Every music genre has guitar
tones and gear associated
with it. Of course there are
exceptions, but a Telecaster or a
Gretsch into a blackface Fender
is certainly a good starting place
if you want a twangy country
tone. For classic rock crunch,
a Les Paul through a Marshall
will get you into the right
ballpark. Yes, these are broad
generalizations, but these combinations
of amps and guitars
are good starting points that
you can modify as needed.
When it comes to a modern
heavy tone, I usually start with
a guitar that has heavy strings
and active pickups, and then
add a noise gate and a high-gain
amp to complete the equation.
Heavy strings and drop tunings
both play a major role in
getting a powerful heavy tone.
I use .012–.052 SIT Power
Wound strings on my Schecter
Hellraiser, which is tuned a
whole-step below standard
tuning to D–G–C–F–A–D.
I have a loose rule of increasing
each string’s gauge by .001
for every half-step I tune it
below standard. That way, the
tension and feel of the strings
stay somewhat consistent to
that of a set of .010s tuned to
E–A–D–G–B–E.
The next order of business in
crafting a heavy tone is finding
the right pickups. My Schecter
is loaded with EMG 81 and 89
active humbuckers. These pickups
have a ton of output and
complement a high-gain amp
very well. Because the tone will
usually diminish as the batteries
lose juice, the most important
thing to remember with active
pickups is to keep the batteries
fresh. Another great set of
active pickups are the Seymour
Duncan Blackouts, which have
a more present high end, yet
also deliver plenty of output.
The next link in the gear
chain is the noise gate, and
there are a couple of qualities I
look for in a gate. The first—
and most important—is that
the gate doesn’t interfere with
my pick attack. Sometimes the
gate won’t open up unless you
strike the string with enough
force, and this results in missing
the front end of the note.
A sluggish noise gate gets in
the way of dynamic playing,
and the last thing anyone
wants is a piece of gear dictating
dynamics. Second, I don’t
want the gate to interfere with
a sustained chord by cutting
off the sound prematurely. The
MXR Smart Gate has a sensitivity
knob that curbs both of
these issues. You can also set the
Smart Gate so that it only gates
out certain sounds. When I’m
playing heavy music, I need to
have dead quiet spaces between
highly rhythmic blasts of
chords. And a good noise gate
will help me accomplish this.
There are a few different
aspects of my choice amp that
make it my choice amp. For
crushing crunch sounds, the
recently re-voiced Mesa/Boogie
Multi-Watt Dual Rectifier is my
go-to amp for heavy tones. The
Multi-Watt can be loaded with
6L6 or EL34 tubes. But for
modern heavy tones, I prefer
the more open and full sound
of the 6L6s, with the Modern
setting engaged on Channels 2
and 3. The biggest difference
between a modern country
tone and a modern metal tone
lies in the Midrange knob. For
modern metal, you’ll generally
want to scoop the mids.
Contemporary country is the
exact opposite, since the mids
are pushed way up.
My cabinet of choice for
the Dual Rectifier is the Mesa/
Boogie Road King. The Road
King cab has a Celestion Vintage
30 and a C90 for speakers, and
the combination of these different
12" speakers adds a lot
of depth to the sound. The cab
also gives me the option to play
through the speakers individually
or together, which is a big plus
in the tonal variety department.
Because a wooden partition separates
the speakers, the cabinet
responds more like two 1x12s
than a standard 2x12 cabinet.
This is useful because the low
end is tighter, and I prefer that
when playing heavy music.
Another useful aspect of this cabinet
is the combination of open
and closed back panels, which
also adds depth to the sound.
Lastly, the biggest component
in creating a heavy tone is picking-
hand technique. When you
have a loud amp that’s saturated
in gain, you have to control the
strings with your palm. The
pick, your pick angles and velocity,
and palm muting all play a
huge role in getting a massive
and heavy tone. I encourage you
to observe how different players
approach their instruments,
technique, and gear. Then add
up what you learn and create a
heavy tone equation that works
best for you.
Paul “TFO” Allen
is a multi-instrumentalist
who has worked with
Big & Rich, Sebastian
Bach, 112, Jake Owen,
Montgomery Gentry,
Larry the Cable Guy,
and many others. He also has his
own project called Ten Finger
Orchestra, and can be reached at
tenfingerorchestra@yahoo.com.