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Electro Harmonix Nano Muff

Electro Harmonix Nano Muff

Guitar Pedals That Sound Like Slipknot or Nu-Metal?

I know they use alot of different types for their set up, but I just want a great Nu-Metal sound for the band Im starting. Right now I have the following pedals- Dunlop CryBaby From Hell, Electro-Harmonix Nano Pocket Metal Muff, Boss MD-2 Mega Distortion, Digitech DeathMetal Pedal, Danelectro D-3 Fab Metal, Danelectro Fab Chorus. They all supply great sounds, but are a little off, and Ive even experimented a bit. I just want to find that good solid, hardcore nu-metal sound. And I heard that the Nu-Metal Pedal they make kind of sucks.

Four suggestions.

One, I use the Boss Metal Zone and I'm becoming very interested in the Boss Metalcore, which I think would be right up your alley. Where the Metal Zone is more scooped and 80's metal, the Metalcore is thicker and deeper, better for modern rock/metal I think.

Two, get an EQ pedal. MXR makes a great 10-band, Boss has a 7-band (GE-7) and even Danelectro has a 7-band (Fish n Chips?). One of the biggest differences between distortion pedals (beyond the degree of clipping) is EQ - altering the sound coming out of the pedal will change the sound dramatically. It seems crazy to me that you've got four different distortion pedals and you can't get a good tone out of at least one of them! I would suggest buying an EQ pedal and spending a week or so experimenting with it and see if you can get one of your current pedals to sound better, before you go out and spend money on another pedal... and another.. and another....

Three, what kind of amp are you running? For metal, if the amp and speakers can't deliver the tone, then you'll never be happy with how it sounds! If you have a small amp... get a bigger one! Bigger speakers with higher watt ratings *usually* mean better bass response and better imaging (ie treble detail), both of which are very important in getting a solid metal chunk or lead. I played the Marshall 50w combo yesterday at Guitar Center... I brought my own guitar in, and even though the amp isn't some uber high-powered tube amp I was getting really deep chunky metal tones... I was actually a little surprised at how deep and beefy I sounded! Those MGs have really surprised me with how good they sound... partly because I'm slowly turning into a total tube snob.... *grin*

So get a better amp. You want at least one 12" speaker - anything smaller will usually *not* give you a good solid metal tone. Two 12" speakers are better than one, and a half-stack (4x12) is usually the biggest you want to go - beef city! The frequency response of the speakers themselves is very important - speakers in a Fender cab aren't going to give you the same frequency response as speakers in a Mesa Boogie or Marshall cab... and that's the sound that you need.

For the money, the two best upgrades you can do for your tone are upgrading your speakers and amp.

Four, and finally, upgrade your pickups. If you still have stock pickups on your guitar, you probably aren't going to sound the way you want to, unless you're plugging into a really good amp (and it sounds like you aren't, since you've gone through so many pedals!). You probably want high output humbuckers... you can go with active pickups like Seymour Duncan Blackouts or Livewires, or EMG 81/85's... all of them can give solid metal and rock tones, and except for the Blackouts should give decent cleans (I've heard the Blackouts are too hot to have decent clean sounds?).

For passives, I've used both Seymour Duncan JB's and the Alternative 8 in my bridges, and I'm especially happy with the Alt 8.... very high output, but has great cleans, coil-taps well, and is very clear - doesn't get muddy even with lots of distortion!

I also have onboard preamps in my guitars, which gives me the best of both worlds - tone of a passive pickup, with output comparable to that of an active.

Other options include the Seymour Duncan Customs, Invaders, Parallel Axis Trembucker (PATB-2), the DiMarzio D-Sonic, Evolutions (both I and 2, although they're slightly different, one of them is higher pitched), and of course the mighty x2n.

Whatever you do, you want a high output bridge pickup, but a *low* output neck pickup. High output pickups have strong magnets, and if neck magnets are too strong, then they'll actually start to kill your sustain. You don't want that.

I just put an Alnico II Pro (APH-1) in my neck on the guitar with the Alternative 8 in the bridge. Hoo-ah, it sounds beautiful! Also coil-taps well, so both pickups are very versatile, and when I solo I sound a bit "Slash"-esque... nice, round, chimey highs, similar in tone to the intro of "Sweet Child o' Mine".

For reference, the guitar is an EC-100QM, a cheapo guitar with a basswood body. Once I got it properly set up and had it rewired with new pickups and custom electronics it just bloody screams!

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So anyways, those are my suggestions. Don't look to a pedal to solve your problems... upgrade your amp, upgrade your pickups, use some EQ. With a good amp, you shouldn't even need a distortion pedal... maybe a booster or EQ pedal to push it a little harder (ie Dimebag Darrell, Randy Roads, Kurt Cobain etc all did this, it's common to use an overdrive/booster pedal to push a tube amp harder for more crunch).

Good luck! It's not easy getting a great metal tone, it takes a bit of scratch and some time experimenting... but you absolutely need solid gear for it... that means good speakers, a solid high-gain amp, and at least decent output pickups.

Saul

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