JCM800 head + which pedal(s) for 80's Thrash?

[Axegrinder87]

Send it to FJA.

[Devotee]

Tube Screamer, Boss DS-1 or Boss HM-2 should get you where you need to go.

[jgcable]

My vote goes to a dialed down Metal Zone

[Shawn Lutz]

I use a Boss SD-1 (yellow) and Boss GE7 and a Boss DD3 delay in front of my 2203.

[petez0r]

i love my ibanez ts-808, hits that old metallica tone on the nose.

[Newc]

I know Hetfield was using a Mesa for Puppets, but for Lightning he was using a Marshall (at least from what I've read). From what I recall of interviews back then, no one expected the Mesa-Boogie amps to have "good" (i.e. "familiar") distortion, since it was largely used by Jazz and Fusion players (Santana) who needed distortion, which the Roland JC couldn't do.

Last I heard of Mustaine's rig he was using a Rocktron Piranha preamp with a Marshall 9100 power amp, but that was some years ago. Pretty sure he was using a Marshall for Peace Sells and Rust In Peace.

Gonna poke around the local shops this weekend and see what they have. There's also a local guy who makes pedals. Might see what he's got.

[Chief_CrazyTalk]

I've had good luck with the Metal Zone and my 800. The one with reverb. Volume and gain on the lead channel at about 7 each, and IIRC distortion on the MZ a little less than half, and volume on the MZ about a quarter of the way up. Bass and treble on the MZ most of the way up and both parametric mids about 30% up was my sweet spot.

That said, I wasn't going for thrash tones. More 80's hair but it was a great overall sound.

[Newc]

Well, didn't get out like I planned
Gonna try again on my next weekend off, or just take a stab at a couple of EBay finds.

And just to clarify, with the MetalZone, are you guys talking solo tones or rhythm tones? I don't mind having a dedicated pedal for each if one pedal can't do it all. I'm guessing an EQ pedal set for a slight freq shift for solos would be fine.

Regarding what JG mentioned about the GE7 in a smiley or v, I'm guessing that's when using the MT2 just as a booster, and not using its EQ functions as primary?


If I put too much thought into it I'll end up with a non-EQ clean boost and a programmable EQ for doing all the dirty work, and then I'm back to the rack

[Newc]

Try a Maxon OD-9 or OD-808, Maxon built the original tube screamers for Ibanez, and the maxon versions are alot cheaper than the ibanez versions nowadays

mmm, no they're not

Checking the EBay prices and they're about even.

[Newc]

Ok, bit the bullet and picked up a few off Ebay:

GE-7
Rat2
SD-1
MT-2

I'll go through them and see what's a keeper and what's a loser

[slayer]

I am curious as to what it sounds like Newc as that is probably my next amp as well in the near future and stock ones just don`t have the hair for thrash. The balls but not the hair!!

[roodyrocker]

mmm, no they're not

Checking the EBay prices and they're about even.

Maxon makes nice stuff and you're right, they are priced the same and even higher than Inanez pedals. If you go the Tubescreamer route I'd suggest you get the Retro-Sonic 808. It's a nice high quality Tubescreamer and if you want to tweak it a bit on your own it has a socket inside so you can even swap chips it, plug and play style. I don't use mine for Thrash although you can certainly dial it up differently to do that. That 808 and a Fulltone OCD are my favorite pedals to slam the front end of Marshall type amps. I use them with my Randy Rhoads Marshall which is a JMP amp and also with my JCM 800 Zakk Wylde head

[ralph]

mmm, no they're not

Checking the EBay prices and they're about even.

Damn!, I must have got lucky when i got my OD-808 a couple years ago, great pedal, but maybe overpriced

[Cygnus X1]

Bad Monkey

[straycat]

The little brute pedal does a good job and you can go inside a tweak it.