Emperor's 'chainsaw' guitar tone

[Hammer of Might]

I completely love the 'chainsaw'-like distortion that is used in black metal such as Emperor.

If you have heard what I'm talking about, you probably know what I mean. I don't just mean the sound of the backing guitars, I mean the really sharp and loud sound that they use in songs like I am the Black Wizards and Inno A Satana when the main instruments drop out and a big chainsaw-like riff comes in.

My question is, do you have any tips on how to achieve a similar sound? I only have a basic zoom effects pedal and a small amp with little distortion capabilities, so that will probably be very limiting, but nonetheless, please tell me how I might get a similar sound, with any equipment necessary.

 

[Hexer]

I might be wrong, because my own sound (I play mainly BlackMetal, too) is diffrent but I'd say use heavy distortion (though not TOO heavy, or you'll end up sounding muddy or with a guitarsound like a constant mean hiss), quite a lot of highs and pretty little bass........

correct me if this was nonsense........

 

[voicesinthefan]

It depends a lot on the sort of hardware you use. Generally, I cut the mids all the way, put the lows way down, and bring the highs up all the way. Also, you could make sure that you aren't using any noisegates, and crank your compressor up to max for some crazy, sharp attack (although this will give you tons of hissing). Of course, a lot of that tone also has to do with horrible recording equipment.

 

[NocturnalSun]

yeah haha. if your pedal is the zoom 505 II (I have that too), then I can give you a close setting to modify as you like to match the sound. That Zoom pedal can dish out a load of good shit if you know how to program. email me for the setting or I'll post it here if you want. thatguitarguy@satx.rr.com

 

[Hammer of Might]

Thanks, that would be great! I have emailed you.

 

[Erik]

This is what Emperor did:

Subject: Emperor Recording Gear.

On the brilliant 1st mcd, Emperor use a mic-ed marshall amp, with a local overdrive and high midrange for the lead riffs, coz the distortion isn't that crunched. For the grating riffs, there we see boss Death Metal pedal in action, with no midrange tones and plugged directly into the mixer (no amp mic-ing). A strange curiosity about "In the Nightside.." is that though you think that there's an army of low-end guitar layers, they really originate from one guitar and effect-shifted to stereo. Check: play any track where the guitars are clearly heard in stereo mode (a mono/stereo switch on your amp would help here) and switch it to mono... the entire landscape of low-end guitar ambiance is lost to one guitar, but the lead riffs still sound fine...

Sauron
APOTHEOSIS

He speaks about a "Boss Death Metal" pedal, but as far as I am aware there is no such pedal. I believe he means the HM-2 Heavy Metal.

 

[Mattias the Bitch Boy]

This is what Emperor did:


He speaks about a "Boss Death Metal" pedal, but as far as I am aware there is no such pedal. I believe he means the HM-2 Heavy Metal.

Or probably the DOD Death Metal pedal.

 

[Erik]

Probably not, since it didn't exist when the "Emperor" EP was recorded.

 

[Hammer of Might]

Thanks Erik, that's very interesting. I only only a Zoom 505 II effect pedal, so no specific distortion pedals.

I will still experiment with what I've got though.

 

[Erik]

Well, if you want to try a HM-2 they're pretty cheap on eBay. It is also THE pedal to use, in conjunction with Marshall amps, to get that Entombed/Dismember Sunlight-style chainsaw guitar sound.

 

[NocturnalSun]

actually it's not THE pedal to use, because you can get a chainsaw-like sound from nearly any good distortion pedal whether it be Boss, Digitech, DOD, Zoom, even Yamaha I have heard has put out a new pedal with tons of effects on it for around $300 that has good distortion on it. It's all a matter of fine-tuning and playing with the settings.

 

[Erik]

Entombed and Dismember used HM-2's. If you've heard "Left Hand Path" or "Like an Everflowing Stream" you know that they have a very distinct guitar sound. It can probably be approximated with most any distortion device but if you want that exact sound, you will want to get a HM-2.

 

[Hammer of Might]

I always thought Boss pedals were generally considered to be the best, especially their distorion ones. Is this the case?

That's just what I've heard though - I'm far from an expert myself.

 

[Erik]

Well, the Boss MT-2 Metal Zone is the most popular metal dist. pedal around I believe, and it is good, but the price you pay for using it is risking to sound like everyone else due to its popularity. Anyway, Boss pedals are generally high quality and very durable. I occasionally use a cheapo DOD FX-86B Death Metal distortion (which is also built very sturdily) and I like it, though it has a tendency to feedback a lot... Whatever floats your boat, what's "best" is highly subjective.

 

[Sex Machine]

dont get the hm2, i have it and i really think it is one of the worst pedals ive ever used. i suggest either getting the metal zone if you like boss, but if you want a fuller, less digital sound, go for the death metal distortion pedal by dod, i like it a lot better. but either way you go, you should try and get a tube screamer as well, and no dont fall into the trap of paying the extra bucks to the the turbo tube screamer that has 1 more control knob. they both do the same shit pretty much. anyway, yeh use a tube screamer with any distortion pedal, and you will sound amazing.