Can't seem to nail a decent tone

[Acre]

ARGH!!!

Someone help me out here. I've been trying to achieve a tight and aggressive metal tone for chugga chugga style death metal/deathcore with my setup, but whatever I seem to do it comes out sounding weak and flubby, no clarity or punch at all.

My setup is as follows:

Agile Interceptor Pro 727 w/EMG 707s
Keely 4 knob Compressor
Ibanez TS9
ISP Decimator
Boss NS2
Peavey 6505+ 112 Combo

Anyone wanna school me on the best way of tying all of this together, in terms of settings and the order of the effects chain. Feels like I've tried everything

 

[308sc]

Start over and Try plugging the guitar directly into the amp and set the settings around 6-bass/5.5-Mids/and 6.5-treble sometimes getting all those things out of the chain can help you understand where your weakest link is

 

[rippedflesh89]

Agile-->compressor-->TS9-->(decimator)-->6505preamp-->(NS2)-->6505 poweramp

the two in parentheses can be switched around... seeing as both of them are noise gates (the decimator being waaay better)

all i can really say is you wanna use the compressor to give yourself a somewhat limited dynamic spectrum. This will make the distortion from your amp more constant. so i almost always leave my gain at 0.

For the TS9, turn the level to about 3 o clock, the distortion all the way to down (although try mixing slight (usually no higher than 9 o clock) TS9 distortion with your 6505s distortion for more tonal color). For the tone knob on the TS9, set this wherever you feel it sounds best. I usually set mine around 1-3 o clock for a brighter tone at the front end.

 

[AkiraSpectrum]

just throwing out some possibilities here but maybe one of your tubes has gone bad?

 

[pink freud]

Give us your settings. You might be playing too quietly or compensating with too much gain. May sound silly, but also make sure you have a fresh battery in your guitar and new strings as well.

 

[Acre]

just throwing out some possibilities here but maybe one of your tubes has gone bad?

Nah, I don't think it's that. I've given everything in my rig an inspection and I'm pretty sure everything is working just fine, it's just I'm not using it all to it's full potential.

May sound silly, but also make sure you have a fresh battery in your guitar and new strings as well.

Lol. Changed my EMG battery the other day and you're right. Makes a hell of a difference

 

[ZeroS1gnol]

With your amp you dont need those pedals at all...Compressors and noise gates are only affecting your natural tone.

 

[BlackWinds10]

in my oppinion the simpler the setup the better, so you should try it simple and see if you like it.

 

[Forced Chaos]

Guitar into the OD into the noise gate right into the amp. You don't even need the compressor.

6505+:

Gain around 5 or 6, rhythm channel
Bass around 6
Mids around 4
Highs around 5
Resonance around 7
Presence around 6 or 7

OD:

Level at noon or 1:00
Tone at noon or a tad less
Gain about 8 or 9:00

That should get you there for sure....those are some pretty basic 6505 settings and they always work well for me.

 

[bronz79]

ARGH!!!

Someone help me out here. I've been trying to achieve a tight and aggressive metal tone for chugga chugga style death metal/deathcore with my setup, but whatever I seem to do it comes out sounding weak and flubby, no clarity or punch at all.

My setup is as follows:

Agile Interceptor Pro 727 w/EMG 707s
Keely 4 knob Compressor
Ibanez TS9
ISP Decimator
Boss NS2
Peavey 6505+ 112 Combo

Anyone wanna school me on the best way of tying all of this together, in terms of settings and the order of the effects chain. Feels like I've tried everything

Distorted guitar sound has a natural compression related to gain an amp tone and active pickup imho often are more compressed than passive.
6505 has ton of gain so no need of a OD in front of the input maybe a clean boost like the Xotic BB preamp can help tighten up the sound.

 

[123321123]

Distorted guitar sound has a natural compression related to gain an amp tone and active pickup imho often are more compressed than passive.
6505 has ton of gain so no need of a OD in front of the input maybe a clean boost like the Xotic BB preamp can help tighten up the sound.

Turning the amp's gain down and the drive on an OD up sounds amazing on 5150s.

 

[rippedflesh89]

maybe a clean boost like the Xotic BB preamp can help tighten up the sound.

if he just uses his TS9 with the gain all the way down, it acts like a clean boost...

personally, i prefer ODs over clean boosts because having the gain knob the OD can allow you to color your tone slightly with the pedal..

i have a TS808 and i love bringing the distortion up one knotch from 0... of course you have to dial the gain down on your amp to compensate... just a personal preference of mine