How do CoB achieve thier tone?

[JonWormwood]

I've always been a fan of their guitar tone and their band mix as a whole but I never hear anything about these guys here. I love how their tone isn't ear piercing with too many mids/highs but it still cuts through.

From what I understand, their guitar signal is something like this-

Alexi-

Gp1000
VHT 2/50
Marshall 412 w/ 75's

Roope-

GP1000/Psa1 (use psa1 more from what I've read)
VHT 2/90
Marshall 412 w/ 75's

When I saw them live the cabs were just mic'd up with a single 57. That's all I really know about it, anyone have any insight?

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I can only tell you that they use passive EMG HZ pickups with the Jackson booster cicuit, and in some gear interview Alexi said the GP1000 will only sound good if all knobs are maxed

 

[JonWormwood]

I can only tell you that they use passive EMG HZ pickups with the Jackson booster cicuit, and in some gear interview Alexi said the GP1000 will only sound good if all knobs are maxed

I believe he doesn't use the jackson booster circuit anymore and I've seen pictures of his settings. From I remember, the mid knob is all the way down.

 

[Ben Johnson]

They've always used a JE-1000 (or clone) boost in their guitars. That, along with the gear you listed is about 90% of the sound...and some pretty good guitar chops.

For the studio recordings, the rest of the signal chain is a probably a 57 and some kind of Neve-ish preamp.

The bass also adds a decent amount of heaviness to the guitars. (EMGs > Boss SD-1 > PSA-1 > Ampeg SVT amp > cab)

 

[Ben Johnson]

I believe he doesn't use the jackson booster circuit anymore and I've seen pictures of his settings. From I remember, the mid knob is all the way down.

I have a GP-1000, and it's quite a middy preamp, even with the mids turned all the way down. I like mine turned up a lot though.

 

[JonWormwood]

I have a GP-1000, and it's quite a middy preamp, even with the mids turned all the way down. I like mine turned up a lot though.

I've been trying to get my hands on the latter jcm800ish one for quite a few years now and I just can't find one that isn't messed up.

 

[Ben Johnson]

I've tried both 87 and 88 models, and the 87 sounds more "Bodom" to me. Both will do the job though.

So as long as it has 1/4 jacks on the back, and it's not messed up, jump on it.

 

[kev]

Stee has the most info on this around these parts i think as he is a CoB Zealot. Look out for cobhc He's got the lee jackson and gets a tone pretty close.

 

[Black neon bob]

Yeah, Stee get yo funky ass in here and show us some love!

 

[Lowberg]

Ive got a Lee Jackson Gp1000 too

does the alexi tone well but mine isnt beefy sounding enough for rhythm tones anyways, i think it has to do with my EMG 81 pickup it sounds really thin in my guitar to me. It has a great Lead sound and when its not boosted with a pedal or gain booster it does awesome 80s metal tones!

 

[cobhc]

I've never been able to get anything really chunky out of it, it has that 5150 flavour as such, but has really pronounced high mids, that are hard to dial out. I can virtually nail the tone on Hate Crew Deathroll using any guitar with passive p/up's and a Boss SD-1 (in place of the JE-1000) into the GP-1000. Sadly active EMG's don't seem to work well with this preamp, it always comes out sounding weird, and nasty somehow.

As far as having the mids cranked as Ben said, that doesn't really seem to make a difference on my GP-1000. On mine, when the Mid Shift hits 3 or above, pretty much the only EQ knob that does anything is the Treble knob, turn it down and you lose gain and volume, and the Bass and Mid knobs only make subtle differences from being on zero, to being maxed. But having the Mid Shift below 3 makes the preamp sound really thin, and it loses any balls it had in the first place. It's really fucked up how the EQ section on it works.

Basically Alexi's rig is as you posted initially, the only thing that's really changed over the years has been the poweramp. He did also use a different preamp from time to time as well, but most of the time it's been the GP-1000. With decent passive p/up's you don't really need an extra gain boost, the GP-1000 unlike most people think, actually has a decent amount of gain by itself. I prefer the tone without the boost to be honest as it's thicker, and less mid-orientated.

Overall a lot of Bodom's tone comes from how Alexi and Roope play. I think with a JCM800 and a Boss SD-1 you could pretty much nail the tones as well. Or even a 5150, or the like. I've seen Alexi playing through Marshall heads in videos in the past, and it doesn't sound far off the album tones. Also the Marshall or 5150 route is more versatile as well, the Lee Jackson will pretty much do the Bodom tone, and not a lot else (although using GH's Fredman Impulses, I've been getting it to sound kinda thick, and not too bad). Also the clean channel is really shit as well, even worse than the 5150 clean channel IMHO.

Ok, Bodom/GP-1000 rant over, anything else you wanna know, just ask


Edit: Is that enough shit for you Bob and Kev?

 

[Kazrog]

Their live tone is awful. In studio they get great results, though. I wonder what the difference in approach is.

 

[Chryst Krispies]

Yeah I have yet to see a bodom show where the guitars sound clear. Kinda sucks.

 

[Force666]

doesnt alexi also use a rocktron intellifex in his loop?

 

[kev]

Good work Stee!

 

[cobhc]

doesnt alexi also use a rocktron intellifex in his loop?

Yeah, but that doesn't add to much to the tone.

I think Bodom's live tone comes from the sloppiness of playing (a producer not cracking the whip telling them to repeat shit till they nail it).

 

[Metaltastic]

Goddamn, I'll say - I've never seen them in person, but Stockholm Knockout is really just an absolute disgrace, which is odd cuz I always though the Tokyo Warhearts CD sounded pretty damn tight, especially Alexi's soloing (maybe he's just always too drunk these days?)

 

[Habsburgs]

I heard somewhere that there are different GP-1000s, I dont know if its true... One that sounds more like a marshall and another one. I think alexi has the one that sounds more like a marshall.

 

[cobhc]

Yeah, there were 2 different GP-1000's. One was based on a Hotrodded Marshall tone, and one was more like a Modded Fender tone.

And yeah, Alexi has got progressively more and more sloppy with his playing over the years. And I think it's had a bad effect on Roope, as his playing seems to have gone downhill as well since he joined.

Overall though, when you're actually there, it doesn't matter. I just think that when they are playing shows for DVD's, they should force themselves to play tight.

 

[JonWormwood]

I've never been able to get anything really chunky out of it, it has that 5150 flavour as such, but has really pronounced high mids, that are hard to dial out. I can virtually nail the tone on Hate Crew Deathroll using any guitar with passive p/up's and a Boss SD-1 (in place of the JE-1000) into the GP-1000. Sadly active EMG's don't seem to work well with this preamp, it always comes out sounding weird, and nasty somehow.

As far as having the mids cranked as Ben said, that doesn't really seem to make a difference on my GP-1000. On mine, when the Mid Shift hits 3 or above, pretty much the only EQ knob that does anything is the Treble knob, turn it down and you lose gain and volume, and the Bass and Mid knobs only make subtle differences from being on zero, to being maxed. But having the Mid Shift below 3 makes the preamp sound really thin, and it loses any balls it had in the first place. It's really fucked up how the EQ section on it works.

Basically Alexi's rig is as you posted initially, the only thing that's really changed over the years has been the poweramp. He did also use a different preamp from time to time as well, but most of the time it's been the GP-1000. With decent passive p/up's you don't really need an extra gain boost, the GP-1000 unlike most people think, actually has a decent amount of gain by itself. I prefer the tone without the boost to be honest as it's thicker, and less mid-orientated.

Overall a lot of Bodom's tone comes from how Alexi and Roope play. I think with a JCM800 and a Boss SD-1 you could pretty much nail the tones as well. Or even a 5150, or the like. I've seen Alexi playing through Marshall heads in videos in the past, and it doesn't sound far off the album tones. Also the Marshall or 5150 route is more versatile as well, the Lee Jackson will pretty much do the Bodom tone, and not a lot else (although using GH's Fredman Impulses, I've been getting it to sound kinda thick, and not too bad). Also the clean channel is really shit as well, even worse than the 5150 clean channel IMHO.

Ok, Bodom/GP-1000 rant over, anything else you wanna know, just ask


Edit: Is that enough shit for you Bob and Kev?

When I think of earlier albums such as hatebreeder and follow the reaper, I think 5150 with too much treble but when I think of HCDR and AYDY?, I don't think 2203/4 but then again I haven't been able to truly crank one.

I'd figure it'd be easier getting those tones with a pre + power rack setup. Maybe a JMP-1 + VHT? Would you say you can get some nice tones at low bedroom volumes?