Best amp for Black Metal

  • Thread starter Thread starter japetus
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Just a fyi, i had a peavey bravo combo that sounded exactly like burzum's tone in the aske ep and the early albums , and I also believe that emperor recorded Anthems with an oldschool peavey bandit. So those old peaveys are the ticket, and not so expensive.
 
apophis":2xokjzqk said:
Just a fyi, i had a peavey bravo combo that sounded exactly like burzum's tone in the aske ep and the early albums , and I also believe that emperor recorded Anthems with an oldschool peavey bandit. So those old peaveys are the ticket, and not so expensive.
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Anthems is the absolute pinnacle of black metal as far as I'm concerned.
 
apophis":tbaerafi said:
Just a fyi, i had a peavey bravo combo that sounded exactly like burzum's tone in the aske ep and the early albums , and I also believe that emperor recorded Anthems with an oldschool peavey bandit. So those old peaveys are the ticket, and not so expensive.
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This is what I am going with, I actually got a Peavey Bandit 1x12, and it is sounding perfect for the sound I am going for.
 
I'm not real good on differences between all of the metal genres, but I thought this was as good a place as any to share my pain.

A few weeks ago, I had a guy come to try a 5150III I was selling on CL. The guy had never used a tube amp before, so I spent some time with him, showing him the basic way the channel switching works and how the gain vs highs vs presence can all effect the clarity etc. I even showed what difference boosting with my Tube Screamer made. He was looking for a Death Metal sound and said he was sure the amp was capable of it, but wasn't quite getting "the sound he heard in his head."

Two days later, he shows back up with his Metal Zone pedal, and goes for the clean channel.



Nailed it.

So you might be looking for any amp with a Metal Zone.
 
If that's the "sound in his head," he needs his head examined. There's a million death metal bands with KILLER guitar tones. This guy clearly had no clue what he was doing.
 
When I played in Altar (Black Metal-Speed Metal Mix) I used a Roland GL100 into a Crown PB II through 3 Full Marshall Stacks. This rig could tare the head off a Buffalo charging full speed. What I liked about the rig was it had every possible configuration you could imagine PLUS 2 channels both with parametric sweepers on the lows and mids. That's not something you find very often. It also has effects loop, XLR out with Spk. sim - Monitor out and Master Volume for each channel. I don't think you could find a better more versatile Pre Amp anywhere. I only gave it up for 2 reasons 1- I don't play Thrash Metal anymore 2 - I need to implement MIDI into my rig and this was it's only shortcoming.

If you only need to change from rhythm to lead channel via footswitch, try one of these! They are cheap and for Metal, I don't think that much else can match it for the raw chainsaw drive it has. I know that a shop called Danbury Music had a few new in stock years ago.
 
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Pushead":33sngjn6 said:
I'm not real good on differences between all of the metal genres, but I thought this was as good a place as any to share my pain.

A few weeks ago, I had a guy come to try a 5150III I was selling on CL. The guy had never used a tube amp before, so I spent some time with him, showing him the basic way the channel switching works and how the gain vs highs vs presence can all effect the clarity etc. I even showed what difference boosting with my Tube Screamer made. He was looking for a Death Metal sound and said he was sure the amp was capable of it, but wasn't quite getting "the sound he heard in his head."

Two days later, he shows back up with his Metal Zone pedal, and goes for the clean channel.



Nailed it.

So you might be looking for any amp with a Metal Zone.
Click to expand...

Did you sell the 5150 III to him or did you spare that poor amp from being slammed with a Metal Zone on its clean channel for the rest of its life?!
 
crwnedblasphemy":8kakm8vq said:
Valvestate 8100...period
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I was going to mention that amp but feared I might loose my street cred. :lol: :LOL:

I'd also look at a 5150/6505 and a JCM 900.
 
Inearthed":1o9he4n7 said:
Did you sell the 5150 III to him or did you spare that poor amp from being slammed with a Metal Zone on its clean channel for the rest of its life?!
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After he finished collecting all of his bees he said "I'm supposed to get my tax return later tdoay" I was convinced I'd never see him again. But later that evening, he called and showed up with the cash.

His wife was with him. She looked less than thrilled that he was buying it. I just smiled and offered pleasant conversation, and as they pulled out I said "he's your problem now, lady."
 
Pushead":2486drty said:
Inearthed":2486drty said:
Did you sell the 5150 III to him or did you spare that poor amp from being slammed with a Metal Zone on its clean channel for the rest of its life?!
Click to expand...

After he finished collecting all of his bees he said "I'm supposed to get my tax return later tdoay" I was convinced I'd never see him again. But later that evening, he called and showed up with the cash.
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The only way that could have been more craigslist would've been if he called you every so often for the next couple of weeks and tried to get you to trade your good gear for something shitty or that you didn't need - like a Marshall mg half stack or a Husqvarna chainsaw. And when you said cash only, you'd get the sob story of how money was tight and he needs to make rent but he will call you in a week or two, which he does and then tells you about some other guitar he got and how awesome it is and offer to trade that for your head.
 
I got those too. I could have had any 5 year old iPad or random set of handguns I wanted for it.

Strangely, I was able to move quite a few unused guitars as well as the amp within a few weeks on CL, at reasonable prices, without too much fuss. I was shocked.
 
If found that the secret for me is in the speaker(s). Most 'american' sounding speakers can get you in that territory. My one cab with g12-65's and greenbacks are awful for black metal. My other cab with deltalite 2512's gives you that nice crunchy trebley tone suited for black metal. I would imagine a used krank cab with Texas heats would work well also... just my opinion
 
Whatever you pick, keep the bass freqs low.
Inherently thick sounding amps can and will get muddy when playing those incredibly fast and constant tremolo picking rhythm patterns that BM is known for.
 
5150II or if you want SS... Ampeg... Marshall 8100... etc.
 
If you have an amp already grab the S&K VHD pedal and run it into the return.
It's a VH140 in a pedal and sounds really close
 
kylendm":2quncga5 said:
If you have an amp already grab the S&K VHD pedal and run it into the return.
It's a VH140 in a pedal and sounds really close
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I've been wondering about this thing myself, seems like it would be great for a pedalboard based fly-in rig.

I would probably go with a single channel Marshall and some sort of distortion pedal if I was doing black metal but I imagine a 5150/6505 would be alright too. You want lots of treble and fizz :lol: :LOL: .
 
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