guitarists question: opeth sound/gear

[fadingessence]

I'm just kinda curious how they do their live sound, I went to the LA show and got a good look at mikael's equip and to me it looked like it was just a boss gt-3 into a jcm900. He wasn't even using amp distortion, the only switching he had was on the gt-3 (and a 900 probably isn't enough anyway). So anyone had success getting Opeth's sound out of a gt-3 setup like that? I get awful close with my laney gh50l, but it would be a lot easier to have my setup similar to mikes...only having to switch on the gt-3 for clean and effects ect.

 

[nergal_S]

I thought they had JCM 800's, it looked like it.

 

[fadingessence]

very well could have been...I couldn't tell which it was. But basically it was a one channel amp so I figure they had to be using the dist on the pedal as opposed to amp distortion like I thought.

sounded damn good in any case.

 

[winter martyrium]

I think it was just a GT3 and a single channel marshall jcm900 head, at least at the cleveland show. I believe the GT3 was used for all the sounds, and ran into the effects loop/power amp in section of the 900.

In that guitar.com video lesson they mention the GT3

 

[Brooks]

They use the 5150 setting on the Boss too, I saw from up close

 

[fadingessence]

sweeet brooks thanks!

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

JCM900's are bunk. And I'm pretty sure they have more than one channel.

 

[winter martyrium]

Sometimes opinions can be bunk.

And there are two different models of the 900 series, both a single channel and a dual channel model.

 

[Brooks]

JCM900's are pretty much crap, but Opeth was using single channel JCM800's, which are probably the best amp Marshall's made in 25 years.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

My thoughts exactly brooks. The JCM900 was the ass end of marshalls golden age. Gimme a fucking 800 and i'll make you a believer, The crunch is just soooo fucking sweet on em.

 

[bleed for me]

i know for sure they use gt-3's live...dunno bout the amps, in the studio they used 5150's and VH100's

 

[ddicosmo]

To set the record straight, Mikael's main sound is coming from the GT3 and his own personal patches that he's created and saved on the GT3. The Marshall JCM800s (which they used on the tour) and any other amp they use (in the studio) is just being used for the power section. I know this is correct because I spoke to Mikael himself and he told me this. The GT3 is his baby. He uses it for all of his sounds; clean, overdrive, effects, etc.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

Thats not necessarily completely true. Why would they have bothered to track a boogie and another amp in the studio together if they could just have changed the gt3 patch?

 

[Prophetix]

Originally posted by Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral
Thats not necessarily completely true. Why would they have bothered to track a boogie and another amp in the studio together if they could just have changed the gt3 patch?

What he said

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

Also, with the 900 and 800, you can't JUST use the power section as they have no FX loop. The sound is allways coloured by the amp.

 

[fadingessence]

plus I know I saw a cable in the front of the amp where the input is. But just set the amp nice and clean and that works fine too.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

A patch chord you mean? If it was he was hotwiring it in true hendrix style!