What’s new at Zystrix? Read on…
July 7, 2025
Invent Your Own
Metal Amp Sound
from Pedals
In the last issue we looked at
the best bang-for-the-buck
guitar picks for the metal guitarist
(click here for a refresher). This time we’re
going to invent our own metal guitar amplifier
sound. And we’re going to do it by stealing
a few ideas and applying these same
principles to gear you may already own.
We’re also going to hear and see the latest
solo piano tune by Dangerous Neighbors
called Games of Respect. If you found it on
“Farcebook” this version is higher video
quality. So sit back and relax. Welcome to
Zystrix, the heartbeat of the universe. Where
creativity and free-thinking have more
value than conformity.
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Introduction -- What makes a
great metal guitar sound?
Most guitarists agree there
are many great guitar
sounds not only in metal
but also in all kinds of
music. What we’re going
to do this time is make
the guitar sound massive
for metal. This is not a
quick “do it and done”
approach – it requires
listening at all stages and
slowly closing in on the
sound. When you get a
chance listen to the guitar
sounds on “Zoo-Tube” for Whitesnake (1987
album), Metallica (black album), and Black
Sabbath (album 13). Although there are others,
these are three great examples of huge metal
guitar sounds.
We’re are using those sounds as our target to
achieve a very similar sound, or use them as a
springboard for your own individual rendition or
creation. I prefer the springboard approach, but
you may prefer to copy. And we’re going to do it
using only a small portable pedal setup. And we
are not concerned (at least for now) with post
production (limiting, compression, reverb, second
cab, etc) because that’s another topic for another
day. And as usual on this website we’re going to
build it on a budget. That’s the theory behind our
sound. Is it impossible? You be the judge, but it’s
possible to come very close. Let’s move on and
examine how they get those sounds by breaking it
down to the basic elements and then
using those basic ideas to invent our
own.
A guitar amplifier has three parts: the
pre-amp section (this boosts the guitar
signal), the rectifier section (this prepares the pre-
amp signal for the power amp), and the power
amp (this makes the signal voltage high enough to
drive a speaker). Each section has it’s own tube
sound. Depending on the amp design and tube
types these three parts work together to give a
distinctive amplifier sound. The transformer also
has a part in the amplifier sound as does the bias
setting, but the overall amp head tone is what
we’re concerned with. The speaker type, and
cabinet size and type also have significant
influence on the overall guitar sound, as does the
microphone type used on the speaker, but for now
and for simplicity we’re concentrating on just the
amp head.
Let’s Get Started --
Inventing Our
Amplifer Sound
OK, so what cranked amplifier
sound do you prefer? I prefer the amp head
pedal to be analog (like the Wampler Triple
Wreck, Friedman Dirty Shirly, Friedman BE-OD,
Joyo High Gain Distortion, Caline English Man,
Tone City Golden Plexi II, Fulltone OCD (Mosky
Obsessive), Revv G3 or G4, and many others) but
I’m sure any decent sounding pedal would
probably work OK. Would a modeler pedal work?
Yes, but after a lot of experimentation I feel an
analog pedal does a better job because it has
pimples, and unlike a model pedal, that tends to
add realism. But of course, it’s all about your ears
and what you prefer (or maybe what pedals you
own to save money). There are many great
options and opinions for amp sounds, but we have
to choose something to start somewhere, so for
now let’s choose something that really rocks (TW
by Mosky, the Wampler Triple Wreck, Amptweaker
Tight Metal, the Revv G4, many others). You be
the judge. The
overdrive pedal type is
not written in stone as
long as we follow the
basic pedal order
construct, but we have
to start somewhere.
Use your ear and use what you like. But whatever
you choose, that will be your main amplifier sound
(see pedal letter C).
Still Building the Sound
In this second simple example below
we’ve taken the chosen overdrive
(distortion) pedal (used as an amp
head emulation -- pedal C) and
plugged it into an IR pedal (pedal E).
This gives a basic sound of an amp
and speaker combination. There are many IR
pedals available, but I prefer one with a longer
recorded IR (at least 200ms for more realism but
500ms is better) with a power amp and
microphone emulation built in. Unfortunately this
is a tall order because I have never found one that
did it all, but there’s a work-around (or in this case
a compromise) for everything. For an excellent
listing of bang-for-the-buck IR pedals and their
options and probably the best cool free IR cabinet
downloads available anywhere simply click here.
Anyway, in this case I’m compromising by using a
Joyo Cab Box because, although the IRs are only
about 100ms
(close microphone
sounds), the power
amp sound and
the microphone
emulations are
built in (and they
sound quite good) which makes it easy. And last I
knew (before tarrifs) the price is reasonable. If I
added a Boss IR-200 (or maybe a TC Electronic
Impulse IR Loader, or maybe a Mooer Cab X2)
for the cab tones after the Joyo Cab Box it
would be perfect.
Getting Even Better
The guitar pedal table below explains the
various pedal functions. And the pedals are
interchangeable as long
as the type is the same.
So all type A pedals are
compressors, all type B
pedals are noise
gates, and so on.
When it comes
to pedals D and E some pedals have both
(including microphone emulations like the
Joyo Cab Box) whereas some only offer
one or maybe two emulations. If money is
no object then the best power amp
emulation pedal (probably the Joyo Cab
Box to my ear) would come before the best
impulse response pedal (probably the Boss IR-
200) because of the 500ms IR option. As far as a
letter F pre-boost pedal many guitarists prefer a
type like the Tube Screamer, the Klon, DOD 250
(Mosky D250), MXR Timmy (or Caline Pure Sky),
MXR Distortion + (Biyang DS-10), and
many others. I can’t say I like them
because I prefer the big amp sag sound
so I usually go with my old MXR Dyna
Comp (try the Caline Gale Force) or a Ross
Compressor (Lekato R-Comp). But that’s just me
-- I like the sound of an amp that seems like it
can’t quite keep up. Like I said earlier, use your
ear and choose the sound you are seeking. So,
depending on your tastes our pedal board either
looks like this...
or like this...
Starting to Sound Massive
Now we need another power amp emulation to
come between the IR pedal (letter E) and the amp
head pedal (letter C).
This adds more warmth
and some grunt. I
usually don’t want the
power amp to add too
much dirt, just even
order harmonics. This
sound is a balancing act and it depends of your
tastes and also the output of pedal C and the
sensitivity of the pre-amp pedal. There are
dedicated power amp pedals (read expensive),
there’s the free Ignite Amps
TPA-1 -- great sound but it
requires a DAW, and there are pedals that have
the power amp sound but are considered regular
guitar pedals. Some pedals
to consider are the original
Sans Amp and it’s cleaner
sounding Marshall amp
emulations. Or try a slightly
turned up clean setting (EQ
set by ear relatively flat) on
something like the Tone City Golden Plexi 2,
Caline English Man, Mooer micro pre-amp series
001 (Diezel), 002 (Marshall 900), 003 (Koch
-- my favorite), 005 (5150), 008 (Boogie),
and many others. Don’t forget to turn off
the cab simulation if it’s offered on the
pedal. Also, pedal F can be substituted for
pedal A below. Now we’ve got a pedal
setup that looks something like this…
Who Done It?
The Final Piece
of the Puzzle
OK, you’ve gotten this far
in the setup. You really enjoy your new amp
sound, and it rocks like hell. However, you also
notice an annoying hiss from so much gain
staging. That’s where the noise gate (pedal
B) comes into play. I use two so I can really
clamp down on the noise but still sound
huge. And where they go and what type
to use is somewhat of a matter of taste.
My favorite one is the Rowin Noise
Gate -- it does a great job at a great
price. Anyway, below you’ll see my
placement choice and so far it has worked for me.
Once again, pedal F can be substituted with pedal
A. So depending on the
noise gate types you use
your pedal board may look
something like this...
Invent Your Own
Metal Amp Sound --
Conclusion
As you can see, putting this pedal
assortment together takes time,
experimentation, and lots of listening
to find the correct levels and tone, but
it’s
worth it. And there are an immense
amount of sound options. The order is basically
pre-pedal (or compressor), amp head, power
amp, power amp again, IR pedal with microphone
(and possibly room) emulation. If you’d like a
portable setup add a guitar tuner pedal
at the beginning (try the mini TC
Electronic Polytune 3). Then the final
signal goes directly into your recorder or
your amp’s aux in. It’s a balancing act to
get the cascading correct so the end result
sounds pleasing, natural, and above all,
massive. Whether you are trying to emulate some
of the example sounds or if you want the ultimate
portable personal metal amp sound, I hope this
presentation has helped you discover some of the
many possibilities, and
also given you a reason to
begin experimenting.
“Games of Respect”
solo piano by
Dangerous Neighbors
When communicating with a friend or a lover the
games of respect come naturally
because the feeling is mutual. But
as the communication dynamics
change, like with politicians or world
leaders, the games of respect can
become strained or even deadly. Click here for
the MP3 version of Games of Respect. Click
here for the video version. Enjoy.
Don’t touch that dial…
Stay tuned next time…
Next time we’re going to… vacation.
Yup, it’s been more than a year and I’m
ready. What will we cover then? My Magic 8 Ball
says, “Better not tell you now”. So long, I’ll be
back August 4, 2025.
No one turned up to the first meeting
of my Sarcasm Club – despite loads of
people saying how much they were
looking forward to it…
Zystrix = a source, shaman, or library disseminating secret or lost knowledge, art, or music.
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