Over the last few years of being a recording engineer, I have had the pleasure and opportunity to record many bands and artists, spanning across a wide variety of musical genres. The style of music that I predominately work with is “Rock” music.
The word “Rock” is an umbrella term that people use to cover any music that is mainly guitar driven. That being said, I will break “Rock Music” down into 3 smaller categories and tell you what I have learned to be the best, most versatile, most suited guitar gear setups for these types of music!
CLASSIC ROCK
First we have the music that we grew up listening to from our parent’s radio, 8-tracks, or vinyl’s, (Yes, I remember 8-tracks!), classic rock! As I said before, “Rock” covers quite a lot and “classic rock” itself has many different sounds. Weather you are going for a clean Clapton sound, a crunchy Brian May tone, or a full-on wall of fuzzy noise sound like Hendrix, there are a few setups that are staples in classic rock. If you are after a clean, bluesy, rock tone with the option to push your sound into a little bit of dirt, it’s all about Fender!
Fender is well known as the makers of some of the cleanest amps ever built! A fender combo amp such as a deluxe reverb, or a bandmaster paired with a Fender guitar with single coil pick-ups will instantly give you that sound! However a fender tweed amp, or tweed-like-reissue will deliver plenty of that old school dirt and grit. If a smooth crunch sound that still cleans up well is what your after, Vox may be the answer.
The classic Vox AC30 is a very versatile amp, perhaps most famously used by Brian May from Queen. From chimey, bright clean sounds, to aggressive overdriven tones, and everything in between. These amps tend to favour humbucking pickups, (Such as a Gibson LesPaul or SG), due to how bright the sound is.
Finally, the amp that every young guitarist dreams of, the Marshall Stack. When I think of classic rock, an image of a Marshall head and speaker cabinet is generally the first thing that comes to mind. From Led Zepplin, to AC/DC, to Hendrix, Marshall was probably the most widely used amp in classic rock music. There are many different models of Marshall amps, however the Marshall Plexi head with a 1960 speaker cabinet is the pinnacle of the sound of this era. Known for it’s screaming, distorted tone, any Gibson guitar plugged straight into this amp instantly delivers that satisfying classic rock, stadium filling sound! However, plug a Fender guitar with single coil pick-ups in, and put a fuzz pedal, (Specifically Dunlop Fuzz Face), in front of the amp and you have the Hendrix Sound
PUNK AND GRUNGE
I am grouping Punk and Grunge together because sonically, they are quite similar! The key thing to remember when trying to get a good Punk/Grunge sound is aggression! Most guitarists in these genres use a fair amount of gain and distortion in there sound. Some of the most popular amps to do this are the Messa Boogie Dual Rectifier, Orange Rockverb, and Marshall JCM 800. Any of the above heads through a speaker enclosure with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers is the recipe for Punk/Grunge guitar tone!
Even since the late 80’s, early 90’s right up to present day, these are among the best amps for the job! Both Gibson and Fender guitars are top choices fro punk and grunge music. For a thicker, darker guitar tone, a Gibson LesPaul is the perfect choice. However, if you are after a brighter more defined sound, a Fender Telecaster would be ideal!
Some great effects for punk and grunge are simple distortion pedal like a Boss DS-1, or for something more extreme, a Fuzz like a Big Muff. Chorus is also a very popular effect in this style to help thicken cleaner guitar parts and give the guitar sound a little bit more movement.
HEAVY METAL
Finally, Hi-Gain, aggressive, angry, monstrous, heavy, metal guitar setups! The best amps that I have found for hi-gain metal tones are the Peavey 5150 (or 6505), Orange Thunderverb, Blackstar Series 1, and Messa Boogie Dual Rectifier. All of these amps come with a healthy amount of bone crushing distortion.
There are many guitar pedals designed to get that hi-gain metal sound, but nothing seems to come close to the sound of having a real hi-gain valve amp.
Similar to punk/grunge, the go-to speaker cabinet for metal is anything with Celestion Vintage 30’s. Thereason for this is because they are have a very focused mid-range sound which helps to deliver the punch needed for these types of sounds.
An Orange 4×12 speaker cabinet is the most popular due to there very heavy, thick construction which also helps provide a tight and powerful low end. A popular alternative for modern metal players is to use a digital modeling amp. Where your traditional amplifier was powered by tubes which also help to deliver a certain sound, digital modeling amps have no tubes, only digital circuits. You can load these with many different types of amp sounds, effects, and even have different speaker cabinet emulations for recording purposes.
Fractal Audio’s Axe FX, Kemper, and Line 6’s POD line are all great modeling amps for achieving hi-gain guitar tones. When it comes to guitars for metal, the higher the output the better! This means humbucking pick-ups are a must. A Gibson LesPaul is still a popular choice, as well as Ibanez, ESP, and LTD. Active pick-ups are also a great choice for playing metal guitar!
There are many great rock guitar setups, but these are a great place to start for anyone getting started, looking to develop their sound, or record!
