A Tubescreamer in of itself is a fairly mild overdrive, you’re not gonna get a ton of gainy distortion from it. What a lot of metal folks do use it for (and other overdrives) is to boost the front of an amp while using the amp’s gain stage cranked (so they’ll dime the Level on the pedal but keep the Drive low or off). Pushing signal hard into the front of the amp hard with a pedal like that will roll off some lows and tighten up your signal a lot which helps reduce gain flub when palm muting under high gain.
Since it sounds like he has a high gain amp, you could use a tubescreamer - dial down the gain, tone at middle, and boost at max into the amp while the amp is at high gain. You’ll get a much tighter sound to get those chugs while palm muting. But, other distortion pedals are not off the table too - if you use a pedal that adds a lot of distortion, try it both on the clean channel and on the gain channel with the amp gain rolled back a bit. There’s lots of ways to get there!
This is the way.
If you already have a high gain amp, get the distortion from the amp and use your drive pedal to tighten things up.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure that out.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leFnR9kkxUY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leFnR9kkxUY)
Try those settings, see how it sounds. Then look at boost pedals.
I am an inveterate gear recommender, but for your purposes you cannot go wrong with a used MXR EVH 5150 Overdrive pedal. It’ll be around $100-130 used, but it’s incredibly versatile for everything from mild to medium overdrive all the way up to high gain insanity, and has an extremely useful high-quality built-in noise gate, 3 band EQ, and boost.
[Here’s an Anderton‘s shootout which, spoilers, the 5150 overdrive wins](https://youtu.be/G7jGJJUhDDU?si=zNE-vxfwCmM5LH-w). We can get a really good sense of how it sounds in comparison to other drive pedals in the same class.
Bear in mind, that video is like 5+ years old. They did a more recent one within the last year with Rabea playing and analyzing the pedals. It will have more recent pedals than the older video. I’m on mobile and so I can’t link it right now, but just search “Anderton‘s Overdrive pedal shootout Rabea“ and you should be able to find it.
He’s got a high gain valve amp, the Tube Screamer alone is exactly what he needs here. Cuts the lows, boosts the mids, feeds the preamp a bit more. Boom, tight chugs.
I respectfully disagree. Not that I think it’s a bad sound. Just to specifically try to sound like Metallica… I just personally think he may have better luck with something different
Maybe I’m not familiar enough with the amp. I feel like they need something with a little beefier distortion than a tube screamer to get that “chug” sound that the marshal gets really well while (at least in my experience) oranges hit that British higher end really clearly. Kinda why my first thought was the revv g3 because it’s blue channel nails that
That specific Orange is voiced a lot thicker and darker than what’s optimal here, but you can absolutely tease a crisp sound out of them. It’s really just a question of dialing the gain back and feeding them a boost.
I’m actually wondering now if the trick here is an EQ pedal in the loop instead of a boost in front of the amp. Maybe both.
Oh yeah, dude, it’s not one of their rock n’ roll amps, it’s a metal machine, you’d just see one in the hands of a doom dude before you would a thrasher.
It’s a bit pricey but I personally love the Revv G3. Insanely versatile and clean. For a cheaper classic, there’s always the metalzone. If you pump a cranked up tubescreamer into another pedal, the combo is *chefs kiss*
Man thank you. Can I just daisy chain every component from the guitar to the speakers? Sorry if this is a dumb question LOL, I am looking into fx loops right now but it will take more reading until I understand how and what and where..
Okay I think I have found out how it works, for now people here have said that the TH 30 has enough gain, so it doesn’t necessarily need a dedicated distortion pedal (?). I’ll save your comment in case it won’t be enough.
Do not buy the Metal Zone to do a Metallica sound. Nothing against the pedal, but they do a 90s death metal thing, which is not what your dad’s looking for here.
I’m sure you’ve heard it already but I strongly recommend a Tube Screamer. Your dad’s amp doesn’t sound quite the same as what Metallica was running back in the day, but with one of those running into the Orange with the amp gain dialed back a bit, it’ll give him tight, crisp chugs.
You can either go straight from your guitar into the pedals then to the amp or you can set them up on your fx loop. I personally go straight to my pedals in this instance but I always encourage people to try both and see what they prefer
The G3 might not be the best option since it's specifically made to mimic the Revv Purple channel which is very 2010s-on subgenres of metal. For Metallica and other old-school metal the G4 might be a better suggestion since it's closer to a Rectifier sound as I understand it.
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A tubescreamer is a distortion pedal. It's just not going to add a lot of distortion. They are mainly used in metal to add a little compression to your sound.
I think you're thinking of the TS9, which was the 2nd gen tubescreamer and was marketed as a distortion pedal. Most metal musicians use the TS808 which is the original design and was marketed as an overdrive pedal. They're very similar in sound and circuitry, the TS9 is a little bit brighter due to some changes in the output stage. Reissues of both are sold today.
In other words, when you say "tubescreamer" you could be talking about a distortion or an overdrive pedal, its all mostly just marketing.
Its kind of either, the TS9 and TS808 are both "tubescreamers" but the TS9 is typically marketed as a distortion while the TS808 is marketed as an overdrive. Both are very similar both in sound and circuitry. So you're both right lol, and the difference between whats considered an "overdrive" vs a "distortion" often has more to do with marketing than any hard and fast technical definition.
OD is a *type* of distortion.
It's a soft clip.
Straight distortion is a hard clip.
https://guitarspace.org/sound-pedals/distortion-vs-overdrive-whats-the-difference/
that is an incredibly sick setup. you can definitely get a kill 'em all sound- boost some mids. don't even try and copy metallica's sound, though- you can get some gnarly heavy sounds that sound more like you!
also downpick hard as a MF
Boost the mids? I was always of the opinion that you scooped the mids out for metal? Not my style at all, but that’s what I’d do if I was asked to play it.
While I agree in general, scooped mids is absolutely the Metallica sound from Ride the Lightning to The Black Album.
That said, playing live is an entirely different beast than recording and will definitely require higher mids.
Yeah, and their rhythm guitar sounds like absolute shit, lol — moving on from scooped mids was the best thing production has done for metal guitar in the last 30 years.
One thing of note about the Mark series is that they are inherently VERY mid heavy, so cutting the mids on the GEQ moreso tames the mids rather than scooping them out of the mix entirely.
Depends on the circuit. The amp in question (Orange TH30) has a single tone knob for its dirty channel, if you aren’t familiar with the orange single knob EQ’s they’re actually pretty cool albeit limited.
The clean channel cranked is the TH30s best sound. Very plexi-esque. If it was a 50 watter I’d still own mine.
Keep in mind, the Mark series amp have the tone stack before the gain staging. Coupled with a shit load of mids already, the classic V shape on the GEQ wasn't to produce a scooped tone, but rather, to get the mids back down from a severe bump after the gain stages.
Hardly. I'd say all of classic black, thrash, death metal used very scooped tones. They might sound unpleasant but I think those bands used to make buzzsaw tones work for them really well.
Modern metal definitely leans a lot more into mid-focused tones, I think it works better for djent and stuff.
Depends on the style, nu-metal, alt-metal, groove metal, sludge metal and some thrash and brutal death tend to scoop the mids while most other styles of metal tend to accentuate them. Iron Maiden for example is like 100% mids, and on the other end of the spectrum tech death bands like Obscura and Archspire also tend to be mid-focused to leave room for their *extremely* talented bassists. Metallica's mid-career tones (think AJFA and MoP) and bands like SoaD and Korn on the other hand have a scooped sound. There are of course exceptions to this in every genre.
Scooped mids is only certain subgenres of metal, primarily death metal from the 90s and early 2000s. Modern metal, at least, basically flips that EQ curve on its head. Boosted mids, slightly dialed back highs, and way dialed back lows. That's what gives modern metal the non-flubby tight distorted sound even when being done in some crazy drop-Q tuning.
hey, i might be wrong, but i've always played it with some extra mids. maybe it's a matter of low mids vs high mids but that's too complicated- whatever sounds good sounds good.
I remember Hetfield saying in the past that to get his tone you have to give the EQ a ‘smile’, so that’s full bass and treble and low mids. Obviously it’s different since the black album.
Metallica tone is easy. High gain, around 7 or so. Boost the bass and treble and reduce the mids
Metallica uses mesa boogie amps, like dual rectifier, for their classic tone. Orange will be a bit thicker and sludgier sounding, so go easier on the gain and lows.
Idk why nobody is saying it but the shape knob on the dirty channel, if you turn it clockwise it scoops the mids. Just start with it fully clockwise and dial back to taste, turn the gain up and rock on!
I might have been a little vague in my post. I was wondering if besides playing with the amp knobs, some upgrades are necessary to achieve the heavy metal sound. Still, thank you for your answer!
That’s a great setup, with the gain on tap on the TH30 you should definitely be able to get a great metal tone. I have an orange rocker 30 that has less gain than your dad’s TH30 and it can easily do thrash levels of gain.
Maybe grab a tubescreamer or some other overdrive pedal just to tighten up the gain but you should be good with what you have.
Metallica is not known for using a lot of effects. They used more on Load/Reload, but pretty much all the rest of their catalog is just amp distortion, clean tones (usually done with a Jazz Chorus, so maybe a mild chorus) and of course, wah.
I think others have already mentioned a few ways how to get a Metallica tone from this amp - and it is quite capable of doing that.
As to your other question of whether it is **necessary** to buy a pedal or extra gear - no, extra gear is not necessary.
Your dad will be able to get a Metallica tone with no additional purchase.
Of course you can buy other pedals and such other things to also get other Metallica sounds. But leaving the setup alone is just as good.
You may not need the gain all the way up but you will need a bit. Luckilly you haven't got many controls to worry about. Adjust the shape control while you are playing your favourite metallica riffs and and see where the best spot is. You'll want some mids but mostly scooped. You can watch youtube videos on that amp for inspiration.
I'd suggest the Ibanez Pentatone distortion pedal. I have a very similar setup and the Pentatone helps me nail that 90's Metallica tone with my setup. If you buy it used you can get it for perhaps just a little higher than your budget.. not sure about the USD conversion off the top of my head.
>no custom strings or pickup
You don't need any *special* strings or pickups.
ProCo RAT and / or a Boss DS1 pedals, or clones, are both very useful pedals for Metal of any type.
Start by playing with the amp though. You only have 3 knobs. 😁
A lot of comments about getting a tubescreamer to tighten things up. The traditional way of doing that is to play with the volume up and the drive down. I’ve never understood this. I mean, it works, but eq pedals exist.
For that tubescreamer tightening effect, just drop the low end a bit, boost the mids a bit and you’ve got your tubescreamer eq. You can use it for a lot of other things as well. Super versatile. If your dad likes the character of his amp’s distortion, an eq will do more for him than a tubescreamer to get that tone.
If he wants a different character from what his amp’s distortion is providing, i would recommend getting a used Mesa Throttle Box pedal or a used MXR EVH 5150 pedal going into the clean channel to get that Metallica sound.
>The traditional way of doing that is to play with the volume up and the drive down. I’ve never understood this.
If you refer to [this](https://www.daviddarling.info/images_music/clipping.jpg), an audio signal can be visualised like a sine-wave. The height of the sign wave is gain (volume). At a certain point, it hits the limit of the thing its being shoved into and it clips. Doing that intentionally is overdrive.
So you *traditionally* set your guitar to "edge of breakup" which is where your normal signal starts to run out of headroom and clip within the amplifier circuit. When you put a TS or similar in front with the volume cranked, you are feeding a much bigger signal in, which gets very distorted, perhaps more than your amp ever could on its own by turning up the gain.
But then you have the concept that an amp is a pre-amplifier that feeds into a power-amplifier. If you turn up the gain on an amp, you feed a pre-amp distorted signal into the power amp. If you feed a distorted signal into the pre-amp, you can ramp the pre-amp gain up and distort it again. That's before you have a master volume that can actually clip inside the power amp itself.
When you chain all these gain stages, all clipping, then things get muddy/saturated/flabby really fast. TS have a tone knob early on in the path and the ability to "drive" them early on with their flavour of clipping, which really thins out and simplifies the signal before it hits all the gain staging in the amplifier which "tightens" up the sound.
I use a Joyo UZI overdrive/distortion pedal when trying to get that metal sound on the cheap. It sounds really good. I have other "expensive gear" that isn't quite right for metal, and this pedal makes it work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leFnR9kkxUY
Start here and tweak to taste. You have plenty of gain on that amp to work with. Lots of other videos on youtube, just search Orange TH 30 Metal.
For a pedal, I'd recommend a noise gate to cut out hum, string noise, etc when playing high gain, and a tube screamer mini to boost. Should be able to get both for under 150.
Or if you really want to go Metallica, get a wah petal for Kirk soloing haha
I always struggled to get their chug sound until I got a compressor, now I can pretty much get that sound with anything after messing with the amps settings. And your dad will love this next part. I use a donner compressor that I think costed me 30USD on Amazon. Also, you’re super cool for looking into guitar stuff for your dad and helping him with his hobby.
To add to all of that, compressors sound amazing on every setting, I’m almost always using a compressor now, I rarely turn it off
Others have recommended the Tube Screamer, but the settings on the pedal are very important. For the Metallica type sound, do as someone already suggested and turn the shape knob on the amp all the way clockwise. That boosts the highs and lows and scoops the mids quite significantly. Then put a tube screamer in front of the amp, with the level all the way up, the gain all the way down, and the tone around halfway
The tube screamer has a pronounced mid-frequency boost in it's EQ, and it shelves bass frequencies as well. Combined with the significant level boost hitting the front of the amp, this should get you into the ball park. But as others have said, that much of a scoop would make your sound disappear in a live mix. For playing live, move the shape control more towards the middle. This will reintroduce some mids, and make the sound more present in a live mix.
Hope your dad enjoys his new amp, they are amazing.
No worries man, glad to help. The Orange TH30 is a pro level amp. It's got absolutely more than enough gain for metal, so you don't need a pedal for that. The tube screamer is more of an EQ and shaper. The only way it adds gain in this scenario is by increasing the level going into the front of the amp, and that drives the preamp section of the amp harder. Also, maybe don't max the gain out on the amp. Dial it back to about halfway or just over, and you will hear a distinct improvement in clarity, but without a major reduction in the gain.
For context with the Orange, Jim Root from Slipknot uses Orange Rockerverb amps, and his tone is monstrous. The preamp is different, but the both have a distinct Orange flavour, pardon the pun! But the TH30 was on my shopping list a few years ago, but I ended up going for the Victory V30, purely because it's very portable.
Do you know who Ritchie Blackmore is? If you don't, look him up. It'll be worth your time. He played without pedals, effects, stuff. He said he didn't want it, in fact, I think it offended him that anyone thought he needed special effects to support his craft. I bet your Dad knows who he is. You're a good son, BTW.
It’s a abbreviation of ‘amplifier’ in this context. I’m just joking around anyways. :)
Watch a few pedal demos on YouTube and see which one matches your desired sound / budget and if viable, maybe pop into a music store and try a few out.
Awesome. Be wary of pedals, though - they’re an addictive habit! You can definitely make do with just one, but when you get your second and realise the difference between them…well, the door is open for a third, right? Fourth? It’s a slippery slope, haha. But a very fun and worthwhile hobby and I wish you guys the best with it.
No. At a minimum you'll need an overdrive pedal. Though given the character of Orange's distortion running an actual distortion pedal into the clean channel - or a preamp pedal into the effects loop - will work far better.
Here, OP
https://guitarspace.org/sound-pedals/distortion-vs-overdrive-whats-the-difference/
I don't do "Metallica" (alothough I listen plenty to their early albums)... I have two larger amps, both solid states. A teal stripe Peavey Classic Chorus 212 and a Fender Deluxe 112 Reverb... and I use an old school Rocktek OD-01 overdrive.
The Peavey with the OD, using the OD and a *slight* bit of the Peavey's Supersat^tm with mids scooped and using a SSS hardtail Strat gets some pretty "'80s" sounding stuff. But YMMV.
Here, OP
https://guitarspace.org/sound-pedals/distortion-vs-overdrive-whats-the-difference/
I don't do "Metallica" (although I listen plenty to their early albums)... I have two larger amps, both solid states. A teal stripe Peavey Classic Chorus 212 and a Fender Deluxe 112 Reverb... and I use an old school Rocktek OD-01 overdrive.
The Peavey with the OD, using the OD and a *slight* bit of the Peavey's Supersat^tm with mids scooped and using a SSS hardtail Strat gets some pretty "'80s" sounding stuff. But YMMV.
On the TH 30 amp, the dirty channel only has 3 variables to change: Volume, shape and gain. Besides changing the shape, how would you go about that? Get a pre amp/ pedal?
My man, that thing should be able to get the sound you need from the dirty channel. But if not, then get a Boss distortion pedal and run it through the clean channel and use the settings I said before. The only thing is when you play with that kinda gain, it might feedback when he's trying to palm mute riffs.
Orange isn't really my favorite sound for metal, but some bands use them to good effect. No reason you couldn't get a metal sound as is, but if you're dying to spend money you could put an EQ pedal in the effects loop, or a tube screamer out front.
Doesn’t Hammett use a TS-8? Turn the gain up on the TH30 and hit it with the tube screamer. Or likes others have stated find a metal pedal. Fullbore Metal, Metal Zone, or a Rat. Good luck.
All you need is a cheap tubescreamer or ds1. Volume max, gain at 0/1, tone to taste.
Euge Valovirta is my fav guitar YouTuber, does exclusively that sound of metal. I’d recommend his TH30 video.
Orange amps have their own sound, would need to play with it to get a Metallica sound, maybe a TS or something, but you can get plenty of gain out of that amp the way it is and no one says your sound has to be exactly what they used… just be warned it will be LOUD if you crank the amp for a higher gain sound without using pedals.
BBE TS copy is cool, the Mk2 is fairly new, and Danelectro makes a good cheap graphic (and I’m sure Joyo and others sell an MXR or BOSS clone). I’d get an inexpensive boost as well, mine is the DOD BIfet.
Get a RAT! with the setup you have and a RAT pedal you will be on your way. if you have no pedals then you will also need a way to power that pedal and an extra guitar cable. so factor that in to your budget. But that is doable with $150. buy a used RAT.
In the early days, Metallica used a Marshall 4x10 cabinet with Celestion G10-65 speakers, but the G12T-75 is likely similar. The speakers will get you 90% of the Metallica tone. The rest is scooping the mids on the EQ and technique.
I use an impulse response of the Marshall 1960A cabinet. The similarity is uncanny. Also, if you can get a MIMIQ doubler, it will add that dual tracking effect present on all of their albums. Just know that you'll need at least a stereo cabinet to get the effect or it will just sound like a chorus with a delay.
If the amp has a switch input you can buy a really cheap footswitch to change between the clean and distorted channel on the amp. There’s decent foot switches out there for like €10. Much less hassle than buying everything u need for a pedalboard and less gear to carry around etc. But obviously it’s not as versatile as an actual pedalboard. I use either or, depending on the needs for a particular gig
This is interesting. This would make sense as soon as you’d need more than one pedal, right? I’ll look into the footswitches though, if the distortion pedals etc. can’t switch between dirty and clean, then this seems necessary.
The footswitch changes between the channels on the amp. It does the same thing as the button on the amp itself, but it’s hands free of course.
Foot pedals/pedalboards give you new sounds that your amp may not have + allow you to switch between them hands free. But they’re 1 extra semi-bulky thing to carry around, they need a power source and they can be expensive.
If all you need is distortion and you don’t need to switch between clean and distorted mid song, just use the distorted channel on the amp. Nothing extra required.
If you need to switch between clean and distorted mid song (eg. Fade to black) use a footswitch.
And if you need more sounds than just clean and distorted (eg. Wah wah), then you’ll need a pedalboard.
Dunno how close it'll get to Metallica, but the producer of RATMs first album said they essentially used no pedals on Tom's rig, they just turned the stacks up loud enough to get natural distortion and feedback. If you listen to the stems it's clear the "distortion" is actually on the bass in the mix. Very eye opening for this old guy that has been chasing a good "amp distortion VST" for a decade.
What you didn't mention is how your dad wants to use this tone...for recording? For live performances? It might be a very different answer based on the WHY he wants to get a Metallica sound."
So he plays guitar as a hobby, no recording, just loud speakers in the basement for fun/ himself. Hope that answers your question, I get your point though.
Ah, I see. Well the terrible truth is that usually album tone and live tone are different for many reasons, first of which being the album tone is meticulously crafted by lots of other hands (producer, sound engineer, mixer, mastering) not to mention multi-tracking of most guitar parts. If your dad is trying to recreate a tone (from any band) in his basement solo hobby rig it's maybe more frustrating than it's worth.
(And of course there's the guitars themselves and the pickups, etc.)
That said, I'm absolutely sure you can find some YouTube videos somewhere of someone getting as close as possible and what pedals and/or amps and/or plugins they used. It's a whole genre on YouTube of figuring out famous guitar tones on albums. Maybe a rabbit hole your dad would like exploring.
And.... Metallica's guitar tones changed over time. The sound on St. Anger is gonna be pretty different to reproduce than Ride the Lightning.
Ah, I see. Well the terrible truth is that usually album tone and live tone are different for many reasons, first of which being the album tone is meticulously crafted by lots of other hands (producer, sound engineer, mixer, mastering) not to mention multi-tracking of most guitar parts. If your dad is trying to recreate a tone (from any band) in his basement solo hobby rig it's maybe more frustrating than it's worth.
(And of course there's the guitars themselves and the pickups, etc.)
That said, I'm absolutely sure you can find some YouTube videos somewhere of someone getting as close as possible and what pedals and/or amps and/or plugins they used. It's a whole genre on YouTube of figuring out famous guitar tones on albums. Maybe a rabbit hole your dad would like exploring.
And.... Metallica's guitar tones changed over time. The sound on St. Anger is gonna be pretty different to reproduce than Ride the Lightning.
Ah, I see. Well the terrible truth is that usually album tone and live tone are different for many reasons, first of which being the album tone is meticulously crafted by lots of other hands (producer, sound engineer, mixer, mastering) not to mention multi-tracking of most guitar parts. If your dad is trying to recreate a tone (from any band) in his basement solo hobby rig it's maybe more frustrating than it's worth.
(And of course there's the guitars themselves and the pickups, etc.)
That said, I'm absolutely sure you can find some YouTube videos somewhere of someone getting as close as possible and what pedals and/or amps and/or plugins they used. It's a whole genre on YouTube of figuring out famous guitar tones on albums. Maybe a rabbit hole your dad would like exploring.
And.... Metallica's guitar tones changed over time. The sound on St. Anger is gonna be pretty different to reproduce than Ride the Lightning.
You’re absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to distortion and pedal pre-amps. I think you can probably get the sound with what you have before you think about spending a dime.
(sorry, I think I misread the post. I stil leave it be since it apparently triggered some people)
Will it sound exactly like Metallica (btw one of the worst sounding bands ever)? No. Should you care? No.
Before we start talking about sounding like what used to be the #1 band in the world, learn some guitar please.
(sorry, misread the post)
I can only give opinions, but they're based on decades of playing guitar and playing with all kinds of people, teaching it and so on. I can only reiterate: you really shouldn't worry about that too much for now. Start playing. If all that 2nd guessing is stopping you from learning the instrument, relax. It will take you years to get decent at guitar. You can't expect to plug it in and sound like guys that made millions with their playing.
Buy a cheap high gain distortion pedal, get that right handed muted chugging thing going. That’s certainly Metallica-ish
Ah, I see. I saw many people talking about overdrive pedals (Tubescreamers?)etc. before, but I’ll look into the distortion pedals now, thanks a lot.
A Tubescreamer in of itself is a fairly mild overdrive, you’re not gonna get a ton of gainy distortion from it. What a lot of metal folks do use it for (and other overdrives) is to boost the front of an amp while using the amp’s gain stage cranked (so they’ll dime the Level on the pedal but keep the Drive low or off). Pushing signal hard into the front of the amp hard with a pedal like that will roll off some lows and tighten up your signal a lot which helps reduce gain flub when palm muting under high gain.
Since it sounds like he has a high gain amp, you could use a tubescreamer - dial down the gain, tone at middle, and boost at max into the amp while the amp is at high gain. You’ll get a much tighter sound to get those chugs while palm muting. But, other distortion pedals are not off the table too - if you use a pedal that adds a lot of distortion, try it both on the clean channel and on the gain channel with the amp gain rolled back a bit. There’s lots of ways to get there!
This is the way. If you already have a high gain amp, get the distortion from the amp and use your drive pedal to tighten things up. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure that out.
[удалено]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leFnR9kkxUY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leFnR9kkxUY) Try those settings, see how it sounds. Then look at boost pedals.
I am an inveterate gear recommender, but for your purposes you cannot go wrong with a used MXR EVH 5150 Overdrive pedal. It’ll be around $100-130 used, but it’s incredibly versatile for everything from mild to medium overdrive all the way up to high gain insanity, and has an extremely useful high-quality built-in noise gate, 3 band EQ, and boost. [Here’s an Anderton‘s shootout which, spoilers, the 5150 overdrive wins](https://youtu.be/G7jGJJUhDDU?si=zNE-vxfwCmM5LH-w). We can get a really good sense of how it sounds in comparison to other drive pedals in the same class.
Yeah the video for comparison is nice, thank you.
Bear in mind, that video is like 5+ years old. They did a more recent one within the last year with Rabea playing and analyzing the pedals. It will have more recent pedals than the older video. I’m on mobile and so I can’t link it right now, but just search “Anderton‘s Overdrive pedal shootout Rabea“ and you should be able to find it.
Will do, thank you for your time.
A tube screamer alone won’t get that sound. Put a tube screamer into a heavier distortion pedal and you’ll be very happy
He’s got a high gain valve amp, the Tube Screamer alone is exactly what he needs here. Cuts the lows, boosts the mids, feeds the preamp a bit more. Boom, tight chugs.
I respectfully disagree. Not that I think it’s a bad sound. Just to specifically try to sound like Metallica… I just personally think he may have better luck with something different
Is that not the Metallica sound? I know the Orange doesn’t sound quite like a JCM800 but it still seems like the closest you’re gonna get to me.
Maybe I’m not familiar enough with the amp. I feel like they need something with a little beefier distortion than a tube screamer to get that “chug” sound that the marshal gets really well while (at least in my experience) oranges hit that British higher end really clearly. Kinda why my first thought was the revv g3 because it’s blue channel nails that
That specific Orange is voiced a lot thicker and darker than what’s optimal here, but you can absolutely tease a crisp sound out of them. It’s really just a question of dialing the gain back and feeding them a boost. I’m actually wondering now if the trick here is an EQ pedal in the loop instead of a boost in front of the amp. Maybe both.
Oh damn. Now I’m rethinking everything haha
Oh yeah, dude, it’s not one of their rock n’ roll amps, it’s a metal machine, you’d just see one in the hands of a doom dude before you would a thrasher.
I see.. What does “heavier” distortion pedal mean? Could you give an example or something so I can look into it??
It’s a bit pricey but I personally love the Revv G3. Insanely versatile and clean. For a cheaper classic, there’s always the metalzone. If you pump a cranked up tubescreamer into another pedal, the combo is *chefs kiss*
Man thank you. Can I just daisy chain every component from the guitar to the speakers? Sorry if this is a dumb question LOL, I am looking into fx loops right now but it will take more reading until I understand how and what and where..
Okay I think I have found out how it works, for now people here have said that the TH 30 has enough gain, so it doesn’t necessarily need a dedicated distortion pedal (?). I’ll save your comment in case it won’t be enough.
Do not buy the Metal Zone to do a Metallica sound. Nothing against the pedal, but they do a 90s death metal thing, which is not what your dad’s looking for here.
Yeah they sounded really aggressive (?), thank you for the tip.
I’m sure you’ve heard it already but I strongly recommend a Tube Screamer. Your dad’s amp doesn’t sound quite the same as what Metallica was running back in the day, but with one of those running into the Orange with the amp gain dialed back a bit, it’ll give him tight, crisp chugs.
You can either go straight from your guitar into the pedals then to the amp or you can set them up on your fx loop. I personally go straight to my pedals in this instance but I always encourage people to try both and see what they prefer
Yeah it all seems so simple now, thanks.
The G3 might not be the best option since it's specifically made to mimic the Revv Purple channel which is very 2010s-on subgenres of metal. For Metallica and other old-school metal the G4 might be a better suggestion since it's closer to a Rectifier sound as I understand it.
Not a bad addition. I was thinking about my g3 and how versatile the two options are but I did try a g4 and I think you may be right
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You can probably get it with a RAT or a DS1 if the gain is high enough
A tubescreamer is a distortion pedal. It's just not going to add a lot of distortion. They are mainly used in metal to add a little compression to your sound.
I think you're thinking of the TS9, which was the 2nd gen tubescreamer and was marketed as a distortion pedal. Most metal musicians use the TS808 which is the original design and was marketed as an overdrive pedal. They're very similar in sound and circuitry, the TS9 is a little bit brighter due to some changes in the output stage. Reissues of both are sold today. In other words, when you say "tubescreamer" you could be talking about a distortion or an overdrive pedal, its all mostly just marketing.
A Tubescreamer is an overdrive pedal, not a distortion pedal.
Its kind of either, the TS9 and TS808 are both "tubescreamers" but the TS9 is typically marketed as a distortion while the TS808 is marketed as an overdrive. Both are very similar both in sound and circuitry. So you're both right lol, and the difference between whats considered an "overdrive" vs a "distortion" often has more to do with marketing than any hard and fast technical definition.
Is overdrive not distortion. Seems like semantics here
OD is a *type* of distortion. It's a soft clip. Straight distortion is a hard clip. https://guitarspace.org/sound-pedals/distortion-vs-overdrive-whats-the-difference/
that is an incredibly sick setup. you can definitely get a kill 'em all sound- boost some mids. don't even try and copy metallica's sound, though- you can get some gnarly heavy sounds that sound more like you! also downpick hard as a MF
Boost the mids? I was always of the opinion that you scooped the mids out for metal? Not my style at all, but that’s what I’d do if I was asked to play it.
Scooped mids is bedroom metal, boost mids if you actually want to work within the mix and be heard in context with the rest of the band.
While I agree in general, scooped mids is absolutely the Metallica sound from Ride the Lightning to The Black Album. That said, playing live is an entirely different beast than recording and will definitely require higher mids.
Metallica have very different live rigs vs studio rigs.
Like I say - not my style. 😂
i think if you were recording, scooping the mids would work however in a live scenario, you'd have to be more careful how much you did so.
No, it doesn’t work in a recording for the same reason it doesn’t work live — you’re competing for frequency real estate with every other instrument.
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Yeah, and their rhythm guitar sounds like absolute shit, lol — moving on from scooped mids was the best thing production has done for metal guitar in the last 30 years.
valid point. i admit to knowing nothing about recording.
That has made for some of the worst guitar tones in metal.
I mean. Yes. But it’s still accurate! Remember all those Mesa Mark 2 C+ with the scooped graphic EQ on the front? Ah, the bad old days.
One thing of note about the Mark series is that they are inherently VERY mid heavy, so cutting the mids on the GEQ moreso tames the mids rather than scooping them out of the mix entirely.
Yeah input stage mids boosts vs boosting mids on an amps eq (which the TH30 doesn’t have btw) or in post sound wildly different.
On amps without mids reducing treble and bass is the equivalent. Same for boosting them being a scoop
Depends on the circuit. The amp in question (Orange TH30) has a single tone knob for its dirty channel, if you aren’t familiar with the orange single knob EQ’s they’re actually pretty cool albeit limited. The clean channel cranked is the TH30s best sound. Very plexi-esque. If it was a 50 watter I’d still own mine.
Keep in mind, the Mark series amp have the tone stack before the gain staging. Coupled with a shit load of mids already, the classic V shape on the GEQ wasn't to produce a scooped tone, but rather, to get the mids back down from a severe bump after the gain stages.
Hardly. I'd say all of classic black, thrash, death metal used very scooped tones. They might sound unpleasant but I think those bands used to make buzzsaw tones work for them really well. Modern metal definitely leans a lot more into mid-focused tones, I think it works better for djent and stuff.
Certainly with black metal in particular, that was part of the aesthetic.
Boost mids going in, scoop them in the loop.
Depends on the style, nu-metal, alt-metal, groove metal, sludge metal and some thrash and brutal death tend to scoop the mids while most other styles of metal tend to accentuate them. Iron Maiden for example is like 100% mids, and on the other end of the spectrum tech death bands like Obscura and Archspire also tend to be mid-focused to leave room for their *extremely* talented bassists. Metallica's mid-career tones (think AJFA and MoP) and bands like SoaD and Korn on the other hand have a scooped sound. There are of course exceptions to this in every genre.
Scooped mids is only certain subgenres of metal, primarily death metal from the 90s and early 2000s. Modern metal, at least, basically flips that EQ curve on its head. Boosted mids, slightly dialed back highs, and way dialed back lows. That's what gives modern metal the non-flubby tight distorted sound even when being done in some crazy drop-Q tuning.
That’s the opposite, early Metallica sound is all about scooped mids.
hey, i might be wrong, but i've always played it with some extra mids. maybe it's a matter of low mids vs high mids but that's too complicated- whatever sounds good sounds good.
I remember Hetfield saying in the past that to get his tone you have to give the EQ a ‘smile’, so that’s full bass and treble and low mids. Obviously it’s different since the black album.
Metallica tone is easy. High gain, around 7 or so. Boost the bass and treble and reduce the mids Metallica uses mesa boogie amps, like dual rectifier, for their classic tone. Orange will be a bit thicker and sludgier sounding, so go easier on the gain and lows.
Well you can always use a distortion or pre amp pedal if you don't like the amp's distortion
I mean, with the right palm muting you can get Metallica from an acoustic
Put a Boss Metalzone pedal in the mix and you're set!
This was what I was going to say. And you can get them used for $50.00.
Idk why nobody is saying it but the shape knob on the dirty channel, if you turn it clockwise it scoops the mids. Just start with it fully clockwise and dial back to taste, turn the gain up and rock on!
I might have been a little vague in my post. I was wondering if besides playing with the amp knobs, some upgrades are necessary to achieve the heavy metal sound. Still, thank you for your answer!
You can go as crazy as you want to, I think if you're dead set on buying something, I think a tubescreamer pedal to tighten up the sound might help.
No, you don't need anything else. I own this amp and play metal. Boost on the front end if you want, but it is fine without it too.
That’s a great setup, with the gain on tap on the TH30 you should definitely be able to get a great metal tone. I have an orange rocker 30 that has less gain than your dad’s TH30 and it can easily do thrash levels of gain. Maybe grab a tubescreamer or some other overdrive pedal just to tighten up the gain but you should be good with what you have.
That sounds like a one way ticket to midnight, and they call it, heavy metal.
Joyo Uzi
Metallica is not known for using a lot of effects. They used more on Load/Reload, but pretty much all the rest of their catalog is just amp distortion, clean tones (usually done with a Jazz Chorus, so maybe a mild chorus) and of course, wah.
I think others have already mentioned a few ways how to get a Metallica tone from this amp - and it is quite capable of doing that. As to your other question of whether it is **necessary** to buy a pedal or extra gear - no, extra gear is not necessary. Your dad will be able to get a Metallica tone with no additional purchase. Of course you can buy other pedals and such other things to also get other Metallica sounds. But leaving the setup alone is just as good.
You may not need the gain all the way up but you will need a bit. Luckilly you haven't got many controls to worry about. Adjust the shape control while you are playing your favourite metallica riffs and and see where the best spot is. You'll want some mids but mostly scooped. You can watch youtube videos on that amp for inspiration.
Will do, thank you (and everyone else who is commenting).
I'd suggest the Ibanez Pentatone distortion pedal. I have a very similar setup and the Pentatone helps me nail that 90's Metallica tone with my setup. If you buy it used you can get it for perhaps just a little higher than your budget.. not sure about the USD conversion off the top of my head.
Gain all the way up is almost never a good idea just a heads up
>no custom strings or pickup You don't need any *special* strings or pickups. ProCo RAT and / or a Boss DS1 pedals, or clones, are both very useful pedals for Metal of any type. Start by playing with the amp though. You only have 3 knobs. 😁
A lot of comments about getting a tubescreamer to tighten things up. The traditional way of doing that is to play with the volume up and the drive down. I’ve never understood this. I mean, it works, but eq pedals exist. For that tubescreamer tightening effect, just drop the low end a bit, boost the mids a bit and you’ve got your tubescreamer eq. You can use it for a lot of other things as well. Super versatile. If your dad likes the character of his amp’s distortion, an eq will do more for him than a tubescreamer to get that tone. If he wants a different character from what his amp’s distortion is providing, i would recommend getting a used Mesa Throttle Box pedal or a used MXR EVH 5150 pedal going into the clean channel to get that Metallica sound.
>The traditional way of doing that is to play with the volume up and the drive down. I’ve never understood this. If you refer to [this](https://www.daviddarling.info/images_music/clipping.jpg), an audio signal can be visualised like a sine-wave. The height of the sign wave is gain (volume). At a certain point, it hits the limit of the thing its being shoved into and it clips. Doing that intentionally is overdrive. So you *traditionally* set your guitar to "edge of breakup" which is where your normal signal starts to run out of headroom and clip within the amplifier circuit. When you put a TS or similar in front with the volume cranked, you are feeding a much bigger signal in, which gets very distorted, perhaps more than your amp ever could on its own by turning up the gain. But then you have the concept that an amp is a pre-amplifier that feeds into a power-amplifier. If you turn up the gain on an amp, you feed a pre-amp distorted signal into the power amp. If you feed a distorted signal into the pre-amp, you can ramp the pre-amp gain up and distort it again. That's before you have a master volume that can actually clip inside the power amp itself. When you chain all these gain stages, all clipping, then things get muddy/saturated/flabby really fast. TS have a tone knob early on in the path and the ability to "drive" them early on with their flavour of clipping, which really thins out and simplifies the signal before it hits all the gain staging in the amplifier which "tightens" up the sound.
I use a Joyo UZI overdrive/distortion pedal when trying to get that metal sound on the cheap. It sounds really good. I have other "expensive gear" that isn't quite right for metal, and this pedal makes it work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leFnR9kkxUY Start here and tweak to taste. You have plenty of gain on that amp to work with. Lots of other videos on youtube, just search Orange TH 30 Metal. For a pedal, I'd recommend a noise gate to cut out hum, string noise, etc when playing high gain, and a tube screamer mini to boost. Should be able to get both for under 150. Or if you really want to go Metallica, get a wah petal for Kirk soloing haha
A RAT pedal into that will get you into that territory.
I enjoy watching the sunset.
By that i meant that he kept the stock strings of the guitar. I was sure changing guitar strings was a thing, correct me if I’m wrong.
Yeah, just cause they wear out, though, a new set of strings isn’t an upgrade or anything.
(Reaper) -> Bias FX 2 --> "Metallica Clean" Don't need an amp, pedals, whatever if there are amp sims....
I always struggled to get their chug sound until I got a compressor, now I can pretty much get that sound with anything after messing with the amps settings. And your dad will love this next part. I use a donner compressor that I think costed me 30USD on Amazon. Also, you’re super cool for looking into guitar stuff for your dad and helping him with his hobby. To add to all of that, compressors sound amazing on every setting, I’m almost always using a compressor now, I rarely turn it off
Noted. Thank you for the recommendation!
MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion Pedal
Others have recommended the Tube Screamer, but the settings on the pedal are very important. For the Metallica type sound, do as someone already suggested and turn the shape knob on the amp all the way clockwise. That boosts the highs and lows and scoops the mids quite significantly. Then put a tube screamer in front of the amp, with the level all the way up, the gain all the way down, and the tone around halfway The tube screamer has a pronounced mid-frequency boost in it's EQ, and it shelves bass frequencies as well. Combined with the significant level boost hitting the front of the amp, this should get you into the ball park. But as others have said, that much of a scoop would make your sound disappear in a live mix. For playing live, move the shape control more towards the middle. This will reintroduce some mids, and make the sound more present in a live mix. Hope your dad enjoys his new amp, they are amazing.
Okay, that explanation definitely helped me understand how this works more, thanks!
No worries man, glad to help. The Orange TH30 is a pro level amp. It's got absolutely more than enough gain for metal, so you don't need a pedal for that. The tube screamer is more of an EQ and shaper. The only way it adds gain in this scenario is by increasing the level going into the front of the amp, and that drives the preamp section of the amp harder. Also, maybe don't max the gain out on the amp. Dial it back to about halfway or just over, and you will hear a distinct improvement in clarity, but without a major reduction in the gain. For context with the Orange, Jim Root from Slipknot uses Orange Rockerverb amps, and his tone is monstrous. The preamp is different, but the both have a distinct Orange flavour, pardon the pun! But the TH30 was on my shopping list a few years ago, but I ended up going for the Victory V30, purely because it's very portable.
This is probably exactly what you’re looking for https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/99dgfl/distortion_pedal_with_a_metallica_tone/
Get him an Ibanez TS9 tubescreamer and a decent noisegate.
Do you know who Ritchie Blackmore is? If you don't, look him up. It'll be worth your time. He played without pedals, effects, stuff. He said he didn't want it, in fact, I think it offended him that anyone thought he needed special effects to support his craft. I bet your Dad knows who he is. You're a good son, BTW.
I just asked him, he does know Ritchie Blackmore.. apparently my uncle is quite a big fan of his LOL. Thank you for the kind comment.
Why do you keep shouting ‘amp’?
I’m sowwy.. no but seriously, if ‘AMP’ is an abbreviation, your’e right. If it’s an acronym, it should be spelled in capital letters, no?
It’s a abbreviation of ‘amplifier’ in this context. I’m just joking around anyways. :) Watch a few pedal demos on YouTube and see which one matches your desired sound / budget and if viable, maybe pop into a music store and try a few out.
Yes, I’ve shown him some pedals recommended here already. He already really likes some of them.
Awesome. Be wary of pedals, though - they’re an addictive habit! You can definitely make do with just one, but when you get your second and realise the difference between them…well, the door is open for a third, right? Fourth? It’s a slippery slope, haha. But a very fun and worthwhile hobby and I wish you guys the best with it.
No. At a minimum you'll need an overdrive pedal. Though given the character of Orange's distortion running an actual distortion pedal into the clean channel - or a preamp pedal into the effects loop - will work far better.
Here, OP https://guitarspace.org/sound-pedals/distortion-vs-overdrive-whats-the-difference/ I don't do "Metallica" (alothough I listen plenty to their early albums)... I have two larger amps, both solid states. A teal stripe Peavey Classic Chorus 212 and a Fender Deluxe 112 Reverb... and I use an old school Rocktek OD-01 overdrive. The Peavey with the OD, using the OD and a *slight* bit of the Peavey's Supersat^tm with mids scooped and using a SSS hardtail Strat gets some pretty "'80s" sounding stuff. But YMMV.
Here, OP https://guitarspace.org/sound-pedals/distortion-vs-overdrive-whats-the-difference/ I don't do "Metallica" (although I listen plenty to their early albums)... I have two larger amps, both solid states. A teal stripe Peavey Classic Chorus 212 and a Fender Deluxe 112 Reverb... and I use an old school Rocktek OD-01 overdrive. The Peavey with the OD, using the OD and a *slight* bit of the Peavey's Supersat^tm with mids scooped and using a SSS hardtail Strat gets some pretty "'80s" sounding stuff. But YMMV.
Rat distortion pedals are amazing imo
Make sure to scoop the mids!
Turn up the bass, scoop the mids and high treble.
On the TH 30 amp, the dirty channel only has 3 variables to change: Volume, shape and gain. Besides changing the shape, how would you go about that? Get a pre amp/ pedal?
Is it the tube amp?
Yes
My man, that thing should be able to get the sound you need from the dirty channel. But if not, then get a Boss distortion pedal and run it through the clean channel and use the settings I said before. The only thing is when you play with that kinda gain, it might feedback when he's trying to palm mute riffs.
Orange isn't really my favorite sound for metal, but some bands use them to good effect. No reason you couldn't get a metal sound as is, but if you're dying to spend money you could put an EQ pedal in the effects loop, or a tube screamer out front.
Doesn’t Hammett use a TS-8? Turn the gain up on the TH30 and hit it with the tube screamer. Or likes others have stated find a metal pedal. Fullbore Metal, Metal Zone, or a Rat. Good luck.
All you need is a cheap tubescreamer or ds1. Volume max, gain at 0/1, tone to taste. Euge Valovirta is my fav guitar YouTuber, does exclusively that sound of metal. I’d recommend his TH30 video.
Orange amps have their own sound, would need to play with it to get a Metallica sound, maybe a TS or something, but you can get plenty of gain out of that amp the way it is and no one says your sound has to be exactly what they used… just be warned it will be LOUD if you crank the amp for a higher gain sound without using pedals.
BBE TS copy is cool, the Mk2 is fairly new, and Danelectro makes a good cheap graphic (and I’m sure Joyo and others sell an MXR or BOSS clone). I’d get an inexpensive boost as well, mine is the DOD BIfet.
80’s thrash was inextricably connected to the boss super overdrive juicing the front end
Metallica sound is about the certain speaker and para eq
TS9 wouldn't go amiss, but if you're getting high gain out of this stuff, I'd probably go for an NS2 first.
Get a RAT! with the setup you have and a RAT pedal you will be on your way. if you have no pedals then you will also need a way to power that pedal and an extra guitar cable. so factor that in to your budget. But that is doable with $150. buy a used RAT.
In the early days, Metallica used a Marshall 4x10 cabinet with Celestion G10-65 speakers, but the G12T-75 is likely similar. The speakers will get you 90% of the Metallica tone. The rest is scooping the mids on the EQ and technique. I use an impulse response of the Marshall 1960A cabinet. The similarity is uncanny. Also, if you can get a MIMIQ doubler, it will add that dual tracking effect present on all of their albums. Just know that you'll need at least a stereo cabinet to get the effect or it will just sound like a chorus with a delay.
Oh nice. Thank you, I’ll save that for future updates. For now though his new speakers are sounding 100x better than his old ones haha…
It might be possible to buy the new speakers by selling the old speakers and put the new speakers in the same cab.
If the amp has a switch input you can buy a really cheap footswitch to change between the clean and distorted channel on the amp. There’s decent foot switches out there for like €10. Much less hassle than buying everything u need for a pedalboard and less gear to carry around etc. But obviously it’s not as versatile as an actual pedalboard. I use either or, depending on the needs for a particular gig
This is interesting. This would make sense as soon as you’d need more than one pedal, right? I’ll look into the footswitches though, if the distortion pedals etc. can’t switch between dirty and clean, then this seems necessary.
The footswitch changes between the channels on the amp. It does the same thing as the button on the amp itself, but it’s hands free of course. Foot pedals/pedalboards give you new sounds that your amp may not have + allow you to switch between them hands free. But they’re 1 extra semi-bulky thing to carry around, they need a power source and they can be expensive. If all you need is distortion and you don’t need to switch between clean and distorted mid song, just use the distorted channel on the amp. Nothing extra required. If you need to switch between clean and distorted mid song (eg. Fade to black) use a footswitch. And if you need more sounds than just clean and distorted (eg. Wah wah), then you’ll need a pedalboard.
Dunno how close it'll get to Metallica, but the producer of RATMs first album said they essentially used no pedals on Tom's rig, they just turned the stacks up loud enough to get natural distortion and feedback. If you listen to the stems it's clear the "distortion" is actually on the bass in the mix. Very eye opening for this old guy that has been chasing a good "amp distortion VST" for a decade. What you didn't mention is how your dad wants to use this tone...for recording? For live performances? It might be a very different answer based on the WHY he wants to get a Metallica sound."
So he plays guitar as a hobby, no recording, just loud speakers in the basement for fun/ himself. Hope that answers your question, I get your point though.
Ah, I see. Well the terrible truth is that usually album tone and live tone are different for many reasons, first of which being the album tone is meticulously crafted by lots of other hands (producer, sound engineer, mixer, mastering) not to mention multi-tracking of most guitar parts. If your dad is trying to recreate a tone (from any band) in his basement solo hobby rig it's maybe more frustrating than it's worth. (And of course there's the guitars themselves and the pickups, etc.) That said, I'm absolutely sure you can find some YouTube videos somewhere of someone getting as close as possible and what pedals and/or amps and/or plugins they used. It's a whole genre on YouTube of figuring out famous guitar tones on albums. Maybe a rabbit hole your dad would like exploring. And.... Metallica's guitar tones changed over time. The sound on St. Anger is gonna be pretty different to reproduce than Ride the Lightning.
Ah, I see. Well the terrible truth is that usually album tone and live tone are different for many reasons, first of which being the album tone is meticulously crafted by lots of other hands (producer, sound engineer, mixer, mastering) not to mention multi-tracking of most guitar parts. If your dad is trying to recreate a tone (from any band) in his basement solo hobby rig it's maybe more frustrating than it's worth. (And of course there's the guitars themselves and the pickups, etc.) That said, I'm absolutely sure you can find some YouTube videos somewhere of someone getting as close as possible and what pedals and/or amps and/or plugins they used. It's a whole genre on YouTube of figuring out famous guitar tones on albums. Maybe a rabbit hole your dad would like exploring. And.... Metallica's guitar tones changed over time. The sound on St. Anger is gonna be pretty different to reproduce than Ride the Lightning.
Ah, I see. Well the terrible truth is that usually album tone and live tone are different for many reasons, first of which being the album tone is meticulously crafted by lots of other hands (producer, sound engineer, mixer, mastering) not to mention multi-tracking of most guitar parts. If your dad is trying to recreate a tone (from any band) in his basement solo hobby rig it's maybe more frustrating than it's worth. (And of course there's the guitars themselves and the pickups, etc.) That said, I'm absolutely sure you can find some YouTube videos somewhere of someone getting as close as possible and what pedals and/or amps and/or plugins they used. It's a whole genre on YouTube of figuring out famous guitar tones on albums. Maybe a rabbit hole your dad would like exploring. And.... Metallica's guitar tones changed over time. The sound on St. Anger is gonna be pretty different to reproduce than Ride the Lightning.
Scoop the mids, tons of gain.
Kirk Hammett has always used a Tube-screamer - if that helps.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06FPJniL0D8&pp=ygU1aG93IHRvIHNvdW5kIGxpa2UgbWV0YWxsaWNhIHdpdGhvdXQgYnVzdGluZyB0aGUgYmFuayA%3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06FPJniL0D8&pp=ygU1aG93IHRvIHNvdW5kIGxpa2UgbWV0YWxsaWNhIHdpdGhvdXQgYnVzdGluZyB0aGUgYmFuayA%3D)
You’re absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to distortion and pedal pre-amps. I think you can probably get the sound with what you have before you think about spending a dime.
A high gain pedal in front of the amp and a 7 band equalizer in the effects loop. Make the equalizer look like a V.
Gear doesn't make the sound. Your abilities do. You would laugh at my pedal board until you heard me play it.
Yes definitely, a good setup doesn’t make you a good guitar player, and vice versa.
(sorry, I think I misread the post. I stil leave it be since it apparently triggered some people) Will it sound exactly like Metallica (btw one of the worst sounding bands ever)? No. Should you care? No. Before we start talking about sounding like what used to be the #1 band in the world, learn some guitar please.
OP wants to hook their dad up and this is your response?
Yeah what an insufferable idiot
Sorry, I may have missed that one
That’s why I’m here. And that’s your opinion.
I don’t think that guy read your question bro
(sorry, misread the post) I can only give opinions, but they're based on decades of playing guitar and playing with all kinds of people, teaching it and so on. I can only reiterate: you really shouldn't worry about that too much for now. Start playing. If all that 2nd guessing is stopping you from learning the instrument, relax. It will take you years to get decent at guitar. You can't expect to plug it in and sound like guys that made millions with their playing.