MetalHeads, what's your fav amp block for metal and WHY?!

Totally depends on the kind of metal in question.

Classic stuff? A Plexi or JCM800 all day.

80s shred? I’m a big fan of the SLO100 for that.

90s/00s sludgy metal tones? Gotta be a Dual Rec tone for me.

DT-style prog metal tones? Various Mesas obviously get that job done.

Super-dry tech death tone? The Engl Savage is absolutely brutal for that.

Modern ‘djent-y’ metal tones? The Friedman HBE has just the right combo of tightness and richness for that, IMO.

All personal preference of course :) one of the many beautiful things about these units is all the options to satisfy different needs and tastes.
 
Modern ‘djent-y’ metal tones? The Friedman HBE has just the right combo of tightness and richness for that, IMO.

We’re on the same page for a lot of what you said, but I’ve never tried the Friedman models. I’ll have to do that. Any recommendations for boosting/EQ’ing/IR/etc?
 
We’re on the same page for a lot of what you said, but I’ve never tried the Friedman models. I’ll have to do that. Any recommendations for boosting/EQ’ing/IR/etc?

As always, YMMV, personal preference, etc.

What works for me is treating it more like EQ’ing a Plexi rather than a typical modern high gain amp. That means very low bass (1.75 for me), high mids/treble/presence (around 8/7/7 respectively), and turning on the bright switch (even though the amp doesn’t have one, I find it opens the highs up nicely for my purposes). Gain low but still pretty aggressive at 4. Everything else default.

As far as boosting, I keep it really simple: T808MOD, drive 0 tone 6 level 7.

And then with IRs, I tend to like 2x12s over 4x12s with the Friedmans in general, they’ve got so much low end that I find 4x12s to be too much for me. My personal go-to lately has been the ML Zilla Misha Balanced mix from the Zilla pack. That said, Misha Mix 08 from the old Mesa pack and the new Djent Mesa pack as well give some killer options if you’re more into the 4x12 sound. (Edit: the stock cabs that pair up with the Friedman are quite killer as well for more old-school tones, by the way.)
 
As always, YMMV, personal preference, etc.

What works for me is treating it more like EQ’ing a Plexi rather than a typical modern high gain amp. That means very low bass (1.75 for me), high mids/treble/presence (around 8/7/7 respectively), and turning on the bright switch (even though the amp doesn’t have one, I find it opens the highs up nicely for my purposes). Gain low but still pretty aggressive at 4. Everything else default.

As far as boosting, I keep it really simple: T808MOD, drive 0 tone 6 level 7.

And then with IRs, I tend to like 2x12s over 4x12s with the Friedmans in general, they’ve got so much low end that I find 4x12s to be too much for me. My personal go-to lately has been the ML Zilla Misha Balanced mix from the Zilla pack. That said, Misha Mix 08 from the old Mesa pack and the new Djent Mesa pack as well give some killer options if you’re more into the 4x12 sound. (Edit: the stock cabs that pair up with the Friedman are quite killer as well for more old-school tones, by the way.)

I appreciate it. I have and really like the Zilla pack I’ll give that a shot later. Thanks!
 
Crap, I forgot the "and WHY" part.

I love Recto 2 Red Modern because a majority of the albums I listened to growing up (311, Incubus, that first Hoobastank album when I was 14...) had a Recto as the primary tone so to this day it feels more "correct" than any other amps. But beyond that, I really like the combination of mid-scoop and aggression. Peavey 51010/6505's always felt close to that sort of tone but I never liked the response in the high mids although they're quite a bit tighter in the bass.

To me the Recto 2 sounds more aggressive than Recto 1 but in a good way. It just feels more "alive" to me, I guess. I dunno. Rectos are just my sound. Hard to imagine me playing anything else.
 
Crap, I forgot the "and WHY" part..........

To me the Recto 2 sounds more aggressive than Recto 1 but in a good way. It just feels more "alive" to me, I guess. I dunno. Rectos are just my sound. Hard to imagine me playing anything else.

Agreed...except for the soloing stuff. I can't seem to gravitate to the rectos for soloing. For some reason though, the Recto sim on the Roland Cubes seem very friendly for solos however. LOL
 
The Severe 1 and the PVH 6160 BLOCK are my higain amps of choice. I prefer this 5150 variant over the others, but they are all good in their own way, except the FAS variant, which is way off imho...
 
Angle Savage 1-Punchy and Aggresive
Corncob M50- Smooth but Aggressive, has nice low end
Freidmen HBE-Djenty
Fractal Modern - Aggressive, Balanced


Really depends on what Cabs you are using. Cabs will change everything.
 
Angle Savage 1-Punchy and Aggresive
Corncob M50- Smooth but Aggressive, has nice low end
Freidmen HBE-Djenty
Fractal Modern - Aggressive, Balanced


Really depends on what Cabs you are using. Cabs will change everything.
Very true!!! CABS!!! Maybe that should be a sub-category to this thread?
What cabs have you discovered that are great for MetalHeads?!?
 
Very true!!! CABS!!! Maybe that should be a sub-category to this thread?
What cabs have you discovered that are great for MetalHeads?!?

haha that is a very subjective question, but my fav. cabs that I have found to work the best are cabs from cab pack 13 and Cab pack ML USA DJENT.

MISHA USA MIX -1-8 (ML USA DJENT.)
CITRUS 4X12 SM57 + M160 (This is prob my favorite, it is balanced but is VERY punchy and just HEAVY AF) (CAB PACK 13)

Those are my go too cabs.

I should prob note that I set my preamp section to MODERN in the CAB preamp section, crank the drive up to 8 and Boost the Lows from 4-5, mids 6-7 and highs around 4-5. Again, it's all subjective bc it depends on your guitar, style, pickups, amps etc. etc. This is what works for me and may not necessarily work for you. The ML USA DJENT Pack though...just about any one of the MISHA MIXES will kick some serious ass w/o tweaking.
 
Very true!!! CABS!!! Maybe that should be a sub-category to this thread?
What cabs have you discovered that are great for MetalHeads?!?

I’m a big fan of ML Audio’s Bulb pack. It includes a Mesa 4x12, a Djent pack, an Orange/ENGL 4x12 pack, and the Zilla pack. The Mesa and Zilla IRs are my favorite of the group on average, but some amps play really well with the Djent/Orange/ENGL IRs. The Misha Mixes alone are with it to me. They have been my favorite IRs, period.
 
I’m a big fan of ML Audio’s Bulb pack. It includes a Mesa 4x12, a Djent pack, an Orange/ENGL 4x12 pack, and the Zilla pack. The Mesa and Zilla IRs are my favorite of the group on average, but some amps play really well with the Djent/Orange/ENGL IRs. The Misha Mixes alone are with it to me. They have been my favorite IRs, period.

I had already purchased the others before they released them as a bundle....wahm wahm. lol
 
As far as cabs go, my absolute favorites are from the ML Zilla and ML USA Djent packs.

Zilla for the really tight tones I like best myself, Mesa for the bigger looser more ‘old-school’ metal tones.

I could happily record forever just with the ML Zilla Misha Balanced Mix and ML Zilla Flattest, I use the former for most rhythm tones and the latter for just about everything else.
 
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