What gear does everyone use and why?

7 Dying Trees

7 Dying Trees

Bastard Albino Elf
Apr 18, 2002
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The woodland fern
www.nemecyst.net
I know I am reasonably obsessive about my setup , so I would like to see what other people are like. Are you obsessed with a certain sound? Is your gear tailored towards that sound? Do you tend to buy endorsed stuff or gear that your favorite musician uses or do you research everything and try everything out to get the sound you want in your head?

My setup is for guitar , but any musical instrument is applicable here as I'd like to hear not only peoples choices but also their reasoning behind it, and if they're not happy with it, then would like to know why and what they really want to get or are aspiring to (also explaining what they think it'll do for their sound). Lots of musicians swear blindly by certain gear and makes, so it'll be interesting to see what the answers will be :)
 
so what is your setup now?

my setup is:

guitar: IBANEZ RG520FSSOL
(wooden very nice surface, I like the style, the sound is also ok)
effects: BOSS ME-33
(not really the thing I want to have, but I do not have enough money)
amp: fender blues junior
(it is fucked up and I want to buy a new one, but do not have enough money)
 
I use an Ibanez RG7420 so I can play deathmetal and at the same time play leads. Before, I only used a six-string but I got tired of tuning to B then going back again to E-tuning.
My guitar plugs straight into a Hughes Kettner Attax combo amp. I also use a Boss 4-track for writing stuff.
 
Guitar: Ibanez S470 with emg 81 and 85

Effects: All boss pedals, DD-3(digital delay), AC-2 (acoustic simulator), TU-2(Tuner, not really an effect, but hey, it's in the effects chain), MT-2(metal zone)

Amp: Peavey Bandit 112

I love the distorted tone I get, really kick ass mid crunch and better then all the mud I hear from most metal zone users.
My clean tone on the other hand aint great, blame the amp.
 
i have an Ibanez RG470 (Purple) which is good for any metal music, especially lead becuase of the nice thin neck, sounds fairly good but i would prefer the one up because of the edge trem.

for sound i have a zoom gfx8, tonally not brilliant but covers most types of music and the distortion is really good

and i use that through a JCM 2000 DSL 401 (well i did till it broke)

i do lead guitar in a metal band so this setup is good for me
 
Main Guitars:

95 Jackson custom Warrior
01 Jackson custom Soloist

Why? Because nothing is better for shredding or Death Metal/Thrash/Hardcore.... At least in my opinion.

Gear:

Bogner Fish Preamp
120 tube head
Cabinet 4x12 celestions

Because I need brutal crunch and distortion that is articulate and dynamic.

Got a MT2 for my home practice rig, it's a crutch that covers mistakes, but the thing sounds good.
 
Guitars: -V.Rautia Guitarworks Flying V with Seymour Duncan pickups (Distortion and 59). That guitar is a handmade copy of Gibson FlyingV. I love the neck, classing look and heavy sound.

- Ibanez RG470. Great for soloing. Pickups are pretty good but I´m plannig to buy Seymour Duncans...

Strings: D´Addario 10-52.

Amps: Marshall (still dreaming of Mesa Triple rectifier...)



Exapathy
 
@xenophobe
What's the bognore fish preamp like? What kind of sound has it got? Heard some nice stuff about them.

@Dead Eternity

My current setup is a pre 1969 marshall super lead 100w that I've had modded to include an effects loop, through the power stage of that I am running a mesa boogie triaxis and a boss gt-5(for effects and midi control). This into two 4x12, of which one is vintage. I really want to upgrade to a full rack setup with a mesa 2:90 and a TC ELectronics GMajor or GForce. The cabs are nice, but eventually want to get some that are tighter, probably go for mesa (but they are fucking expensive)

Guitar wise I use Ibanez Universes (UV7BK's)(2 of em, one got stolen so i bought another but through some freak act of nature the other one got found a year later) an s540(with EMG's) a beat up RG(currently dead) am ibanez JemBSB(for fun) and a bcrich warlock. Guitar wise I am pretty sorted, but wouldn't mind getting one of those ibanez double edge guitars (the ones with the piezo's) 7string.

Most of this gear has been accumulated over time and as I can't ever bear to sell anything it just builds up. Also any time I come into money I spend it on gear (stops me from drinking it).

This setup is far too much of a pain in the arse, as there's a head, a small rack and a floorboard to lug around as well as cabs. Sound wise a little tighter would be nice, but overall I am happy with it. For rythm/lead guitar in my band it is good, but once we start gigging it'll need to become a lot more sturdy...
 
Guitar: Jackson RR3 (Not too light, not too heavy, feels good in the hand) I still dream of a Gibson Les Paul...
Pickups: (bridge) SD Invader (Neck) Jackson? (Invader gives a raunchy and clear metal sound with good bottom and output. Goin' to buy an SD to the neck also...)
Amp: Marshall JCM2000 DSL100 head (Great amp! Warm sound. Has a good variety of sounds also... Can play almost all kinds of music with that)
Cabinet: 2X12 Celestion elements. (The best. Because it's 'only' 2X12 It's small but There's still a monster living inside it. Self made by a friend of mine who is a carpenter so it's also VERY durable... I call it 'Karvanoppa')
Effect: Cry Baby 95Q WAH (The only I need... Don't like to use effects much.)

So there...:D
 
I use a Jackson Kelly, through a Danelectro Fab-tone distortion. I also have a small Laney amp.

I really want to change atleast one of my pickups (probably at the bridge)- the standard Jackson ones don't have enough sustain for my liking (and seeing as I play doom, I kinda need the sound to hang around for a while ;)). Tone-wise it's ok though.
My distortion is so-so. It's good, it's got alot of kick to it, but I'd rather have something with a little less fuzz. I've heard Yngwie talk about his setup, he likes distortion where it doesn't really sound fuzzy unless you play more than one note, and I think I'm leaning that way- y'know, get those single-note riffs a-la My Dying Bride going, they don't sound overly distorted, but they still have some balls. I dunno, I need to spend a while in a shop trying things out.
My amp is shit, even with the distortion off it's impossible to get a completely clean sound. I never use it, I just plug into my 4-track recorder which I run through my stereo, which means then I get access to the eq. I'd like to get a decent Marshall or something (nothing specific in mind at the moment)
 
The Bogner Fish preamp is really cool. It's got 8 12ax7 preamp tubes. It's completely hand built, point to point wired, and has nearly limitless amounts of gain and awesome tone.

Unlike most other gear which you really have to work hard to sound good, you really have to try hard to make the Fish sound bad.

It's actually not as heavy as I need right now, but it's got great metal crunch, in the strato and brown channels. I don't particularly care for the "brown" sound, but this brown channel is sweet. No distortion pedals needed or anything.

As soon as you stop playing, no distortion "Fuzz" or hiss. It's tube distortion, so when there's little or no signal, there isn't much being distorted. This is awesome compared to running a DS-1 or MT-2, because at louder volumes, the gain hiss is still there.

The clean channels "country" and "shark" are crystal clear, very glassy and bright. I don't particularly care for the "shark" channel, but I think one of my preamp tubes for that channel might be on the fringe. I say this because most people that I've talked to who own one of these preamps like the channel. I'll need to retube it and try getting a better sound out of it.

It can easily do Megadeth, Slayer, as well as other shred metal type tones. The distortion (brown or strato) channels aren't quite as "saturated" sounding as I would prefer, but ALL of the channels are VERY articulate and responsive. Very WARM and refined sounding.

The one flaw, if you want to call it that, is that it's NOT a MT2 or similar effect, and because of it's clarity and articulation, it AMPLIFIES any bad playing techniques, so if you screw up, it sounds much worse than if you were running a high gain amp with diode-type distortion, which can mask or reduce any techinque flaws one may have. So, in ways, it's helped me actually play better, since it accentuates both the good and bad in your personal playing style.

I am actually looking foward to getting a Bradshaw Custom Audio Electronics 3+ SE preamp, because that supposedly has a more saturated distortion channel that would be more suited to the thrash/DM I play. It's also completely hand-made with mil-spec components, and also is reknown for it's fantastic tone.

Hope that helps.
 
all i play is metal, all kinds,
my guitars are as follows: A black epiphone v with emgs, a Dean baby z with emgs. played through a marshall jcm 2000 dsl 100 and a peavy cab. INSTANT DEATH, PERFECT FOR SLAUGHTERING
 
My setup's pretty standard/simple, (because I don't have the money to get what I want) lol.

Guitar: Squier 6-string (fender strat)
Not the best I know but it does it's job.
Effects: Zoom 505II ME Pedal, and a Boss Metal Zone.
The zoom is good, but lack the ability to be finely tweaked, also to be 'warped' during play, which is a downside. My Metal Zone.....no complaints, I love it.
Amp: Yamaha VX25 (30watt)
Pick (of choice): Dunlop .46mm Nylon Picks
Awesome...awesome picks. (Best I've used)

All the gear I have, I have by force (lack of funds to invest). Oh well, I'm just happy to HAVE the gear I have!
 
Yea I know it's pretty thin, but I love to use up-down strokes and I find that I can go faster with a thin pick. It works too. I can pick pretty damn fast. :) I know that it's "impressive" to shred just usingdownstrokes but I can't go nearly as fast using just downstrokes.

As for what other metal guitarists use I have no idea, I was actually wondering that myself.
 
Originally posted by xenophobe
The one flaw, if you want to call it that, is that it's NOT a MT2 or similar effect, and because of it's clarity and articulation, it AMPLIFIES any bad playing techniques, so if you screw up, it sounds much worse than if you were running a high gain amp with diode-type distortion, which can mask or reduce any techinque flaws one may have. So, in ways, it's helped me actually play better, since it accentuates both the good and bad in your personal playing style
Click to expand...

Not really a flaw, when I got my triaxis it improved my accuracy a lot, and also got rid of some really bad playing habits. Less forgiving equipment is better, really does make your weakpoints shine :)

Thanks for the decription!
 
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