As some of you may know, I used to be a classic rock fanatic and LOVED a clean tone and a little bit of overdrive. Well, I still do.

But I think I've moved on in my musical tastes, and now want a more distorted tone like used for early thrash/heavy metal. Think venom, metallica, megadeth, etc.

I am still in love with the telecasters and stratocasters, and I've always believed in the idea of a baseline clean tone. If you could start clean, you could go heavy. So I presume that a humbucker is necessary for at least one of the pickups.

Any suggestions for amps or pedals?

Anything else would also be appreciated.

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CURRENT RIG:
2008 Squier bullet stratocaster modified with Rumpelstiltskin pickups -> Dunlop GCB-95 Original Crybaby -> Fender Vibro Champ XD

"Could you take the stain from this pair of pants, and put in on this pair of pants?"

Theres only one amp for them sounds.



The 2203KK. Oh get a EMG 81 or 89 in the bridge of your guitar. So maybe look at the Flathead Strat or Tele. Thats all you need. Absolutely no need for boosts or noisegates, the amp has those built in and sounds very very tight for it too.

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No no and no

I've always wanted an amp like yours Ninja!! Got the Fender I wanted so now I need one like that. All just to set in my spare bedroom!!

Others on my "want" list,
A Dr.Z amp
A Egnater amp
A CS Fender Champ

Only one problem-------Mrs. Hopkins!!!

I was thinking of a blacktop tele. Maybe swap the bridge pickup.

Oh and I most certainly have 3k to lay down on an amp whose sound can fill the size of an outdoors venue.

Sound is in the fingers, and I can lay down some pretty heavy riffs on a distorted channel on my vibrochamp with my strat, but not too distorted. Do you have any experience with budget amps that could *approximate* the tone of a jcm? BTW I'm going for my own tone here, not someone else's

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CURRENT RIG:
2008 Squier bullet stratocaster modified with Rumpelstiltskin pickups -> Dunlop GCB-95 Original Crybaby -> Fender Vibro Champ XD

"Could you take the stain from this pair of pants, and put in on this pair of pants?"

Ok son, you carry on telling yourself that, it's all in the fingers.


You aint gonna get a convincing thrash sound out of a 15/30watt practice amp and a 1x12 cab. Also you need a active EMG or Seymour Blackout to get the low end tight enough. I'll go on record saying that a regular passive humbucker just won't cut the mustard. Thats why Seymour Duncan after 30 years of specializing in the things decided to start making active pickups. And further more if the sound is all in the fingers, why on earth are you asking for gear recommendations?

Fhop, come collect it, I'll swap it for some gator steaks.

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No no and no

The duncan sh-6 distortion humbucker is a nice do it all ( all type of rock , metal and more ) pickup ( providing you have Humbucker routing in your strat or a HSS strat ) . roll back a bit for classic rock sound . very good pickup .

but great distortion come mostly from the amp .. a good amp to play old school metal and much more is the Mesa Boogie mark IV .

If you can grab one ( combo or head , depend what you need ) .. this thing sound just awesome . i dont own one unfortunatly cause its too damn loud for a bedroom when theres little kid in the house .

but it dpeend what sound your trying to achieve , a british sound ( marshall , orange ) or u.s high gain ( mesa boogie ) .

the mi audio crunch box is a great pedal to give you a british high gain sound ( think marshall jcm ) .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lecnRxM0 ... re=related

but its not for heavy metal and tight palm muting riff like early metallica , megadeth .

you defenatly go Boogie for that .


i would go for a mesa boogie simply because the boogie distortion hasnt been emulate by a thousand pedal builder .

You can find "marshall jcm in a box " pedal like Mi audio crunch box , you can find countless great overdrive pedal to give a vintage sound like the Fulltone ocd , Barber direct drive etc.. for classic rock . but a " mesa boogie in a box " is harder to find . i havent heard anything really really convincing yet .

and the mark iv is damn versatile n-e way . the mark III is pretty nice too .. watch demo on you tube .

Sansamp did it years ago.

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No no and no

I'll have to get some gator tags and fly over one day Niki!!

hendrixfan99, Don't judge anything by a DSP practice amp. It can't "approximate" anything in the real world. Sounds like you need to experience a high power amp to see if it can really approximate the sound of a JCM 800. I read in another post you're what about 15 years old? You'll probably change the sound is in the fingers statement. To an extent that's true but not entirely. Your amp and guitar will have a huge bearing on your tone depending on the genre of music you play. That's why if you play more than one type of music, you may have more than one amp. You can "feel" a JCM 800 or a Sunn Scepter, or a Twin. You won't "feel" a 5 watt DSP practice amp. That's a huge difference in itself. Not to mention A tight bottom end, silky smooth natural distortion etc. There is nothing natural in any modeling amp. I'm glad you have the means to lay down 3K on an amp. At 15 I was worrying where my next set of strings was coming from if our band didn't have a gig that weekend.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

ZVex Box of Rock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAWfrRwjf9A

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

If you want to go a cheaper route, do a search for a Marshall 8080 combo or 8100 head. It's a SS with 1- 12ax7 in it for the preamp. Keep in mind that there are Metal players out there who prefer SS amps for less drag in the response. I have the head version of these amps, and it does just fine. You can drop in a GE 12ax7a Long-plate in the preamp and get a real thick tone out of it. Or you can go with an RFT ecc83 for more sizzle. That's what I love about these amps. You can tweak the sound of them, no biasing, or replacing 6-7-8 tubes, and they're fairly cheap to get.

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http://www.haleamano.com

I'd say a hot rail or similar pickup in the bridge would be the easiest way to mod the guitar to be able to push the amp a little harder, and that way you don't have to spring for a new guitar. In the event that you do decide to pickup a new axe, the blackout's probably the best bet for metal tones from fender. Or you could look around for something like a schecter hellraiser or blackjack ATX, or an ESP LTD guitar with active humbuckers. As far as amps go, the JCM800 is pretty much the standard for the old school thrash guys. A Peavey 5150 can get some nice heavy tones as well. No one amp or guitar is going to do everything perfectly, which is why you see people that play music for a living with multiple guitars and amps on the road with them at all times. hth

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I hate the old 81/85 combo...and I have EMG SA's in a strat.

Early metal that you mentioned didn't have active pickups and I think the Blacktop Tele could more than pull it off...it's your tone though so you find what you like.

The box of my Champion 600 said "Innovate...don't emmulate".

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CREDO ELVEM IPSUM ETAIM VIVERE

Metallica's Puppets sound came from a Mesa Boogie Mark II C+. If you want a new rig, try the Mark V Mesa.

http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Mark_Series/mark5/mark5.html

Amp: Mesas double and tripple rectifier are the ones and emg 81 pu bridge pos.

see here: http://www.allmetallica.com/info/equipment/james.php

but if you playing at home and the sound don't must be the metallica one and you won't to mod your guitar so much: a boss metal zone pedal will help. a passive humbucker in the bridge position helps too like seymore duncan, dimarzio, emg. the type discriptions for the pu*s on the the manifactors sites says enough so you will find a heavy pu very quickly.

rock on

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