The race for the ultimate heavy metal guitar rig has been around ever since guitarists discovered the love cranking the gain and riffing away. But with all of the choices in metal-focused gear, it may be difficult finding the right pieces for your tone, technique, and wallet. We’ve dug up some of our favorite gear in four separate playing and financial categories to help you find the right equipment for you.
The Guitar
The first thing to consider when putting together a rig is the guitar you’ll be playing. It is where the vast majority of your interaction with the gear comes from. And it’s the very basis for defining the tone you’re looking for. Staying in the heavy metal vein, we decided to stick with solidbody electric guitars with humbucking pickups and 24-fret fretboards.
The Amplifier (and cabinet)
When choosing the right amp for a metal guitar rig, we knew that a high-gain channel is paramount. But even the heaviest of metal can still feature crystal-clear clean tones as well. So though there are plenty of incredible single-channel metal guitar amplifiers, for this roundup we picked guitar amps that featured multiple channels, an effects loop, and a master volume for an array of guitar sounds.
Pedals
Pedals are a tricky subject when it comes to metal guitar. Many players prefer the direct-to-amp sound. But there are three types of pedals that can generally be agreed upon for augmenting your power chords and solos…
- Overdrive/Boost: Metal players have been boosting their dirty amp tones with an overdrive pedal since the beginning of high-gain. Whether talking about Gus G.’s (Ozzy Osbourne, Firewind) BBE G Screamer or Yngwie Malmsteens’s signature Fender Overdrive, the use of a boosting pedal to drive you amp harder and tighten up the low end is a widely used technique.
- Delay: Delay is a great effect for heavy metal when used sparingly. It’s often heard giving lead lines a wider spectrum and helping them sit nicely in the mix. Some guitarists have also used very short single repeats to create a double-tracked sound for their rhythms. This is a fantastic technique to make your riffs and single note lines sound absolutely massive. For these reasons, a good delay pedal is the only “effect” you’ll regularly see in many heavy metal guitarists’ rigs.
- Noise Suppressor/Gate: Another pedal often found at the feet of a heavy metal guitarist is a noise suppressor or gate. These devices clamp down on your signal quickly when you’re not playing to silence your signal, eliminating unwanted buzz, hum, and high-gain interference from coming through your speakers.
5 Rigs to Get You Started
1. The Bedroom Shredder
Guitar: Jackson JS12 Dinky
The Jackson JS12 Dinky has all of the features you need in a heavy metal electric guitar to get you started or as a great instrument to keep around the house for practice. The guitar sports two high-output ceramic humbuckers, a synchronized tremolo, and Jackson’s fast playing 24-fret neck. And it comes in at a super-affordable price.
Amp: Blackstar ID:Core 40 V2
The Blackstar ID:Core 40 V2 gives you a huge array of modeled guitar tones and really excels at high-gain. Its stereo 20 watts per side may not be enough to get over a loud band, but this amp is perfect for practice around the house. And there are plenty of other tones onboard for when you want to branch out of metal territory.
Pedals:
Overdrive/Boost: The Behringer Vintage Tube Overdrive TO800’s green housing lets you know what it’s intentions are. This killer little overdrive is ridiculously affordable, and it’s great a punching the front end of your amp to thicken up your tone.
Delay: There may not be a delay pedal on the market that packs as many features as the Behringer DD600 for so little dough.You’ll get great-sounding digital repeats, a reverse delay setting, panning, and a lot more.
Noise Suppressor/Gate: High-gain tones create noise. There’s no way around it. But at this price, using the Behringer Noise Reducer NR300 to clean up your signal couldn’t be easier.
2. The Player on a Budget
Guitar: Jackson JS32T King V
The Jackson King V is one of the most aggressive-looking guitars in metal. And the JS32T delivers that sinister appearance with all of the features that make Jacksons so popular, like a basswood body and the Jackson Speed neck that’s capped with a 24-fret fretboard with jumbo frets. And it does it in a package that won’t break the bank.
Amp: BOSS Katana 100/212
Roland and BOSS have been making waves for a while now with their hyper-realistic tube-emulating amps, and judging by feedback from players, the Katana series absolutely kills it imparting that same experience into tight-high-gain tones. This particular modeling combo pushes 100 watts through 2 x 12″ speakers to give you plenty of power for keeping up with even the loudest drummer. And features like an effects loop, USB connectivity for recording and editing, and a cabinet-emulated headphone output make this perfect for both playing at home and with the band..
Pedals:
Overdrive/Boost: The SD-1 Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive is used by hobbyists and pros alike, boosting the front end of their amplifiers. Its natural tube-like warmth sounds great on its own. But it has enough gain and output to push almost any driven amp tone into metal territory, or tighten up and already highly distorted sound.
Delay: Don’t be fooled by the TC Electronic Flashback Mini diminutive size. When you factor in TC Electronic’s Toneprint technology for storing and downloading artist-created presets, the options for this little guy are virtually unlimited. And the three controls in the front let you quickly dial in your own sound.
Noise Suppressor/Gate: Not only is the EHX The Silencer gate/loop a powerful noise gate pedal for a great price, but it is designed to tame the noise of your guitar’s pickups and clean up the noise from your other pedals simultaneously.
3. The Gig-ready Rig
Guitar: Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid C-1
Players like Jeff Loomis, Synyster Gates, and Keith Merrow are ensuring that the Schecter name is staying on top of the metal guitar heap for the foreseeable future. This Hellraiser Hybrid C-1 is a great example of why. Its dual EMG pickups, Ultra-thin C neck profile, and compound-radius ebony fretboard add up to one supremely playable guitar that cuts with a bold and tight sound.
Amplifier: Peavey 6505 head
The 6505 amplifier needs no introduction to metal guitarists. Though the amp’s circuit was designed in conjunction with Eddie Van Halen, this amp is responsible for many of the heaviest guitar tones in modern metal.
Speaker Cabinet: Orange Jim Root PPC212 2 x 12
Orange’s cabinets are a favorite among metal player, as evidenced by this being Slipknot’s Jim Root’s signature 2 x 12″ cabinet. Their sturdy construction and Voice of the World 12″ speakers deliver a bold and modern-sounding bottom end with the mids and highs of highly coveted vintage amps.
Pedals:
Overdrive/Boost: MXR’s M193 GT-OD overdrive pedal is designed to be very touch responsive and voiced perfectly for getting the most from a crunch amp. And while the gain control can dial in harmonically rich sounds, for metal Sweetwater recommends pulling the gain back, diming the output, and slamming the front of your high-gain amp.
Delay: The Boss DD-7 is one of the most used delay pedal on the market. Not only does it boast a ton of features and great sound quality, but it’s built with Boss’s nearly indestructible construction. This makes it an ideal choice for the gigging guitarist.
Noise Suppressor/Gate: Like the DD-7 above, the Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor is pretty much bullet proof. And the way it quickly clamps down on any unwanted noise without coloring your tone has made it a standard with guitarists for years.
4. The Tour-ready Rig
Guitar: Ibanez JBM27 Jake Bowen Signature
When it comes to both extended-range instruments and guitars designed for high-speed performance, Ibanez has long been leader. And this Jake Bowen (Periphery) signature is a fine example of both. This 7-string is constructed of the finest materials, including two Signature DiMarzio Titan humbuckers. And Ibanez’s popular Edge II-7 locking trem gives you further control for sonic mayhem.
Amplifier: EVH 5150 III 100w
When Eddie Van Halen was designing his 5150 III amplifiers, his goal was to make a bullet-proof high-gain design with ultimate expressiveness and clarity. Judging by the countless modern-metal players that have adopted these amps into their rigs, he nailed it. It is simply one of the most popular high-gain amps on the market today.
Speaker Cabinet: EVH 5150 III 412 straight
What better cabinet to match with your 5150 III amp head than Eddie’s 5150 III 4 x 12″ cabinet? Not only is this cab designed to be at its best with its matching head, but the four Celestion speakers are also custom-engineered to Ed’s specs.
Pedals:
Overdrive/Boost: The Ibanez TS808 is the absolute standard for preamp-boosting overdrive pedals. This Tube Screamer’s midrange frequency hump instantly focuses the low end and gain of your amp into a pulverizing and cutting sound that works perfectly in a metal setting.
Delay: The TC Electronic ND-1 nova delay can be found on pedalboards of all types of guitarists. Its multiple delay types, tap tempo, rugged build, and pristine signal quality are nearly unrivaled in such a compact pedal.
Noise Suppressor/Gate: The ISP Technologies Decimator II pedal is widely believed to be the most transparent-sounding noise suppressor pedal on the market. Not only is it a favorite of players, but a lot of traveling guitar techs never leave home without one.
5. Nothing but the Best
Guitar: Music Man John Petrucci Majesty 6
John Petrucci has long been one of the most respected players in heavy metal music. And the guitar line he designs with Music Man guitars is every bit as revered as he is. While this Majesty 6 is a newer body style for John, you can rest assured that it supplies the effortless playability, wide tonal options, and stellar build quality that have made his guitars legend.
Amplifier: Friedman JJ-100 Jerry Cantrell head
The Friedman JJ-100 Jerry Cantrell 100-watt guitar heads sound massive. And from a player that has recorded some of the darkest sounding riffs in hard rock history, we wouldn’t expect anything less. Dave Friedman gave this amp a punch in the low mids that stays huge and punchy, while remaining very clear and touch sensitive.
Speaker Cabinet: Marshall 1960BV 4×12
Marshall literally started the distorted amp craze in the 1960s. It’s only fitting that the 1960BV cabinet, loaded with a quartet of Celestion G12 12″ speakers is still one of the kings of aggressive metal guitar tone.
Pedals:
Boost: The Ibanez TS808HW Handwired Tube Screamer overdrive is the cream-of-the-crop when it comes to tonal purity. This high-quality Tube Screamer pushing the front end of a great distorted tube amp is heavy metal tonal nirvana.
Delay: The Eventide H9 packs some of the clearest-sounding and most sought-after delay sounds on the planet. And there’s a whole lot more under the hood for further sculpting your guitar tone.
Noise Suppressor/Gate: A step up from ISP’s Decimator II, ISP Technologies Decimator II G-string tracks your signal direct from your guitar, self adjusting the threshold optimally for clean and high-gain tones.
Rules Are Meant to be Broken
Of course there are no rules in any genre of music. Want to add wah? Maybe a phaser for that Van Halen I solo tone? And don’t forget the cables, straps, picks, and other accessories you’ll need to build the ultimate metal rig. Give one of our Sweetwater Sales Engineers a call at 800-222-4700, and they’ll help you put together the perfect guitar rig for your most brutal tones.
