How to get an old school black metal tone that doesn't suck?

[lactosedouglas69]

I'm going for something akin to what you'd hear on an early Immortal, Dissection, or Inquisition album. Nothing raw/lofi/necro/other buzzwords, and nothing too tight/modern/mid focused. Just a nice old school black metal tone that doesn't sound like it was recorded with a dildo and two toasters. I have a few tube amps (Peavey 5150, EVH 5150iii, Mesa Triple Rec), a ten band EQ that I typically use in the FX loop, and a Torpedo Captor X loadbox. Any specific amp, settings, or impulse responses I should use? Finding the right guitar tone is the only thing holding me back from beginning work on my album. I would greatly appreciate any help.

 

[kat_phood810]

IMHO Any high quality tube amp is perfect, That's the kinda amp they would have used. Just turn up the gain passed half way. Take an EQ and cut a fair amount of mids and probably boost some highs too. Remember, If you're using a boost pedal (Tube Screamer, OD, Blues Driver, etc) to boost your signal, Use it in-line with your guitar. If you are using a pedal for extra distortion (Boss DS-1, Metal Zone, etc) use it as a send through your FX loop. That's basically it! I would use a gate too, with a low threshold.

 

[80smetaldude]

I'm going for something akin to what you'd hear on an early Immortal, Dissection, or Inquisition album. Nothing raw/lofi/necro/other buzzwords, and nothing too tight/modern/mid focused. Just a nice old school black metal tone that doesn't sound like it was recorded with a dildo and two toasters. I have a few tube amps (Peavey 5150, EVH 5150iii, Mesa Triple Rec), a ten band EQ that I typically use in the FX loop, and a Torpedo Captor X loadbox. Any specific amp, settings, or impulse responses I should use? Finding the right guitar tone is the only thing holding me back from beginning work on my album. I would greatly appreciate any help.

I'd say boost the Mesa with a distortion that lets you blend in on the dirty channel. Set the Mesa to retro crunch (this mid 70s Rolling stones) and then just give it mid gain distortion. Low guitar tuning will help as well. Cabs? Mesa 4x12 or Marshall 1960a, dual miked, sm57 and a ribbon, on the Fredman method with sm57 being 45 degree diagonal. Then eq to taste, but usually smiley curve works well.

A lot of it will be the distorted bass tuned low adding grind and your choice of drum sounds.

TC Eyemaster distortion or Revv 4 are a good start. Cab impulses - try Zombie cabs.