Good Rythm Tone with chorus or delay?

[Hamner1]

I've been able to get a good Metal lead tone using delay, however when I try to create a huge "thick" Metal rythm tone using delay it tends to sound like mush. Can you list what you are using and the settings for your rythm tone?

Maybe I just need better technique.

[Grim]

I don't use effects on my rythym stuff... Or even my lead stuff.

I use effects when I want effects.

If you want a big thick tone you need to change your amp settings, not add effects.

Personally, if you want to have the good old every player in the world uses this garbage scooped sound

Highs 10
Bass 10
Mids 0
Gain 10
Volume 10

If you have a higher-than-room-temperature IQ, you would know that those settings sound like 24 miles of ass, and would play with your settings until you found a tone that you liked.

[straycat]

With my Peavey ultra + head and Alesis midi verb I use a pinch of delay and a pinch of chorus say 4 on each and set the amp on the crunch channel.The presence set on tight.
Set the gain about half way,set bottom on 10,mids on 5,highs on 7.
That gives me a smooth tone with no muddy scooped tone.

[Twitch]

For clean chorded rhythms I like to use chorus and a little reverb or chorus and a little echo. For rhythms with distortion, well my amps just have a beefy tone, though the Carvin has bit more full tone than the Krank. Anyway, what kind of amp are you using?

[Grim]

Twitch are you using a Stein?

The Rev is pretty damn full if you put the volume at 1.

The gain is a bit fizzy for me past 6 though, Unless I turn it way up.

[Twitch]

I use a Stein and an X100B.

[Hamner1]

Grim I agree with you the settings you listed would likely put my tone in the mud (nu-metal tone ).

I am a rack guy. Currently I am using a TubeFex into a 50/50 power amp (run mono eventually I will set it up for stereo) & that into a Peavey 4x12 cab. Generally speaking I will have the pre-gain on the Lead tube mode set between 5-8, Bass 8-10, Mids 4-6, & Highs 4-7.

I think maybe what I am trying to do is create/mimick that layered sound. Likely what I am hearing & want to have is that sound of recording the same passage multiple times and combinning them on final production.

[Hellbat]

Might be better if you could provide us with some examples of the tone you are looking for. Quite often people will know what equipment those original tones were made on and can suggest what to look for. At the very least it gives them a reference point to know what you want. When I see the word chorus and metal tone in one sentence I automatically think Zakk Wylde, so the advice given to get that tone would be quite different than if you said "I'm trying to get the type of guitar sound on the bridge section in Nevermore's version of The Sound of Silence."

[Hamner1]

I'm partial to Lynch's tone from later Dokken era & early Lynch mob era. Aside from a Soldano head (or modded JCM 800) other suggestions? It seems like his tone is beafy without sounding like mush. I always seem to hear Lynch's tone as more thick & beafy than say his contemporaries (CC, Mick Mars, etc).
I am also partial to Megadeth tone from about the same era even up through Trust.

[markD]

if you run your rack stereo, you can do what i do. i run a wet/dry set-up. i have 2x12s that get the dry amp sound and 2x12s that get all effects. it blends great and makes for a HUGE sound. my main rythym tone is a rivera S120 running (2) 12" EVM speakers on the dry side a (2) 12" vin 30 speakers on the wet side. i have a very slight chorus across all the cabs, and a (i think) 100ms delay on the wet side blended at a 80/20 blend in the effects processor. the blend is 80% delay, 20% dry on the wet side and 100% dry on the dry side.

one could argue that my delay setting wouldn't always work with every song based on tempo, but it does. i have it set with short trails so it's not echoing a lot. it is mostly used as a doubling effect. i am not 100% sure what i have the delay set for because my stage rig is at the rehearsal studio.

anyway, once you go stereo you can do something cool like that!!

[Dreamland_Rebel]

one thing you can do is use a delay with a tap temp option. during the count off or at the beginning of the song tap it out with 25% or less delayed signal in the mix.

[toejam]

I sometimes use chorus to get a fatter, slightly doubled effect, but I just keep the controls on zero.

[Spivonious]

I like a nice lush chorus on my clean rhythm tone. Set the level to 50/50, depth to midway, and mess with the speed until you like it. For a thick rhythm tone, add a tiny bit of reverb; not enough to hear it, but enough to thicken it up a bit. And effects are never an alternative to practice.

[Grim]

Grim I agree with you the settings you listed would likely put my tone in the mud (nu-metal tone ).

I am a rack guy. Currently I am using a TubeFex into a 50/50 power amp (run mono eventually I will set it up for stereo) & that into a Peavey 4x12 cab. Generally speaking I will have the pre-gain on the Lead tube mode set between 5-8, Bass 8-10, Mids 4-6, & Highs 4-7.

I think maybe what I am trying to do is create/mimick that layered sound. Likely what I am hearing & want to have is that sound of recording the same passage multiple times and combinning them on final production.

I know they will, that was the point

For a "spanky" sort of 80s rock tone, you actually want to boost your mids from my experience, although I never really play that kinda music so I am not the best person to ask.

Try the bass at around 7, mids at about 8-10 and same with treble. Kick your presence up too.

for a Megadeth tone (and now here is my experience), a VERY slight scoop will do really well with a nice high gain setting. So that would mean Bass at around 8, Mids at about 6 and Treble wherever it sounds good. With the gain on about 4-7, that kicks total ass on my Rev (which is a high-gain amp).

Just keep screwing with it. Out of curiosity, what is your guitar?

Although you will begin to notice that the tone is mostly the playing

[Nightbat]

I've never been able to dial in a good chorus for rythm or lead, either it turns to mush, or it sounds like I borrowed the rig of Mantas of Venom (thin and jingly)