Discover how MMA’s kingpin dials in metal tones on an amp he’s never played before
Whether you’ve just bought a new 100-watt tube amp, opened up a new plugin, or plugged into your mate’s gear to check out what it can do, knowing how to dial in a tone in double quick time is a valuable skill to have.
Browne is a master of this; he can do it with his eyes closed… the show off. So, we’ve locked him up and extracted as much wisdom out of his riff-filled brain as possible to help you harness his superpower.
We’ve created a four-step guide to simplify dialling in a killer metal modern guitar tone, with some essential tips and lessons.
So, let’s dive in…
Step one: Kick into overdrive
Before we even get to the amp, placing an overdrive pedal before it in the signal chain can help give us greater dominion over our tone, and stop things from getting messy.
Overdrive pedals should be seen and used as a volume boost, rather than adding more dirt. Dropping the volume on the amp but boosting the volume on an OD pedal can produce a tighter sound while also giving enough saturation for satisfyingly disgusting notes.
Typically, OD pedals have three controls, for gain, volume, and tone. Browne's go-to starting point for an OD sees the gain at zero – to repeat, we don’t want to add saturation – the volume at halfway, and the tone control just past the halfway mark. Instantly, you should see that generates an increase in volume, and more punch thanks to the slight tone boost.
If you don’t have an overdrive, the rest of the steps still apply, but proceed with caution. With or without an OD, you’ll lose some of the tone-tidying benefits so be gentle with that gain knob.
Step two: Basic EQ-ing of the amp
Once your OD is in place, switch it off and focus on the control panel of the amp. You don’t want to mess with the amp while the pedal is still colouring the final result.
Going in blind to a 25-watt Engl Fireball [in the below video], Browne sets the gain at 10 o'clock, so just the softer side of halfway, with the three-band EQ – bass, middle, and treble – all sitting at a neutral noon. If the amp has a presence control, this can be pushed a little higher, say three o'clock.
By setting the controls at these rather safe, vanilla points, we can hear the natural characteristics of the amp and use that as our starting point. Then, we can add or take away certain elements to get us to a sound we're happy with.
Step three: Assessing the damage
Before messing with the controls beyond this point, we need to familiarise ourselves with the purpose of each dial and what cranking or pulling back on them will mean to the final sound.
Gain will dial in saturation, that grit and dirt that defines metal. But remember, the more gain you have the less note clarity there will be. That's why using less gain can result in better guitar tones. Misha Mansoor’s top tip here is to have the gain set just where the tone starts to go from clean to crunchy, and there’s a nice sustain when playing palm mutes.
The bass function controls the amount of low end, too much and your tone will sound muddy, again harming clarity. Too little and it'll lack weight.
Treble, then, deals with the other end of the scale, adding brightness, bite and high-end to the tone the more it's employed. However, too much and the tone can grow harsh and be more prone to making ears bleed than causing stank faces.
The Middle control holds the key to much of your tone. Turning it down creates a scooped tone, which lets the lows and highs run wild – think Dimebag and Pantera. Cranking it too far and it can sound like it's coming through a telephone or a really crappy pair of headphones.
Simply, the presence dial boosts upper-mid and treble frequencies to make your guitar sound livelier.
With this knowledge locked in; start riffing. What’s your initial response to the tone? The key to altering the tone from here is knowing what you’re trying to achieve – what do you want more or less of –to get over the line.
Step four: Personalisation
As far as the gain is concerned, it’s important to remember that the overdrive pedal will make a difference when it’s turned back on. So try to keep it as low as possible while still maintaining a little saturation. Then, kick the overdrive into gear and see how it locks the tone in a vice-like grip and gives it a thorough kick up the backside.
Boosting the volume of the OD will push the front end of the amp and can sound gain-ier. If the note definition is lacking a little, boost the tone dial, or pull it back if there’s too much snarl. Pushing the gain on the amp from here is plainly for finding the sweet spot of saturation.
Afterwards, you can focus on the three-band EQ, where there is likely to be a fair bit of back and forth. It’s worth tweaking each dial either side of noon to see the difference it makes, rather than automatically assuming that more is more.
Treble can be delicately added for a more face-ripping quality, but don’t overcook it. With all three of these dials, you want to be jumping in minor increments. These tweaks will depend on the relationship between the guitar, the amp, the player, and the player’s tastes. If your guitar has high-output pickups, the chances are you will need to dial the amp’s gain back. Or if the guitar naturally lacks bottom end, the amp can make up the difference.
It’s also important to remember to let the amp play to its strengths. You probably can, but you shouldn’t be turning to a Fender Twin for face melting death metal tones, just as you wouldn’t use a Dual Rectifier on a spangly indie song.
Tone dialling can be a pernickety process, but changing the bass, from 12 to one o’clock, for instance, can have a big impact. Be patient. And the more you do it, the quicker you’ll become at doing it. You can’t become a sweep picking master overnight, so why would this be any different?
Top tip: Gain comes in many forms
“I tend to pick notoriously hard, so I have less gain than your average consumer,” Browne admits. “But as long as you get the tone right on the amp, you can use the pedal to take it over the edge, you get the clarity. That's one of the main things that's difficult to achieve when you have a dense metal mix. Less is more.”
Picking hard isn’t just a side effect of Browne’s playing style, it’s a vital component.
“If you think about it, with metal you're trying to be aggressive,” he continues. “So, if you're tickling the strings, you're not gonna get clarity in the bottom end. Picking hard gives you extra note definition, and it's more percussive. That harder you hit, the more clarity you are going to get.”
This is why you want as little gain on the amp as possible. The volume boost from the pedal and the attack of your picking hand is going to bring in a lot of punch, so you don’t want your metaphorical cup already full before you even turn on the OD and play your guitar.
The more gain you have, the less clarity you have and so, even if you’re nailing your parts, people aren’t going to hear it. You need to let the notes cut through above all else. So, by boosting the volume of the input and you can have the gain lower, resulting in more clarity but still pack plenty of power.
The MMA one year anniversary giveaway
To celebrate one whole year of Modern Metal Academy, we've launched a free-to-enter giveaway with a raft of prizes up for grabs. That includes Browne's signature Schecter Tao guitar, an Antelope Audio Zen Quadro USB interface, Baby Audio plugins, strings, MMA merch, and plenty more.
Head on over here to learn more and to enter.
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