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Q: Hi, I want to know what settings to make on the amp and processor to get a sound suited for goth metal and death metal (I use korg guitar multieffects). Thanks for any help anyone can give.

A: To be honest, about every professional band in this genre uses distortion directly from their amp heads. Amps like Peavey 5150’s are extremely popular in these genres. It is extremely hard to get a multi effects processor to sound as good as a legitimate head. Some amp modelers like the Fractal Axe-FX or the pod can come close if you know how to tweak them. So, start with the amp. Generally if you are playing an extremely low tuning like drop A (common in the genre), then you may have to put some mids in you tone. I would say that on a tube head, having your bass at like 4, mids at 2, treble at 6 would be a good starting point. Tweak to taste. Use the effects processor for effects, not distortion. Try to keep a nice balanced sound that isn’t too bass heavy or has too much treble. You definitely want to back off the presence knob if you have one. Also, don’t crank your gain knob all the way up. Find a nice spot where you’ve got enough distortion to do techniques like pinch harmonics, but it doesn’t sound like sloppy mush. This should get you in the ball park with your rhythm tone. For solos, increase the mids a bit. If you don’t like the tones you are getting, get a different head or speaker cab. Cabs with vintage 30s tend to be very popular for this kind of music. The other thing to keep in mind is that the tones you hear on records are extremely equalized in the studio. Engineers will greatly change the tone of the guitar to get tit to fit in the mix and play nicely with the other instruments.