Beginning guitar - a question.

[Vidar]

In about a week and a half (my birthday) I will be getting a guitar. I have a question about distortion though.

What effect does Opeth use on the distorted guitars? For example, toward the end of To Bid You Farwell. If this sounds like a retarded question, I apologize, I am very new to this.

Basically, I am looking for a pedal that can do that type of sound and not be expensive, but I don't know what to get. There are a few Boss pedals in my price range, but I need to know what to look for. Like for example, there is a overdrive and a distortion pedal, but I have no idea what makes them different from each other.

 

[Eno_Mun]

If you are a total beginner it will be a while until you will be able to play opeth...

 

[FlatteningOfEmotions]

Don't worry about distortion. Worry about learning to play before anything.

 

[Vidar]

I don't nessesarilly want to play Opeth right at the start. I just really like the way it sounded, so I'm curious as to what exactly is used.

Anyway, if it's that out of the picture then don't worry about it. I just want to know exactly how guitars are distorted and how the different types of distortion used effect the final result.

 

[Ermz]

The end of To Bid You Farewell?

Well for the first two albums, Opeth used two Jackson Rhoads guitars (the flying Vs) and they ran them through a Boss Metalzone, which is quite a shitty pedal. I'm really surprised you want your tone to be like Morningrise though, as Mikael himself said he hated the production on the first two albums.

Anyway on the later stuff from MAYH onwards... they basically started multitracking their music. Meaning that they ran a guitar through a Peavey 5150 lightly distorted, recorded that, then ran it through a Mesa Boogie dual rectifier lightly distorted and recorded that, then they would double the track, basically put the 2 recordings over the top of each other to get that tone.

However what they use live is basically a Boss GT-3 (or whatever model, I know the 6 is the newest now) and they use their amps as a PA, getting all their distortion and effects from the pedal.

If I were you I suppose I'd go for a multi-effects pedal as such to start playing... although I've been playing 2 years and I still use my on-board gain, haha, it's no real problem. But if you can afford the Boss GT-3 or any other model I would go for that.. as it also gives you alot of effects to screw around with on top of largely decent tone.

 

[fadingessence]

Honestly i'd just get a 25w practice amp and a metal zone or something like it, you don't need to worry about tone that much when you are learning...and honestly you would learn to play better if you didn't use disortion at all. But thats not much fun either! Moonlapse covered things pretty well.

One of the GT series is nice to have but they won't do you much good starting out unless you just want to play with effects as you really won't understand what everything does. I have one and i've been trying desperately to get a sound that is anywhere close to what opeth gets live and the amount of tweaking it takes is really pretty crazy. Not something you want to deal with as a beginner, your just want to play.

Basically it doesn't matter if you can't match the tone you find on an album because you never will, and really trying to match it with multi-effects is just a pain in the ass. Just get a little amp with overdrive on it, personally I have a ibanez 25w that I use, and jam away. But i'm serious when I say you will get better playing clean more because you can't cover up mistakes and bad technique with distortion when you play clean. I've been playing 3 years now and I still catch myself all the time doing stuff sloppily because I learned it with distortion on a cheaper amp, then you get at practice volume with a half stack and a great amp and it really stands out.


And i'm still on my search for HOW opeth gets good sound out of that pedal. The overdrive on my laney is damn near perfect but the pedal gives a lot more versatility with clean parts and ect. So anyone else that has one..we've gotta talk.

 

[Anarkissed]

Just a tip from experience...spend more on your guitar than the effects. When you're practicing you don't need an awesome amp and rack of effects, unless you're planning on doing gigs, which your probably wont do for several months or years depending on how fast you learn, and how dedicated you are.


As some people have said already, practice clean as much as you can. Anyone can sound good with distortion. Fewer can actually make a good clean sound.

 

[legofarley]

I've been playing for almost four years and i still use my gain on my amp. It works great unless you're playing a song like Bleak that switches around. I've heard the Boss Metalzone is the best, but i've heard the simple distortion pedal get a similar sound. But, by all means, learn to actually play before anything else. When you can play, then add distortion. Good Luck!

 

[Stormwatch]

If you're just looking for something cheap you should try out one of the Zoom multi-effects pedals. I've had a couple over the years and they're great. They only cost around £60 in the UK and they do all sorts of effects like distortion, wah wah, flanger, delay, reverb, amp simulation, chorus etc all on the one pedal and you can programme about 40 different settings and switch between them with a press of your foot. I really like them and they're ideal for a beginner. You can get all kinds of tones from them from AC/DC to the Stones to the Beatles to heavier stuff like Opeth and Pantera.

 

[Netheral]

Better learn playing the guitar without distortion.

 

[martin.rp]

theyre all rite dopnt worry about pedels n stuf, buy a reasonable guitar, parctice, and upgrade later once ur better. Some opeth is quite challenging to play. And alot/most of it uses 2 guitars. Dont both is a distortion pedel when u 1st start (the gain on the amp is fine), ive played for a year n stil dont have a dst' pedel (tho my m8 has a metalzoneII and it its pretty damn good).

 

[Suatana]

Well for the first two albums, Opeth used two Jackson Rhoads guitars (the flying Vs) and they ran them through a Boss Metalzone, which is quite a shitty pedal.

And where exactly did you hear they used Metal Zone on those albums?
From the Opeth's official website:
"Amps: Marshall JCM800 Lead50W, Vintage 4/12 Cabinet, GK Bass Transistor/Line
Effects: Boss Heavy Metal, Turbo Overdrive/Distortion, Volume pedal, Ibanez Pan-delay, Blubber-wah".
Didn't notice any Metal Zone over there. And yeah, Metal Zone surely sucks donkey balls. I owned it for about 1½ years and I liked it first as I were a beginner back then, but then I realized I couldn't get anything else, but a high distorted buzz out of it and sold it.

Anyway on the later stuff from MAYH onwards... they basically started multitracking their music. Meaning that they ran a guitar through a Peavey 5150 lightly distorted, recorded that, then ran it through a Mesa Boogie dual rectifier lightly distorted and recorded that, then they would double the track, basically put the 2 recordings over the top of each other to get that tone.

This sounds a bit odd. Where did you hear this(no Dual Rectifier mentioned on equipment)?

However what they use live is basically a Boss GT-3 (or whatever model, I know the 6 is the newest now) and they use their amps as a PA, getting all their distortion and effects from the pedal.

And what the heck makes you think they use digital distortions if they have the monster amps themselves that gt-3(and 6) modulates?

 

[phon1c]

The boss heavy metal pedal is the old version of the metal zone.

 

[fadingessence]

the heavy metal is a lot better too, I heard somewhere that basically every death/black metal band in a few studios over there used the things. Old At The Gates stuff ect. Something along the lines of crank every single knob on it hehe.

And they DO use the gt-3 live, it's a pretty well established fact now that their entire sound comes from it. How they managed that is another story as I've got exactly the same setup as mikael and get far better disortion from the laney gh amp then from the pedal.

 

[Ivanhoe]

The Metalzone does not sound good with all the knobs on full.

 

[The Evil Toucan]

Save your money. Get a good amp. It will go farther in the long run than anything else in your rig. Also, if you are going to get a Boss, get a DS-1. It's a versatile pedal that you will definitely be able to use in many applications. Also, a BBE sonic maximizer improves your tone by leaps and bounds. You AREN'T going to get Opeth's tone out of a solid state practice amp with a pedal in front of it. And most importantly, GET LESSONS!!!

 

[SADUDE]

DONT TAKE LESSONS. I did for 3 years and I learned more from experience. Waste of money. Get some books and go to some websites for music theory. Technique is covered by simply playing unfamiliar uncomfortable finger patterns until you can faster. In most metal technique will get you everyhting but i reccommend theory if you want to truely appreciate opeth and compose like them.

 

[Stormwatch]

Play AC/DC, and move onto Metallica's "Kill Em All" album. Good, easy stuff! Except Jump In The Fire which can hurt the old fuckin fingers.....

 

[Neurotomania]

yea they play gt6's I'm pretty sure now - looks like them on the vids I've got and when I saw them (front row baby) don't just try to emulate someone elses sound though - get your own plus bear in mind - always spend more on the amp than the guitar - and if you can't play for shit, its going to sound shit whatever really.

 

[Ermz]

And where exactly did you hear they used Metal Zone on those albums?
From the Opeth's official website:
"Amps: Marshall JCM800 Lead50W, Vintage 4/12 Cabinet, GK Bass Transistor/Line
Effects: Boss Heavy Metal, Turbo Overdrive/Distortion, Volume pedal, Ibanez Pan-delay, Blubber-wah".
Didn't notice any Metal Zone over there. And yeah, Metal Zone surely sucks donkey balls. I owned it for about 1½ years and I liked it first as I were a beginner back then, but then I realized I couldn't get anything else, but a high distorted buzz out of it and sold it.


This sounds a bit odd. Where did you hear this(no Dual Rectifier mentioned on equipment)?


And what the heck makes you think they use digital distortions if they have the monster amps themselves that gt-3(and 6) modulates?

The Boss Heavy Metal, as previously stated, is the old version of the Metalzone.

I swear I recall seeing a dual rectifier, or single mentioned on the equipment list to the later albums (ie Deliverance) on top of people here talking about Opeth recording with a dual rectifier.

I don't have to assume on that one. It's quite obvious, when you go to an Opeth gig and see a Boss GT pedal at Mikael's feet that it's actually being used