My Sound Clinic

Sorry for the lack of postage of late, this one took a while to complete!

Its one thing having 6 guitars dotted around, cluttering up your room with minimal space to contain them, but it’s another entirely when one of those is a heap of rubbish that you can’t do a damn thing with!

My Jackson RX10D was in dire need of a make-over, so I gave it one, on a £50 budget I might add. Here’s how:

Firstly, I needed new pickups. If there’s one piece of advice I can give you about pickups it’s not to buy cheap crap. Even if you’re just doing it as a project guitar, replacing the stock parts with other cheap rubbish is a fruitless task… which is what I’d done on this particular guitar’s previous ‘modification’. This time around however I made sure I did it properly. Having said that, I still didn’t go for anything crazy like EMGs or DiMarzios, because even on the most admirable of auction sites they can still fetch a pretty penny. In the end I opted for some Ibanez pickups that somebody was selling off from their project. A QM1 and QM2 to be exact, off of an old S series. Why Ibanez you ask, well 1. I didn’t want to spend a fortune, and 2. I actually quite like the sound of Ibanez stock pups.

A replacement bridge was my next port of call, seeing as this particular model of Jackson came fitted with an old single locking Floyd Rose trem, which is no use to me after a dive-bomb or two, I need double locking! On the original trem you fed the strings through the back of the bridge unit, but still clamped them down at the nut end with the locking nuts, which I found slightly odd, and more to the point – pointless.

The only other thing I bought was a new 3 way selector switch - an entirely aesthetic purchase, seeing as it had the exact same functionality as the old switch, but it was chrome rather than black.

Sanding

After dismantling the beast I began to sand. A word of warning to anybody thinking of venturing into the same world of guitar DIY –
BE PREPARED!! Sanding is a horribly arduous and exhausting job that can take days, even with a power tool. I was working with sand paper that had shards of glass the size of your bloody fist and it still took me a week. A lot of those hours were spent using a power sander, one of which I managed to explode. Don’t ask me why, it was just a stroke of bad luck it seems, but it was a hindrance to my progress to say the least. After you’ve gotten through the layer of varnish there’s an unfathomable amount of paint to get through, much of which is soaked into the grain of the wood itself. Not to mention that there were even more layers of paint than usual on this particular guitar, because of my horrendous attempt at re-spraying it on the previous DIY session.

Quick Tip -

To be quite honest I found that the power sander was good for taking off and loosening up an area of paint, but it seemed to come off with much less vigour when I used a strip of sand paper wrapped round a wooden block which I just applied in a circular motion with my hand on the area that had been blasted with the sander.

The Finish

Rather than bodge it up with another DIY paintjob, I decided to apply my artistic skills (ahem) and bind the entire body with duct tape.

“A tad shabby” you may cry, but in fact the end result was not all that tacky looking. The thing is – paint takes skill, experience, knowledge of products, an appropriate spraying environment and lots of patience; none of which I possess. My previous attempt came out uneven, lumpy, bits of dirt were caught in the varnish, and cracks appeared where I’d been impatient and attempted to bolt on the volume pot and selector switch before the paint had time to harden (eek!).

I applied the tape in horizontal strips, placing it straight over any cavities like the pickups and bridge cavity, and then cutting it out with a Stanley knife afterwards.

I did a quick fit test on the new bridge after it had arrived in the mail, and just my luck –

it didn’t fit in the cavity that the previous bridge sat in. So out came the router. It was actually the bushing that the tremolo arm sits in that was making contact with the underside of the cavity when the unit was in the dive position. I had to make a small semi-circular groove into the wood so it avoids contact.

Looks a little odd, but hey it works, and you can’t see it when the bridge is in place.

Mounting and Wiring

I was planning on using the mounting rings from the previous pickups, but the bolt was the wrong size for the thread on the pickup mounting plate, so I had to mount them directly. This is a much better looking way to mount your pickups in my opinion, but it’s much harder to make adjustments to the height of the pickups once they’re on so it’s best to get it right before hand.

To mount them directly you need to screw them straight into the guitar’s body using wood screws. The pickups themselves weren’t as deep as the cavity, and in these instances you need to raise them. You can use anything that’s non metallic such as cardboard, wood, plastic, foam, anything that the screw can penetrate to thread into the wood underneath. For mine I cut out bits of cardboard and placed them in the cavity,


then placed the pickup on top and rested a long ruler between the neck and the bridge to give me a rough indication of string height to see the height of the pickups.

This is only a rough estimate of course, but it works well. Once you’re happy with the height simply feed the wires through to the appropriate places and screw down the pickups. Now you’re ready to wire.

I had a particularly difficult time wiring these pups because they came off a guitar with a 5-way selector switch, whereas I have a 3-way. This means that I lose the capability to split-coil, and can only use them as full humbuckers, which is fine by me because that’s all I required.

However, because the neck pickup had 4 coloured wires coming off it for a 5-way selector, as opposed to the usual 2 (plus 1 screen), I had to figure out which wires to put together to make it work with my standard 3-way. I followed this step by step guide in order to ‘tap out’ the coils to see which wire corresponds to which function.

After wiring up I switched the amp on…. Nothing. I’d got the bridge wire colours the wrong way round, so out came the soldering iron to try again. Got it right this time, both pickups responded nicely with a percussive tap. I bolted the neck back on, fitted the bridge and strung it up.

Luckily the neck was ok. Usually when they’re taken off for extended periods of time they can warp out of shape, especially when exposed to the cold (mine was left in my garage for a week or two). Needless to say the bridge required a lot of balancing, but then again it did have new parts and was restrung with a 10 – 52 set.

I wish you all good luck on your venture into guitar DIY. Don’t go into it half hearted!

Thanks to all at sevenstring.org for your technical help and advice, I couldn’t have completed it without you.

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I’m not going to lie, Floyd Rose trems are utter bastards to begin with. The first time I changed the strings on a Floyd I was completely baffled, it was just a nightmare. I’d never had one before, never been shown or read how to do it, so I had to take it to the music store and get a tech to show me. When you’ve done it once or twice though it’s easy.

Here’s a quick and easy step by step set up so you don’t get as perplexed as I did, ready to chuck your axe out the nearest window!

Checklist:

• Pliers
• Alan Keys
• Screwdriver (Philips)

Firstly, snip the ball off the end of your strings.

You don’t put your strings through anything on a Floyd, you simply place the snipped tip into the saddle block

and tighten with the Alan key bolt until it’s secure.

You then take the other end of the string and place it through the machine head as normal and bring the string to pitch.

I tend to alternate the order of pitch of string I put on, i.e. rather than go up (E, A, D, G, B, E), I go low E, high E, A, B, D, G as to balance the tension evenly.

As you bring each string to pitch you may realise that the other strings become flat in pitch. This is because all the strings are sharing the tension of the springs that hold the bridge in place. So as one string tightens it releases tension off of other strings so they will begin to detune. Do not worry, once the strings are settled they will become balanced. I recommend tightening each string a little at a time. As you tune each string give them a stretch.

The string will detune, but re-tune it to pitch and repeat the process until you can stretch it without having to re-tune.

At some point the bridge will probably begin to rise,

and this is particularly noticeable if you’re using a heavier gauge of string to the previous set. If you open up the back plate of your guitar you will notice the two or three springs held onto a toothed plate that is screwed into your guitar.

You need to tighten this until the plate of the bridge is level with your guitar’s body. Similarly, if the bridge has dropped too low then you need to loosen the screws so the string tension lets it rise again until it’s level. Remember: this will change the pitch of your guitar, so you will have to re-tune, then re-balance, and repeat until you find the perfect medium.

Finally, clamp the locking nuts down and fine tune with the microtuners on the bridge. Now you can dive-bomb until your heart’s content without losing pitch!! Happy shredding.

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Believe the hype children, Divine Heresy will be huge.

It’s been a long time since a band has come along that has this level of raw brutality, technical virtuosity and heaviness, yet the same mass-appeal melodics that landed bands such as Killswitch Engage as modern legends.

Ex Fear Factory axeman Dino Cazares is the founder, and seems to be much more at home in this behemoth of melodic death metal. I’m glad to say that he is still a major player in the world of 7 stringers, and has even used the new Ibanez prestige 8 string on this album. That’s right, 8 string! Tuned (low to high) F#, B, E, A, D, G, B, E, and believe me when I say; that low F# will make your bowels shift involuntarily.

To be quite honest I was never a huge fan of Fear Factory, although I was quite fond of Dino’s signature ‘machine gun’ riffing style that was forged in the early years of his career. Taken from the latter day thrash giants such as Pantera and Machine Head, this technique is created by locking the guitarist’s picking hand in time with the drummer’s bass pedal (i.e. whenever a note is played with the guitar pick, the bass drum is kicked), which is something Dino has developed with great effect and sickening speed.

This is extremely abundant in Divine Heresy, probably because Cazares has teamed up with Tim Yeung, renowned death metal drummer and winner of the fastest drummer in the world award. Tim’s blast-beats are ridiculous, not to mention his double bass pedal skills, he is comfortable playing stupid speeds often sitting at the 250bpm mark. However, it’s not just the speed, but the technical and intricate rhythms that him and Dino create that give the music it’s edge.

DH are incredibly versatile vocally, thanks to skilled vocalist Tommy Vext. Quite reminiscent of Mark Hunter or Phil Anselmo, Tommy can scream with the best of them. But it’s when the songs take a melodic turn that you really hear the band shine, with the ability to create beautiful vocal harmonies over epic crescendos - a hook that I believe will make them a big deal in the coming months. I know, I know, it’s been done, and it does seem to be very typical of modern metal, but they seem to do it in a fashion that’s much more honest and extreme. Add to the mix death metal virtuoso bassist Joe Payne and you have a force to be reckoned with.

Watch this space people…

To see more of the band click here

Music Video for “Failed Creation”

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Jackson JS30DK

Specs

Price new: £199 - £269 ($450 - $550 in the US)

Neck type: Bolt-on Maple

Body: Alder with flame maple veneer

Hardware: Chrome

Bridge: Floyd Rose licensed double locking tremolo

Frets: 22 Jumbo

Pickups: 2 x Jackson CVR2 Humbuckers

Price second hand: £100 - £200 ($200 - $400)

Review
This is one of Jackson’s entry level guitars, although the term ‘entry level’ is something that this machine most certainly does not adhere to.

Firstly – I just have to express my love for Jacksons. If you’re looking for a growling metal beast that spits hate with every pick of a note then you can’t go wrong with a Jackson. They’re fierce speed machines designed for one thing and one thing only – face melting, and the JS30DK is no different, albeit a low end model.

Playability
Much like the Ibanez neck profile a Jackson neck is very thin and sleek, allowing optimum access to the fretboard. As I’ve said before this isn’t for everybody’s tastes, but for those that prefer less chunk you will be extremely satisfied with the feel.

Sound
Another similarity to Ibanez that I find with Jacksons is the tone, which seems to be a very clear-cut middy range, perfect for speed licks and metal riffing. The stock pickups are actually not as bad as you’d think, despite them being the same pickup in two different positions, the 3-stage selector switch does what it says on the tin. You can get a nice grunty metal tone in the bridge position, just pile on the gain and shred away, but what surprised me with the JS30 was the utterly smooth blues you can get when in the neck position. On the clean channel just dial in a touch of reverb and you’ve got the warmest acoustic textures at your disposal.

Round Up
If there are any reservations about this guitar it’s the bridge. Don’t get me wrong, it’s sturdy and it functions well as you’d expect from a Floyd Rose, but it felt a bit clunky at first, and was the only feature that really showed the JS30DK’s feather-light price tag.
That said, this guitar is sick for the price. It was my first superstrat axe and was my guitar of choice for live shows in earlier years. It never once let me down and was a sturdy performer. It has now, however, been relegated to my backup, but I still bring it out from time to time. I highly recommend for any first time metalheads with a taste for fret burning.

Rating

Sound: 7

Looks: 6

Playability: 8

Value for money: 9

Overall: 8

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Ibanez RG7620

Specs

Price new: (No longer in production) £800 - £1000 ($1200 in the US at the time)

Neck type: Bolt-on, Wizard 7 3-piece Maple

Body: Basswood

Hardware: Black

Bridge: Lo-Pro Edge7 double locking tremolo

Frets: 24 Jumbo

Pickups: 2 DiMarzio New-7 Humbuckers

Price second hand: Anywhere between £200 and £500 ($400 - $800 in the US) depending on the condition and modifications.

Review
To put it simply – this is my favourite guitar. I bought it not long after getting into the 7 string range, and it has to be the most comfortable guitar I’ve ever played, and that includes 6 strings.

It’s my second 7 string, which I bought after feeling there was something more to be desired from my first. I was determined to be meticulous with my specifications this time around, so I researched and became more informed on the market. After receiving many recommendations and researching a bit of history I had my heart set.

Playability
It’s everything I required; it has the smooth, flat, fast neck that I love which is just effortless to play. You can lower the action as much as you like and there’s absolutely no fret-buzz or rattle. Its paper thin and the largest stretches are a breeze even for a 7 string neck. This isn’t for everyone of course, despite it being effortless for me it may be unfitting for someone who prefers a chunkier radius, like that of an ESP or Schecter.

Sound
The DiMarzio New 7 pickups are beautiful, boosting the mid-range quality that tends to come with Ibanez guitars. They’re scorching hot, and although the majority of owners swap them out straight away I’ll be keeping mine for a long while yet! With a 5-way selector switch the range of tones you can get out of this thing are amazing. Anything from ‘50s PAF style Les Paul sounds, Strat blues textures, smooth shred slurs and razor sharp metal, it’s all at your disposal at the flick of a switch.

Lo-Pro
If you’re a strict user of Floyd Rose locking tremolos like me then you’ll love this trem. The action is incredibly smooth, making wide vibrato and dive-bombs a doddle. The lo-pro edge7 has a very low profile, which looks extremely sleek as well as having great functionality. It has an interesting locking feature too: inside the posts that the bridge blades pivot on, there is a tiny 1mm allan key grub screw which locks the posts into place. Once you’ve adjusted your action you tighten the grub screw so that it doesn’t slip, increasing the life of the posts as well as helping to further stabilise tuning.

Round Up
If you’re looking for a guitar with unbelievable playability then I highly recommend this beast. Fast shreds, fat sounds, razor highs, and a great feel. Perfect for anybody that’s into their axe pyrotechnics. I’ll admit it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing guitar I’ve seen. It’s very simplistic looking with no extras, but at the end of the day, who cares? It’s got a much better sound quality and playability than a billion custom shop models with bells and bows on them. And let’s face it; fancy mother of pearl inlays that stack another £100 onto your axe aren’t going to make you play better!

Plus, they don’t make them anymore, you can only buy second hand. So with the money you save you’ll have plenty of room on your purse strings for upgrades and customisations. Have a search online today.

Rating

Sound: 9

Looks: 8

Playability: 10

Value for money: 9

Overall: 9.5

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Go to:

Why I Converted
The Origin
The Guitars

Why I Converted
Being the stubborn traditionalist that I am I was always strictly against downtuning in my early years of playing metal, in the belief that it wasn’t necessary in order to make a ‘heavy’ sound. It was more a principal than anything else, as a result of my distaste towards the nu-metal movement throughout the mid to late 90’s, with its simplistic, and in my opinion lazy approach to creating heaviness by downtuning so far that the strings nearly fell off, rather than relying on tone and style. Nu-metal was often blamed for the decline of guitar orientated music and for killing the guitar solo, as was it’s melancholy predecessor ‘Grunge’. However, after following the trends of all heavy music over the years I grew to love the sound of a growling, bassy chug that comes with downtuning, and realised that if done tastefully and not over the top it could enhance the aggression of a guitar sound entirely, so I started to follow suit.

Drop D was my first step. Simple, effective, but being a thrash nut at the time I was uncomfortable having that one string out of the scalar loop with the rest, so I dropped all strings two semitones to DGCFAD. It felt good, sounded good, but It didn’t quite have the bite. So I dropped the D string again, this time to a C (so drop D but all strings two semitones lower). I finally found comfort here, still out of the scalar loop but I didn’t mind. I got used to it because I’d fallen in love with that sexual growl! But me being me I simply wasn’t satisfied. I realised that every other modern metal band on the face of the planet had favoured this tuning, and I couldn’t stand for that! So I went to B.

Despite being against going this low in my earlier years there seemed to be a new breed of metal bands bringing a technical modern twist to classic metal by going low, so I stuck with it, and for a long time too.

It was as low as hell, chuggy, percussive, aggressive and downright filthy. But it was still clear enough to be musical and responsive. It seemed to just suit, not to mention that by this point my musical tastes had developed and I’d started to form a style of my own. It felt like this would be my niche, until I started getting progressive…

A friend of mine, with a ridiculous collection of guitars I might add, was getting rid of his 7 string in order to make space for the new Dean Razorback he’d just ordered. I went to his house one day after work to sample the delights. I’d only ever played one 7 string before and at that time it didn’t really take my fancy. I sat in my friend’s garage with this chunky monstrosity in my hands (giggle at that description if you must) and I just thought to myself “what the fuck do I play?!”. Not knowing any 7 string songs I just improvised a few riffs, got a feel for the neck and took it home in order to get to grips with it a little better. I ended up buying it a week later, and had found my new niche.

It was everything I wanted – in the key of B but with the scale shapes of a standard tuning. Not to mention it’s effectively a standard guitar anyway, only with the low B as a 7^th string, which opens up an entire bible of new ideas and structures, and basically becomes a completely new instrument.

The string tension is tighter and more responsive than that of a downtuned sixer, and the width of the neck becomes second nature after a few hours of strumming away. Now I can go from playing a six to one of my sevens with no need for adjusting. They’re a marvellous creation, and I’ve recently purchased another. If only I’d have discovered them sooner.

The Origin
Acoustic 7s have their history planted in Russian and Brazilian music, but the modern solid body 7s that we’ve come to know have their origins deeply rooted in jazz.

Conceived by jazz guitarists in the late 1930’s, the 7th string was first adapted to the hollow body guitars that the guitarists of the day favoured, giving it an extended range of notes and a bassy woodiness.

It wasn’t until Steve Vai requested Ibanez make him a prototype 7 that it took its modern form.

In its first stages the 7th string was actually a high A, proceeding the high E, but the string was too light and there were problems with tension, unfortunately making it prone to snapping. It was then that a low B was introduced at the bass end of the guitar. This gave the ability to have downtuned riffing with all the high end freedom of a standard guitar for lead playing.

They didn’t catch on at first, with most companies rejecting the idea of making one as part of their standard range. But as music progressed through the 90’s into the nightmare of nu-metal, bands like Korn adopted Steve Vai’s signature model ‘Universe’ Ibanez guitars as their tool of the trade. It was after this influx of players that 7 string production started to boom.

It didn’t take long for the trend to die off though, after developing a stigma that they were purely for nu-metallers. However, in a funny twist they now seem to have reverted back to their original function, and are the chosen weapon of any progressive virtuosos like Dream Theater and Unearth, slowly replacing the new-age niche of a downtuned six string.

The Guitars

Ibanez
Being the frontrunners of the trade, Ibanez would have to be the first notable manufacturers. With the original Universe models being the blueprint, they’ve since released a whole range with varied features and styles.

As I mentioned before however, the demand for 7 strings has diminished somewhat, and Ibanez only have a few models running on their current range. Besides Steve Vai’s signature Universes, their main current 7 is from their ‘Prestige’ line, the RG1527.

The RG1527 is an affordable reworking of the RG7620 (the RG7620 is now out of production, but I’m fortunate enough to own one and am in love with it), which was their main 7 from 1997 to 2000. The 7620 had the lo-pro edge7 double locking trem, and DiMarzio New7 pickups as stock, where as the 1527 has more affordable electronics (Ibanez’ own, which are still excellent I might add), and the new EdgePro 7 trem. Besides these features, and a few others such as the new Ibanez neck profile, they are effectively the same guitar, but with two very different price tags. I recommend the RG1527 to any first time sevener. Similarly, there’s the S7320, with the more rounded shape typical of the Ibanez S series, which is more affordable still, boasting the very smooth new ZR locking trem unit.

For more info on the full range of Ibanez 7 strings, both past and present, visit www.jemsite.com

ESP

ESP are another big card in the 7 string game. With masses of models rolling off in the 90’s, however it has to be said that their roll is more or less up, hardly making any 7s at all anymore, besides the Stephen Carpenter signatures. Sad to say too, as I’m quite fond of them, and own an LTD M-207. A great guitar, not so much renowned for the lead access as the Ibanez, it has more of a rhythmic chunky neck, but still has the Floyd Rose locking trem unit, and Seymour Duncan designed pickups. Keep an eye out for any second hand, they are well worth it.

Schecter
Schecter are a company that have stepped up to the plate in the last decade, with a great range of 7s on offer, in fact probably the biggest on the current market.

Their range is huge with the C-7, Omen-7, Damien-7, 007 Elite, and Demon-7 with masses of variations (Hellraiser, Blackjack, FR etc) providing axes for everyone’s needs, as well as a few signature models (Jeff Loomis of Nevermore is an avid Schecter strangler). It’s all well and good, if you like your necks chunky.

The majority of companies don’t seem to have a range of seven strings, instead just a one off model here and there, particularly a signature. Jackson, for instance, has the DK-7 COW Christian Olde Wolbers model, Ernie Ball Music Man guitars have the ridiculously expensive JP7 John Petrucci model, famed to be the best 7 you’ll ever play… apparently. BC Rich and Carvin also have a few 7s across the board, but nothing to report as a full range. Disappointing to say the least, as I believe more choice should be given to such an interesting aspect of the rock driven world of music. Fingers crossed for the future of the 7-string.

For discussions, news, reviews, interviews and much more visit www.sevenstring.org

Jackson DK7 Christian Olde Wolbers

Music Man JP7

Carvin DC747

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On my most recent monthly thumb through magazines de la guitar I came across a company that was new to me and relatviely new to the Western world entirely. A Korean companty in fact, by the name of Spear.

Spear make fantastic looking and sounding guitars for the money, and I for one would love to try one. How, you may ask… to be honest I don’t know. I had the exact same problem with Maverick when they first burst on the scene at the start of the decade. It wasn’t until about 5 months after I’d seen a write-up about them that I was able to get my hands on one in high street guitar stores. This is due to (I assume) the generally slow pace that it takes for the demand of such products to reach the high street market from the mouths of us eager neck stranglers, and personally I can’t wait for the word of Spear guitars to catch on.

Firstly they look beautiful. Elegantly crafted with time and precision, and an attention to detail that would make the luthers of much bigger brands envious. The designs are awesome, very reminiscent of the pointy 80’s shred cheese that I love oh so much. They’re not all like that of course, as all new companies generally do with their new production line Spear have spawned the obligatory look-a-like range including Les Paul, Tele, Gretsch, and Stratocaster. But it’s the Gladius that takes my particular fancy.

The Gladius SP to be exact. Purely down to taste of course, this monster looks like it can shred with the best of them. Fast flat neck, twin humbuckers, Floyd Rose locking trem, and a superstrat body shape to boot. Pretty much my ideal criteria when buying, but that’s just my personal preference seeing as I’m a man who’s stuck in the 80’s. Apart from on the side of the fretboard it only has an inlay at the 12^th fret, which is a sweet pearl effect dragon claw. The body has a beautiful ‘spalted’ maple top, which is where the wood has had a fungal infection that has then been removed, leaving behind woody patterns in a dark outline. It sounds damaging but it’s not. It gives the wood a unique finish that looks the nuts and is completely unique on every guitar.

Construction wise this machine boasts a neck-thru fixing. Most guitars in this price bracket, and above for that matter, are all bolt-on. Now, I’m not that much of a tech nut, in the sense that I won’t pay £500 more for a neck-thru construction in the belief that it doesn’t improve stability and sustain enough to justify the price, but in this instance I will admit it looks extremely well crafted, and would put me on the fence for buying one of these over an Ibanez or Jackson for example, in the same price range.

Seeing as we’re on the subject of money I’ll let you in on a little treat - this thing is filth cheap. £349 to be exact, and for a guitar of these specifications that’s just ridiculous in myexperience. Spear manufacture their axes in Vietnam, which is how they keep the costs down, but they don’t skimp on material or built quality, that’s for sure. It’s a piece of engineering that warrants a much bulkier price tag, especially when you consider this;

Body: Mahogany with spalted maple top

Neck: 5-ply Canadian hard maple/mahogany, neck-thru 25.5 scale

Fretboard: Rosewood

Frets: 24 Jumbo

Pickups: 2 x Spear H-monster ALNICO humbuckers

Hardware: Licensed Floyd Rose double locking vibrato, die-cast machineheads.

Pretty enticing, no? Especially when some of the higher end models are loaded with EMG’s and have some crazy paintjobs. Word of Spear guitars doesn’t seem to have reached as far as I’d have hoped however. When you search the net all you end up finding are a few stores here and there that might have the odd model kicking about in the backroom. It’s disappointing to say the least but I’m sure this irresistible line of metal beauties can’t be kept quiet forever!

For more info and to check out the full range go to www.spearguitar.com. For British distribution visit www.blacki.eu.

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Dimebag’s Guitar Tone: Hints, Tips and Settings

Although his setup was as simple as can be, the cutthroat tone that launched forth from his axe is seldom achieved by amateurs and professionals alike. It’s probably the most sought after sound in the metal community, and has been ever since he emerged on the scene with Pantera in the early 90’s.

Pantera themselves were a force more innovative than any other during that period, forming a mechanical tightness that has been constantly imitated but never surpassed. Years ahead of their time they were pounding out grooves that influenced the likes of Machine Head, Killswitch Engage, Chimaira, Lamb Of God, and Unearth a decade before such acts had even launched their debuts.

The monstrous rhythm section fronted by Dimebag, with his brother Vinnie Paul on drums, found the band rocketing to the forefront of heavy music in the 90’s, and consistently pushing the boundaries into early 2002 before the band’s unfortunate demise.

Being a guitarist myself I always found Pantera’s music particularly interesting, not having to mention the fact that their sole axe-man was, in my opinion, the greatest that ever lived. Not perhaps for his technical ability, jaw dropping as it may be, but his innovation, fire, soul, spirit and sheer energy that was thrusted into every note. Most fretwork you’ll hear nowadays in the genre sounds stiff, lifeless, and without feeling in comparison.

The thing I always latched onto with Dimebag’s playing was how much it made me want to get out my seat and windmill like a motherfucker! This was probably due to the “push-pull”, or “groove” that was incorporated into the rhythms of the riffs and solos alike. Being heavily influenced by blues (as is most metal), and being a man of the South, there was even a warm country feel to his work. The stompy and catchy rhythms created by the two Abbott brothers were a fine concoction to get even the most placid of folk’s feet tapping, including my dad - possibly the biggest loather of heavy metal that ever walked the earth.

The Tone

The rhythm was one thing, but getting that “chainsaw” tone is another entirely. Just like with any guitar playing it can compare to an almost ‘nature or nurture’ argument, i.e. “is it the equipment he uses or the way he plays?” For Dimebag, as well as any other guitar greats, it’s a mixture of the two (unfortunately for us). But the desired tone can still be created, you’ll just never sound exactly like him – and on that note, nobody ever will.

Darrell favoured what has since been referred to as the ‘scooped’ tone. Ever evolving since the early days of thrash, the scooped tone is achieved by cutting or ‘scooping’ the mids out of your amp settings. This brings out that grunting, growling, snarling beast of a sound from your playing. Started by bands such as Metallica and Slayer in the early 80’s, it’s a must for most metal styles, although with today’s production you’ll find a lot less of the mid tone is cut to compensate for downtuning. But yesteryears bands used it in abundance, which is how they managed to have such a beefy, percussive, staccato sound whilst remaining in standard tuning.

So for a quick metal setup to your amp, assuming all tone pots are rated 0-10, it should read something like this:

Gain – 9

Bass/Low – 8.5

Mid – 2

Treble/High – 10

Dime used enough treble to make your head explode so make sure you crank it up. This helps achieve that razors edge tone, ensuring you have enough high dynamic to make all your pinched harmonics and lead runs scream out.

The Equipment

Obviously, the gear you use is going to have an impact on the sound, but you don’t have to have the exact rig to get close. His rig was possibly the simplest of any shredder that I’ve ever known, which is a great way to be if you’re a budding musician yourself. I find that getting bogged down in too many effects, eq’s, pointless tweaking devices and other expensive crap can deter from your creative styles. Keep it simple.

Dime was synonymous with his x-shaped Washburn, a design originally conceived by Dean, which was then sold onto Washburn in the early 90’s. The design is now, however, back in Dean’s hands with them producing the ‘Razorback’, a commemorative axe with all Dimes’ typical specifications.

Pick-up wise he used Seymour Duncan’s. In the neck position was an SH-1 ‘59 model which he used for those sweet blues textures (just check out the solo for ‘Walk’), and in the bridge was his signature monster – the SH-13 Dimebucker, which kicked out enough gain to maim a grown man, and all too often did - in the fierce mosh pits that his music spawned at live shows all over the world.

To ensure an even edgier crunch to his guitar attack Dime was adamant on using solid state amps (an avid Randall abuser for years), as opposed to tube/valve state. This is simply because you can get more drive from a solid state, where as valve driven amplification tends to be warmer, and more controlled. However, not long after he was on the road with Damageplan he developed an amp, alongside new company Krank, utilizing new valve state technology which had all the crunch and wildness that comes with solid state amps. It’s since become a must for the metal giants, with a barrage of names signing onto the Krank signature list, including axe slingers from As I Lay Dying, Shadows Fall, Godforbid, Nevermore, Avenged Sevenfold, Children of Bodom, and Arch Enemy, to name just a few.

As I said, Dime’s rig was simple and he used very few effects. The only ones you’ll hear are flange, and chorus (check out the intro to Revolution Is My Name) to get that watery effect and to add texture. Apart from that, the only other weapon in his metal arsenal was the trusty Jim Dunlop Cry Baby – the world’s favourite wah-wah pedal. A must for any metal player in my opinion, it’s the most versatile yet simplistic piece of equipment you’ll ever own.

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