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I usually don't go for that kind of sound because I usually want my distortion to sound balanced and even (like cutting highs a lot and cutting boxy low end) but I'm interested in how can you achieve this kind of sound using a virtual amplifier (however if you can tell how to make it on real amp stack it would be appreciated as well). It sounds pretty cringey as well so it can be used as an effect in some lo-fi sounding song part.

It's from the first album by Bloodbath: Resurrection Through Carnage. If you listen to any track (Ways To The Grave, etc.) you can hear it. Timecode is 0:45 (included in link).

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    Please at least provide a timestamp to a clear example. Few people are going to want to listen to 40 minutes of that racket... ermm... performance to try figure out which bit you mean ;) From the [very] quick scan of a couple of segments, including completely by accident, one bit with just a single guitar alone, if I was doing it in software, I'd be looking for the amp's sag control & also 'speaker age'.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 16:46
  • Completely different vibe, but does this feel anything like what you mean? soundcloud.com/graham-lee-15/norton-disney-weightless-excerpt This is one guitar & one bass & a totally different drum treatment [with a shed-load of vocals over them] whereas your example sounds as though they usually use 2 guitars often playing the same thing, hard left & right.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 16:58
  • With the timestamp [thank you] I'd say, yup, lots of sag & raging speakers. Also a lot of hard multi band compression. I'd say other than the musical style, very similar to the example I posted.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 17:06
  • @Tetsujin Yeah sounds not too close but kinda similar. I don't know how to describe it but sounds "electric" (like when you play though a hi-gain with high volume but the intentionally lowering it with a boost/cut or buffer pedal and add no reverb afterwards).
    – Eugen Eray
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 17:08
  • You're perceiving the difference in playing style, mine is slow 8's, no ultra-fast picking, so the attacker are much closer on your example & rely even more heavily on the compressor... Let me drop in an answer you could then try copying & see if it works.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 17:10

1 Answer 1

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I'm dropping this answer in early, assuming I might be right rather than being certain at this point.

I posted an example of a totally different style track, but I think using similar techniques - so I can easily describe how I did that. I don't have the file to hand to be able to directly copy/paste or screenshot the settings, but I used this setup a fair bit on that album so I kind of know how the setup went.

The track I'm basing my comparison on is -

This was a Firebird through a Marshall - well, it wasn't, it was a Line6 Variax through Guitar Rig... but just imagine ;)

Gibson Firebird - like a Les Paul but thinner & harder, for starters.

Marshall 'early', Jimi Hendrix age, not a hi-gain [I used to actually own one, a 1967 Lead 50, I'm still kicking myself for selling it in the early 80s]

So, Marshall - everything on 7 - no, not 11, 7!
Guitar wide open, all volume, all tone. No pedals in front.
If your open guitar can't push that into good dirty distortion, put a gain pedal in front [or as you're doing this entirely in software, just up the input gain], don't turn the amp up.

In Guitar Rig you can turn the 'amp' around & dial in some finer parameters. Here sag is your friend. The more the amp sags, the dirtier it sounds.

You then route that to anything of appropriate age, basically something with 60's Celestions in it, a Marshall 4x12, or even a cheap Carlsboro, depending on what cabs your model has.
Again, if you can turn the cab round, dial in a lot of 'age', so the cones get 'fluffier'

You then mic that close & at 45° with a large diaphragm condenser - Neumann U87 ideally. This, btw, is to capture more high end than an SM57/58 would - essential to getting that attack later on.

On the board, you drop in a good multi band comp - my weapon of choice here is Waves LinMB. just pull in the threshold until it emphasises the attacks & holds the body of the sound stable. You have to experiment with this, because it is also your EQ. You do not need to EQ this setup at all, other than getting the multi band right.

Done.

[If you're wise, you'll record the guitar over 2 channels, one wet for the mix, one totally dry in case you change your mind; then you can just re-amp the existing performance.]

Now... I know this is going to feel like an odd connection, but listen to the intro to Spirit in the Sky, Norman Greenbaum..
That's what you need before you hit it hard. The guitarist is being very gentle with the top end, yet the bottom strings are pushing the amp so it's sagging like over-cooked spaghetti.
That is exactly what you need the amp/speaker combo to be generating before you turn up the player, guitar & add the hard multi band.

Just another example to show this is by no means a 'new sound', it's an 'old sound' but using modern compression & mixing techniques.
This from Mountain - Live [c.1970] All they're really missing is the comp & the double speed playing. The rest was already there, 50 years ago.

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    Going deep into the archives for Norman Greenbaum... good suggestion ;)
    – user39614
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 17:30
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    @DavidBowling - LOL, thank you - there's an early Yamaha modelling amp with exactly that sound... I know, I programmed it for the internal presets way back in the early 90s ;) I've always considered it a very influential sound.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 17:33
  • Cool! It really works thanks! However i used dynamic EQ instead of multi-band comp. It works fine as well.
    – Eugen Eray
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 17:40
  • I dropped another example into the answer - all you have to bear in mind is that this is not actually a 'new sound'. What it really is, is an 'old sound' with modern compression & mixing techniques.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 17:45
  • I think a big muff pi fuzz pedal is often used for this kind of sound. The Zvex Woolly Mammoth is a modern boutique version and there are many fuzzes that can help get this sound.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 20:25

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