How to make an amp snarl/ sizzle

Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 1487 Location: Atlanta, GA

http://youtu.be/DBx9h-6vV4o

The big chord he plays about 28 seconds in has kind of a liquid pulse to it. I know that Marcus Seipan uses EMGs and Triple Recs but I also know there is more than one way to skin this cat.

First question is what do you call this phenomenon other than sizzle?

Second obvious question is how do you achieve it? Is it easier to get on high output pickups with lots of treble? Or is it low output and lots of gain? I haven't had much luck replicating this sound, but I would love to.

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 9:32 pm

Throw a bucket of water on the amp.
That should make it sizzle. Laughing

A mixture of high output pups, fair helping of treble and mids, and some decent gain should point you in the right direction. Obviously not a studio quality sound, but close. I'm no expert at all on Blind Guardian though, so I have no idea what gear he uses.

Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 3195 Location: UK

That first chord that rings out is probably double tracked too.

meaning the same chord recorded once and panned left then recorded again but panned right.

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 9:48 pm

Blind Guardian rips, I have several of their lps

Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 1487 Location: Atlanta, GA

I am no stranger to double tracking. I can't speak to what he used to record it but I do know the guitarist is a Mesa trirec nut. I also don't know what was used to track it but I would guess it was an EMG loaded fiddle of some sort ( probably a Gibson of some stripe or an ESP with EMGs if Andre played the rhythm).

Is this a character unique to mesa's or can other amps do it too?

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13396 Location: Earth

Some has already been said, but I'll just speak from my little bit of experience. It's double tracked and there is post production for sure. There is compression and post EQ as well as who knows what else. There is also more than one guitar part so since most everything is double tracked you're getting a minimum of 4 tracks there. As far as the tone itself? That's a Marshall if I ever heard one. If it's not it's something else with a "british" voice. If he uses Mesa amps I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Stiletto. If it is a Triple Rec it is on Vintage mode and the rectifier is set to tubes to give it a spongier feel. As far as pickups etc? You'll never be able to hear that deep into a recording like this to figure out what he used.

As far as EQ'ing the amp to sound that way in the studio? It will be more about the speakers and mic/mic placement than the amp itself but I would start with a healthy dose of mids. Mild use of highs and enough presence to get that shimmer. More than anything though a set of V30s could help. You may be able to get that with some Greenback 25s. It doesn't sound too much like GT75s to me so I would imagine it may not be a 1960 but it will also depend on the mic. The tone of the mic sounds like it may have a Royer 121 ribbon as well as a 57. The mid range and top end have a certain feel that a 121 can get. I'm not trying to blow smoke here but that's what I'm hearing. The guitar tone is very well produced regardless. It matters not what he uses live because in the studio there are no rules.

Here is a pic I found of his rig, but I don't know if it's rehearsal or studio.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 12247 Location: PEORIA ILLINOIS

pretty much multiband compressor.

Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 2739 Location: Southeast MI

Lanning is Killdozer wrote:

Some has already been said, but I'll just speak from my little bit of experience. It's double tracked and there is post production for sure. There is compression and post EQ as well as who knows what else. There is also more than one guitar part so since most everything is double tracked you're getting a minimum of 4 tracks there. As far as the tone itself? That's a Marshall if I ever heard one. If it's not it's something else with a "british" voice. If he uses Mesa amps I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Stiletto. If it is a Triple Rec it is on Vintage mode and the rectifier is set to tubes to give it a spongier feel. As far as pickups etc? You'll never be able to hear that deep into a recording like this to figure out what he used.

As far as EQ'ing the amp to sound that way in the studio? It will be more about the speakers and mic/mic placement than the amp itself but I would start with a healthy dose of mids. Mild use of highs and enough presence to get that shimmer. More than anything though a set of V30s could help. You may be able to get that with some Greenback 25s. It doesn't sound too much like GT75s to me so I would imagine it may not be a 1960 but it will also depend on the mic. The tone of the mic sounds like it may have a Royer 121 ribbon as well as a 57. The mid range and top end have a certain feel that a 121 can get. I'm not trying to blow smoke here but that's what I'm hearing. The guitar tone is very well produced regardless. It matters not what he uses live because in the studio there are no rules.

Here is a pic I found of his rig, but I don't know if it's rehearsal or studio.

It sounded very Marshally to me too. In his rig there he's got a Triaxis...maybe it's something from that? Who knows what he's using in the studio.

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 12:53 am

I think I know what you're getting at and I personally think it's amp voicing. Maybe speaker cab voicing. Cause some have it and some don't. I've made that sound on my respective rigs and I wasn't trying so it's only now that you point it out that I recognize it.

You mean the long drawn out distorted chord right? My dime d100 did it, the Marshall 8100 did it, and my current Randall rm100 does it too. All these amps through a Randall 4x12 with jaguars.

On other amps it seemed to me like after a few seconds of a chord ringing out, the distortion faded away but the note cept sustaining. As the distortion went, so did the snarl and sizzle. As far as settings go,, it seems like the more crunchy an chunky I tried to make it(which is my goal) the more that sound disappeared.

I know fuckall about recording and complex rigs so I'm not trying to contradict anyone. That's just what I remember of the 3 heads I've owned and the shitload I've tried at gc and local stores for what it's worth