Metropoulos Forum

Hey Guys,

Looking for some input with trying to achieve that sacred sound. I'll try to keep this short as possible...basically I'm gunning for the sound that you hear off the record on VH1..knowing that there could have been a bit of behind the scenes help when that was recorded...I'm not so sure that can be achieved with a live setting....


I have two amps...Metro '68 clone...Landry Amp 100 watt...Cab loaded with JBL 120 clones and 25 watt scumback celestions.... basic pedal board set up for EVH... I do have a badgerplex pedal on that board.

It goes from my guitar to the board (right now only playing with the badgerplex on the board for tone seeking reasons) to the metro (plugged into a variac at 90v which was biased at that setting - at average setting..heard eddie likes his tubes hot...can't see why) which is cranked to 10 into a dummy load. From the dummy the signal is then transferred into a GE-10 EQ with a "Smile" setting with the mids on the EQ almost gone.. which is led back to the Landry Amp.

Basically I have the sound at a low volume but when I tend to take the volume up where it would be suitable for a gig setting.... the sound tends to disappear... the "magic" if you will is not there.... I can kind of get close to the club day recordings but was hoping to see if anyone else has had better luck than myself and wouldn't mind giving their input...


Let me know guys...and Thanks!

IMHO - "Records" sounds rarely translate well live (when the band comes-in). That is especially true when the guitar's mids are scooped-out. The guitar lives in the "mids" of the audio spectrum, regardless of tuning, so scooping too much mids will make it more difficult for your guitar to survive through the wall of bass, drums, keys, etc.

... so you may have to tinker with your EQ to get the results you want. I would slowly bring back some mids until happy.
... or you could bring more cabs and try to compete for sound pressure (not volume, just "bigness").

My $0.02!

What Beasty staid...Not sure why you are scooping the mids. Ed's tone is all about the mids and a tight bass.

either ditch the GE 10 or turn it off or make it a mid bump or put the GE 10 pre metro amp.

I would think you don't want to do any real tone shaping post dummy load, just adding effects.

Plus bias at full voltage and then dial the variac down. That's real important. You want the amp to brown out. Where the amps bias ends up is moot. I wouldn't ditch the GE 10. But it should be set to boost the mids not cut them. It should be up front. Just to EQ the guitar, not amp.

VH1 "the record tone" ? NOT!

But ...............the actual sound in the studio in front of eddies cab ? Maybe

There is a interview with Michael Antony (ah, an honest guy) that comments on Eddies sound in the studio while recording the first record.

"Yeah, Eddies sound was really bright, but didn't end up that way in the final cut on tape."

There was a lot of gain gong on with Eds rig.
Somehow eddie figured out "how to get that sound" but when the tape was rolling, Ed just had it cranked all the way up!

Sounds like you're slaving and I would agree that GE-10 (if you need it) should be hitting the front of the plexi. I use a Boss EQ in my slave setup from the line-out to the power amp....but not to shape tone. Only use it for the level boost for leads live.

But overall you're probably just noticing all the compression and extra squish that comes from bringing it down to bedroom volumes.