Different guitars/amps for verse, chorus etc.

[Trevoire520]

Hey all,
I know there's a tendency on here to lean towards mahogany guitars, EMG pickups, 6505's and Mesa cabs for alot of stuff. I'm just wondering if anyone is using different guitars/amps for different parts of the song?

Something I think I'm going to try but I'm not sure if it's going to sound like too much of a change?
Anyone want to chime in?

 

[amarshism]

Do it a fair bit. Try it!

 

[Empathy]

I know it's relatively common practise to blend multiple tone sources throughout a song, maybe even automate the amount of that blend, but I don't know of anyone that switches to an entirely different amplifier for different sections of a song. I would imagine the result could be done well with some styles of music (more ambient, proggy genres), but for guitar-dominant metal styles I think something as noticeable as switching amps for a quad tracked rhythm guitar in verses and choruses would kill the flow of the song and the mix entirely if not handled with the utmost skill. I've never tried it myself on anything serious, so I'm just typing based on speculation here.

 

[chrisrivalry]

really doesn't work for me, and it wasn't even the amp it was just the cab. COMPLETELY different sound, it really through the flow of the song off it sounded like a completely different song at that point.

 

[ttrentt]

Hey all,
I know there's a tendency on here to lean towards mahogany guitars, EMG pickups, 6505's and Mesa cabs for alot of stuff. I'm just wondering if anyone is using different guitars/amps for different parts of the song?

Something I think I'm going to try but I'm not sure if it's going to sound like too much of a change?
Anyone want to chime in?

On a side note, a lot of old industrial did this. Not that I think they changed amps, but because they used different guitar riff samples (obviously could be different everything), it really changed the feel of the song. I think it would work great for the correct song.

 

[luismars]

If the global sound remains coherent do it.

 

[Joel4662]

I've been experimenting with this lately, only with ampsims as i don't have any nice heads/cabs :[ what i've found is that i keep the impulse loader the same and just change the head, and i get a similar frequency curve and it doesn't sound like a horribly "noticable" transition

i'll show you a clip, but don't make fun of it cause it is about 1/2000 of the way done haha

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13836295/asdf.mp3
the transition is at about 1:48 it changes from the Lepou SoloC to Nick Crow 8505, and it's all on an impulse of an orange cab mic'd with an sm57
hope this sheds some light!

 

[BLUElightCory]

I do this all the time, though not as much with metal stuff. The idea is to just pick the guitar/amp/etc. combination that works best for the particular guitar part. So if it's open, ringy chords we might use a Fender with a Vox or a Marshall, if it's tight riffing a Les Paul with a Dual Rec or 6505, and so on. Many of the best amps out there are one-or-two trick ponies, so the idea is to use those amps in the situations they're best suited for.

Obviously, it really just depends on the guitar part - if it's a tech metal band we probably wouldn't stray far from the tight/high gain thing. But if it's something with more dynamics it's much more open to more tonal variation.

 

[JeffTD]

We did it a lot for my band's album, but we're also not very metal.

For heavy stuff I really like to use my 89's and 81TW split for lead-type melody/octave layers, changes the midrange and attack from the usual humbucker tone which can really help things sit nicely/more 'on top' without sticking out too much.

 

[Tommy Evans]

I'm recording a band that has three guitarists and they insist on using their own guitars throughout the whole song. So I let them. (telecaster, Gibson SG, and something else I don't remember) I'm making it work though. Cuz that's my job. It's not something I plan on doing regularly, but it's coming out pretty good so far.

 

[Tommy Evans]

Just realized a bump a crazy old thread. Yeah. Awesome.

 

[Clark Kent]

It's okay to bump interesting topics.

I think it's cool to use broken amps or vintage combos cranked all the way up but ONLY FOR BREAKS. Like as an effect type of tone. Using two completely different tones in a mix might end up sounding weird and it might suck up too much space from other instruments. Like f.ex. I'm very careful with the mid-range EQs for my snare and guitar. So I would probably end up EQing both of these "different guitar tones" to sound pretty much the same.

Having different tones L and R is cool IMO. Like f.ex. Underoath.

 

[::XeS::]

It depends on the style...I mean if the music is some kind of rock, or prog...also pop, you can experiment more with different amps and guitars. In metal in my opinion you need the same powerfull sound on every song and in every part (at least the main rythm guitars). Of course if the verse is so metal and the chorus have some kind of crunch sound, for example, you can use a different amp/guitar/cab to achieve the "perfect" sound for the chorus.

 

[PaoloJM]

Works really well for bands like The Stone Temple Pilots.
Not sure how well it would work on any of the metal genres.

 

[Vinny]

Richardson says he does it with mics (automates the levels during verse/chorus) quite a bit. Can't see why it can't be done with amps too. Try out the Blackstar HT-100. It can get some pretty high gain tones and sounds pretty darn good (I prefer it over my friend's 5150II for some projects)