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Old 06-23-2013, 09:12 PM   #14
nfpotter
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Posts: 1,057
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Quote:
Originally Posted by metallicaguy1 View Post
I've been playing around with my UX2, the different settings, Gearbox, and S Gear. And my Fender Mustang 1. When I record in Reaper, I found that my amp has the best tone when it comes to trying metal. I do have a question for the metalheads out there who record. How do you make metal sound "cleaner?" Mine just sounds so fuzzy--especially when I play power chords. Single chords, a little, but anything more than one string and it's too much. It loses quality and sound in the process. If I decrease the gain, it doesn't sound much like metal anymore but more like crunchy clean tone. I don't know what it could be. I was just kind of curious about this.
First: get a good, real tube amp (or even some solid state ones can sound good). Amp sims can get very, very close, but are not there.

Second: if you ARE stuck with using amps sims, lower the gain, and use a tight parametric EQ to find the "fizz" spot and reduce it. Can work wonders. Also, go for "aunch" instead of "punch", meaning dial the mids in right, not all scooped. Leave room for the kick and bass. If you're a decent engineer you can also use multi-band compression creatively.

Third: import a CD or MP3 track or a guitar sound you like, dial up an amp sim, and A/B back and forth, tweeking your amp sim until you're as close as you can get to the sound of the real amp. On both my current band's record, and the band prior to that, I found a couple spots where I had forgotten to track a couple parts. Rather than going back, carrying a bunch of recording gear, and setting it all up, I dubbed in the tracks with my UX2, after trying to match the sound of my VHT rig. I got so close that my own band couldn't tell.

I play through a lot of very expensive tube guitar gear. Nothing can replace that, but with a little work, amp sims can sound quite good.
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