly.

You can bring the gain down if you want a cleaner, but still 'icy/sharp' tone.

The way I use the Metal Muff for my more usual 'thrash/death'-ish tone is exactly the same as my BM settings, except I leave the top boost OFF.


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## AngryMcMuffin (Dec 7, 2014)

Sorry to everybody! I forgot to follow this post, so it's probably ancient history by now! All really good ideas! I have acquired a several good budget BM pedals and whatnot at this point. Not because I can't afford better, I just wanted some budget stuff for the heck of it. I already have a Gorilla GG20R amp that I do enjoy for bedroom practice of all types though, granted it isn't blown. The Danelectro Black Coffee is super kvlt because it has no gain control. It's noisey and a tone sucker, but it gets the sounds I want it to. I also got a $15 Rat/Turbo Rat clone, if you dime the gain it's really nice for tremolo picking based BM or even overly distorted chords. I have found myself using less gain since I picked up a Peavey VTM 60 amp tube head and a Ampeg Superjet SJ-12T tube combo. But I like the buzzsaw sound for the lo-fi make your ears bleed but you love it sort of feeling.


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## Konfyouzd (Dec 7, 2014)

I thought that's how black metal tone was always made... On a budget...

(I kid... Kinda...)

Edit: 'd


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## Goatfork (Dec 7, 2014)




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## spn_phoenix_92 (Dec 7, 2014)

Tr00 kvlt black metal tone is a Hello Kitty strat plugged into a Danelectro Fab Metal pedal into a Roland Cube 

But in all seriousness the Digitech Death Metal route is a pretty good one. My manager makes some old styled Black Metal & what he does is play with a Death Metal pedal thru a cheap peavey amp & record with an old tape deck with a blanket on the mic, & it actually sounds spot on for that.


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## AngryMcMuffin (Dec 7, 2014)

spn_phoenix_92 said:


> Tr00 kvlt black metal tone is a Hello Kitty strat plugged into a Danelectro Fab Metal pedal into a Roland Cube
> 
> But in all seriousness the Digitech Death Metal route is a pretty good one. My manager makes some old styled Black Metal & what he does is play with a Death Metal pedal thru a cheap peavey amp & record with an old tape deck with a blanket on the mic, & it actually sounds spot on for that.



That is awesome, and I give the Hello Kitty strat an A++.


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## Loomer (Dec 7, 2014)

Actually, this is a Metal Zone (bought used and modded), into Behringer GDI21 (Sansamp GT2) and then straight to soundcard, with only a little verb. 
Actual metal begins at the three-minute mark. 
https://soundcloud.com/doktorlummer/i-redux


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## KailM (Dec 7, 2014)

I'm kind of late to the party on this one -- but my take is that for black metal, you just use what you have. I happen to have a 6505+ and it sounds amazing for BM. I think the "lofi/no bass/gain to 11" days have passed. It's been done. A lot of newer bands + older BM bands recording new material are actually using "decent" tone these days. Immortal's last few albums had what I consider "good" tone (tone that non-BM fans might actually enjoy). Yet the music is in no way less "kvlt."

It's really A LOT more about the playing style/techniques than anything. I write a lot of BM stuff -- and there have been times where I've switched the amp over to clean and was astonished to discover that it still really sounds like black metal...

Just my opinions, obviously.


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## lewis (Dec 7, 2014)

*how to get a black metal tone*




+





simple


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## Vostre Roy (Dec 7, 2014)

I could dial some good black metal tones with that pedal when I ran it through my Fender FM212R. Notice the lack of gain knob on that pedal: its always on max.


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## SilentCartographer (Jan 10, 2015)

For live, block letter 5150, drop the bass and resonance. Or for recording, peavey rage 15 watt or any shitty small combo amp with sketchy gain.


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## SilentCartographer (Jan 10, 2015)

For a "true Kvlt black metalist kreig" tone


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## monkeysuncle (Jan 10, 2015)

Would highly recommend the DOD Death Metal!


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## Spaced Out Ace (Jan 10, 2015)

Necris said:


> Alternatively, buy an old Peavey Bandit; dime the distortion, turn up loud, set eq to taste. Boom, black metal tone. For whatever reason they do it really well, you probably won't even need to bother with pedals.
> Emperors "In the Nightside Eclipse" features one.
> The early burzum albums before filosofem likely feature one as well based on vargs description.
> 
> ...



Didn't Varg also say that he plugged a fuzz straight into a home stereo as well?


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## Spaced Out Ace (Jan 10, 2015)

KailM said:


> I'm kind of late to the party on this one -- but my take is that for black metal, you just use what you have. I happen to have a 6505+ and it sounds amazing for BM. I think the "lofi/no bass/gain to 11" days have passed. It's been done. A lot of newer bands + older BM bands recording new material are actually using "decent" tone these days. Immortal's last few albums had what I consider "good" tone (tone that non-BM fans might actually enjoy). Yet the music is in no way less "kvlt."
> 
> It's really A LOT more about the playing style/techniques than anything. I write a lot of BM stuff -- *and there have been times where I've switched the amp over to clean and was astonished to discover that it still really sounds like black metal...*
> 
> Just my opinions, obviously.



You may've just created a new sub-sub genre of Black Metal.


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## p4vl (Apr 9, 2015)

Up from the tombs it comes...



minorseventh said:


> Euronymous a played a Les Paul into a JCM 800 with Mayhem.



There are 800's and there are 800's. Euro played a '76 LP into an '81 JCM800 Superlead w/4 inputs (not a 2203 like every other thrash band used, more like a plexi w/several early 80's upgrades). 

Later on, he replaced his LP's stock T-Top bridge with something like a Super Distortion (around the time of that delightful tour of Eastern Germany). So the chain towards the end of his life was: LP into Overdrive (possibly an arion OD, possibly a ts9) into Arion Metal Master into Marshall. And who in the hell knows what goodies were available at Grieghallen, so it's useless to speculate unless you talk to Pytten.

It's been said that Euro had his Marshall modified before recording De Mysteriis, but I think he was too broke to have had any major surgery done. I'm thinking he added a loop (he did use modulation pedals, sparingly) or changed the power tubes to something with a bit more weight. 

Arion Metal Master kicks ass. It's helped to cure me of one of my bad habits: excessive palm muting. Palm muting with an OD into a Metal master sounds terrible; strumming chords and tremolo sounds damned good.


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## Spaced Out Ace (Apr 9, 2015)

The Metal Master is a ....ing piece of .... [probably bested only by the Black Coffee from Dano], which makes it perfect for Mayhem.


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## p4vl (Apr 10, 2015)

Spaced Out Ace said:


> The Metal Master is a ....ing piece of .... [probably bested only by the Black Coffee from Dano], which makes it perfect for Mayhem.



I just got one (metal Master). I love it. I'll take Euronymous' lo-fi tone over the modern 6505+/Recto/EMG81 sound-alikes.

Blasphemer, who took Euronymous' place in Mayhem, used a Crate Blue Voodoo; which is essentially a tube amp version of the Arion Metal Master, so...

While we're talking about horrible Dano pedals I'd just like to mention the Fab Tone. It was great when I was 16 but who designs a pedal where you have to dial the treble back to .00005 or else it turns into, well, bad black metal.


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## Shimme (Apr 10, 2015)

Hard to quote on my phone, but KailM is on to something with his remark about using the clean channels on an amp. Listen to the guitar tone on any Deathspell Omega album, there's barely any distortion on it at all and they make some of the most sinister, 'evil' BM known to man.


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## Spaced Out Ace (Apr 10, 2015)

p4vl said:


> I just got one (metal Master). I love it. I'll take Euronymous' lo-fi tone over the modern 6505+/Recto/EMG81 sound-alikes.
> 
> Blasphemer, who took Euronymous' place in Mayhem, used a Crate Blue Voodoo; which is essentially a tube amp version of the Arion Metal Master, so...
> 
> While we're talking about horrible Dano pedals I'd just like to mention the Fab Tone. It was great when I was 16 but who designs a pedal where you have to dial the treble back to .00005 or else it turns into, well, bad black metal.



I thought the Blue Doodoo sounded like .... as well -- rice on a snare drum is how I'd describe the distortion of the one I tried. And aren't most Dano pedals pretty subpar? I've never used one I was particularly fond of.


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## Spaced Out Ace (Apr 10, 2015)

Shimme said:


> Hard to quote on my phone, but KailM is on to something with his remark about using the clean channels on an amp. Listen to the guitar tone on any Deathspell Omega album, there's barely any distortion on it at all and they make some of the most sinister, 'evil' BM known to man.



Under-gained crunch tones/pushed clean tones can be pretty interesting.


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## KailM (Apr 10, 2015)

Shimme said:


> Hard to quote on my phone, but KailM is on to something with his remark about using the clean channels on an amp. Listen to the guitar tone on any Deathspell Omega album, there's barely any distortion on it at all and they make some of the most sinister, 'evil' BM known to man.



I'm in the process of recording a black metal album (well, it's not purely black metal -- more like "deathened" black metal), and I'm planning on blending some pure clean guitar tracks in with the distorted tracks. I haven't had the time to finish anything lately, but I'll definitely post the first song when I get it done.

There's something about playing typical black metal chords with a clean tone that lets the dissonance ring out in a way that can't be heard as well through a wall of distortion. My hope is that by blending them I can get the best of both worlds.


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## Sumsar (Apr 10, 2015)

For a more 'modern' Black metal tone, go for Engl amps. Emperor used them on their live dvd from 2006. Think Ihsahn is a Savage and Samoth is a Powerball. I own a powerball myself and can get some very good black metal tones (no, not the oldschool ones) with the lead channel with the bass no higher than 10 - 11 ish, mid at about 12 - 14 and treble and presence anywhere above 13 depending on your guitar, pickups and tuning.

edit: all positions in clock terms!


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## PunkBillCarson (Apr 12, 2015)

Randall Diavlo. It's what I used for my Black Metal tones in conjunction with Black Winters in an Epiphone Goldtop.


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## p4vl (Apr 12, 2015)

Back in the early 00's (before they got tired of talking to their mostly jerkoff fanbase), I asked Nocturno Culto what amp he was currently using for recording. It was a Fender amp and a pedal (don't remember which one). 

I think that a lot of the rawness of black metal is a studio thing, not gear. You can use a JCM800 (Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, Dissection, Blasphemy and (early) Emperor used 800's) so long as the recording/mix is both grim and forsaken. It also helps if you have no recording budget.


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## jonsick (Apr 13, 2015)

I've played in a few black metal bands. 

Really it doesn't matter where your dirt comes from. What's more important is EQ and Reverb. Early Dimmu Borgir and even Dissection has tonnes of reverb. Add in EQ to colour the dirt sounds and you're all good. Whether your dirt comes from a pedal or an overdriven amp, you can mix and match dirt generators as you damned well choose. It really doesn't matter. In fact, the more "unique" the better.


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## naw38 (Apr 16, 2015)

Floppystrings said:


> Here is an example of barely any gain, in a brutal BM song:





God I love their tone. Any idea how to achieve that? I've tried, and maybe I've come close, but I'm so used to playing with buckets of gain that I've felt uncomfortable and given up, haha.


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## ProphetOfHatred (Apr 16, 2015)

The Behringer HM-300 I just got sounds wicked for war metal.


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## Loomer (Apr 16, 2015)

Getting a good, cheap solidstate head that takes pedals well seems to be a very good option. Then you can splurge a bit more on nice pedals. I've gotten some nice BM tones out of a BAT Pharaoh, believe it or not.


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## ProphetOfHatred (Apr 16, 2015)

Marshall 8100.


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## Fryderyczek (Apr 16, 2015)

As the guy above said, a Marshall VS8100 would be ideal.

Also look for a Crate GT3500H. Killer amp. 350 watts of pure solid state tone.


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## ProphetOfHatred (Apr 16, 2015)

I've checked ebay at least weekly for years, never seen one of those amps for sale. I've seen a GX-130c once and 2 Ampeg VH-140c heads (this is literally in a span of YEARS and one of them I bought, and it came here broken lol) and I've seen 90's Valvestates maybe 6 times.


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## jonsick (Apr 16, 2015)

ProphetOfHatred said:


> I've checked ebay at least weekly for years, never seen one of those amps for sale. I've seen a GX-130c once and 2 Ampeg VH-140c heads (this is literally in a span of YEARS and one of them I bought, and it came here broken lol) and I've seen 90's Valvestates maybe 6 times.



It's likely many haven't survived. I remember the VS100 combo being one of the biggest selling amps to the teenage guitarist market. Most of the guy I know who owned them, they either ended up trashing them somehow or they died one day and never got repaired.


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## jonsick (Apr 16, 2015)

ProphetOfHatred said:


> Marshall 8100.



If you REALLY need At The Gates tone then sure. 

Otherwise, really not necessary.


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## ProphetOfHatred (Apr 16, 2015)

Didn't know they used the Marshall 8100. I thought they used a Peavey Supreme with a Boss HM-2 and MT-2, The only bands I know used the 8100 are Death and Disincarnate.


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## ProphetOfHatred (Apr 16, 2015)

jonsick said:


> It's likely many haven't survived. I remember the VS100 combo being one of the biggest selling amps to the teenage guitarist market. Most of the guy I know who owned them, they either ended up trashing them somehow or they died one day and never got repaired.



Yeah for sure. They're cheap amps, people don't really care as much to maintain them as say a 5150.


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## ProphetOfHatred (Apr 16, 2015)

Chiming in again, with a different approach you could possibly take on black metal. I got a new Carvin carved top in E standard that sounds/plays amazingly, so I set up my GSP1101 again and the JCM2000 amp model sounds frickin amazing for depressive/atmospheric black metal. It doesn't sound fizzy or buzzy or anything which is the sound most bands go for, it's actually quite the opposite. The patch has barely enough gain to do thrash with the lower output pickups in my Carvin, which is a good thing because the chord clarity is absolutely fantastic. Every big chord I play through this setup sounds amazing, you can hear every note, this is something I'm not used to. After jamming on the patch for 2 days, I've actually came up with basically an entire song, other than maybe lead parts or whatever. Just your standard clean intro, then a bunch of pretty sound riffs. Just an option anyone might want to consider, the clean sounds you can get with the GSP are also amazing. There's also a fuzz amp model that sounds really good for the buzzy stuff, sounds really tight on the palm mutes if you put a overdrive in the mix, also something to consider.


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## Spaced Out Ace (Apr 16, 2015)

ProphetOfHatred said:


> After jamming on the patch for 2 days, I've actually came up with basically an entire song, other than maybe lead parts or whatever. Just your standard clean intro, then a bunch of pretty sound riffs. Just an option anyone might want to consider, the clean sounds you can get with the GSP are also amazing.



Please tell me the clean tone is either really clean, sterile and kinda awkward sounding, or swimming in every modulation you could shove into it...



ProphetOfHatred said:


> There's also a fuzz amp model that sounds really good for the buzzy stuff, sounds really tight on the palm mutes if you put a overdrive in the mix, also something to consider.



An ugly fuzzy tone [probably a russian muff, though it probably doesn't really matter] will probably do the job well. That's what a lot of the early stuff sounds like, especially Burzum.


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## ProphetOfHatred (Apr 16, 2015)

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Please tell me the clean tone is either really clean, sterile and kinda awkward sounding, or swimming in every modulation you could shove into it...
> 
> 
> 
> An ugly fuzzy tone [probably a russian muff, though it probably doesn't really matter] will probably do the job well. That's what a lot of the early stuff sounds like, especially Burzum.



The GSP's fuzzes sound a little different than a real fuzz pedal, the one I like is quite a bit tighter than you'd expect from any kind of buzz at least tuned to D, but it still has that fuzzy sound, with a bunch of high end that would suit black metal well. I also experimented with the fuzz amp model and then stacked the muff pedal in front of it, super massive doom sounds were achieved. The clean patch I made doesn't really sound sterile to me, sounds like the clean sounds on The Mantle by Agalloch. (I've played the intro to Odal at least 400 times through this patch) I wouldn't say it's completely drowning in modulation, I used moderate chorus/reverb/delay, just enough to get a washy sound underneath the guitar without my dry signal being effected too much.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Apr 17, 2015)

Floppystrings said:


> But Mayhem and Burzum both use 5150s on their later material, and it sounds great.



Two things about that Varg picture...

1) That looks like he was sent a ton of .... from Peavey to use. Who the heck uses 6505 cabs and the PXD series stuff*?  

*Besides Devin, since he got to spec out all of his stuff.

2) He looks confused as all hell. 

I just found it funny how he recommended the Metalcore/Deathcore Starter Kit for a genre known for their players to just use whatever they had at hand. FFS, Varg used a broken fuzz pedal into a ....ty stereo for one album.  

Yay for replying to a several-month-old post.


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## Spaced Out Ace (Apr 17, 2015)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> 1) That looks like he was sent a ton of .... to Peavey to use. Who the heck uses 6505 cabs and the PXD series stuff*?



Uh, what are you talking about? That's probably the nicest guitar he's ever played.


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## mr coffee (Apr 17, 2015)

An old friend of mine used to get a pretty obnoxious black metal tone out of a Fender Pro185, solid state red knob era 2x12. He would throw just about any dirt box in front of it, it was more about boost and EQ than anything.

Oh, and JazzHands, I use a 6505 cab. It works for me...

-m


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Apr 17, 2015)

Spaced Out Ace said:


> Uh, what are you talking about? That's probably the nicest guitar he's ever played.



Terrible joke on my part. Just really never seen anyone use a PXD guitar. Really surprising to see.



> Oh, and JazzHands, I use a 6505 cab. It works for me...



Hey if it works for you, that's cool. I tried one. I didn't like it one bit. After trying the 6505, XXX, and old 412MS cabs, I'm not impressed by stock Peavey speakers.


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## Sumsar (Apr 17, 2015)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Hey if it works for you, that's cool. I tried one. I didn't like it one bit. After trying the 6505, XXX, and old 412MS cabs, I'm not impressed by stock Peavey speakers.



I use an old 5150 cab, which I brought used for cheap. It sounds great with my Engl powerball 1. I haven't recording with it (i usually just use cab sim IRs) but for reharsal and live it is great. At really loud volumes it starts to have a rattle sound, but I only have it that loud when in a small room with an aggresive drummer, so not really an issue.


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## p4vl (Apr 18, 2015)

Floppystrings said:


> But Mayhem and Burzum both use 5150s on their later material, and it sounds great.



Both bands are perfect examples of groups that made some of the best metal albums with craptacular gear. De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and Hvis Lyset Tar Oss would not have been better albums if they'd had access to 5150's and Rectos.

One of the things I've always loved about great black metal is that production can be used as another instrument or a tool. Sometimes distortion should be ugly or weird.


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## itsallinmyh3ad (Apr 18, 2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WcsV7hQ1V4


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