Skip to content

Lesson 3 of 8

Metal board

The goal: tight, aggressive high gain with a firm low end, silence between riffs, and leads that cut.

Tweak it

  • Scooped or mid-heavy? Cutting the mids sounds huge alone but often vanishes in a band. A mid-heavy setting sounds plainer at home but cuts through. Start with mids at noon or above.
  • Flubby low end? Lower the amp's Bass, cut a bit around 100 Hz, or lower the drive Gain further. Tight beats big.
  • Gate chopping notes? Lower the Threshold until sustained notes ring out, then stop.
  • Too much fizz? Turn down the distortion before turning down Treble. Less gain usually sounds heavier.
  • Downtuned or 7-string? You may need a bit less bass and a bit more boost Level.

Signal chain

Guitar to amp, left to right. Settings are starting points to get you close: trust your ears.

  1. 1. Tuner

    Tuner

    First in line, and handy for muting between songs.

  2. 2. Noise gate

    Noise gate, Decimator G-String or NS-2-style

    Threshold
    10:00

    High gain amplifies every hum and string noise; raise Threshold until hum stops between riffs. If the gate has a loop, put the drive inside it and send the gate's output to the amp, so it tracks your guitar but cleans after the gain.

  3. 3. Overdrive

    Tube Screamer-style overdrive as a tight boost

    Tone
    12:00

    Gain fully down to 8 o'clock, Level 2-3 o'clock. It cuts the lows and pushes the mids, so the amp's distortion gets tighter and palm mutes chug instead of flubbing.

  4. 4. Distortion

    High-gain distortion, MT-2 or amp-in-a-box-style

    Gain
    1:00
    Bass
    11:00
    Mid
    12:00
    Treble
    1:00

    The real distortion comes from a high-gain amp or this pedal. Use it with a clean amp.

  5. 5. EQ

    Graphic EQ

    Sets your mids: small cut around 100 Hz, small boost around 800 Hz-1 kHz. In an effects loop, it shapes the amp's distorted tone.

  6. 6. Delay

    Delay

    Feedback
    10:00
    Mix
    9:00

    Time 400-500 ms. For leads only; switch it off for riffs.

  7. 7. Reverb

    Reverb

    Mix 8-9 o'clock: just a little, or none for rhythm.

  8. 8. Amp

    High-gain amp, or clean amp with the pedal

    If your amp has an effects loop, delay, reverb, and often the EQ sound cleaner there.

Checkpoint

Move on when you can do all of these.

  • Set an overdrive as a tight boost (gain low, level high) and hear palm mutes tighten
  • Set the noise gate so it is silent between riffs without cutting sustained notes
  • Compare a scooped and a mid-heavy EQ and say which cuts through better with a backing track
Sign in to save your progress and clean takes.