Amp Settings

[RogueSoul]

Does anyone know what settings you could apply to an amp to give it a more LP sounding tone? I'm not talking about pedal effects like distortion, but things like bass, gain, presence, etc.

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

try this

 

inbox: Astat.

[Astat]

I don't actually know any of the band's specific amp settings, and even if I did, amps are such funky things that you could probably take two identical copies of the same amp and dial in the same settings on them, and they still wouldn't sound exactly the same.

 

With that said, it's hard to dial in a sound that sounds good for every Linkin Park song because they've used so many different guitar sounds over the years. If Brad wasn't using modeling preamps in is live rig, he'd literally have to have a wall of 5 or 6 different amps on stage.

 

For a Hybrid Theory/Meteora, Brad's distorted sound was very saturated, with a lot of bottom end. Leave the bass all the way up at all times, roll the treble down a bit to maybe 7 or 8 (just enough to take the really nasaly "bite" of the pick attack away), and cut the mids down substantially (5 or less). If you have a 4-band EQ with two midrange knobs, keep the "low mids" on like 6 and the "high mids" on maybe 3. I like to dial in a VERY small amount of reverb just to sweeten up the sound a bit and make it sound bigger (with how layered Brad's guitar tracks were during this period, using a little reverb can help make up the difference when you're playing with one guitar). I hate amps with presence knobs, lol. But if you have one, I wouldn't suggest turning it up very far because all it's going to do is brighten up your tone, and the guitars on the first 2 albums have a pretty dark sound to them. Gain/distortion values vary drastically from amp to amp, I usually have to keep mine between 7 and 8.

 

For the heavier guitar tracks on Minutes to Midnight (Wake, Given Up, No More Sorrow), I recommend keeping similar settings, but maybe bumping the mids up slightly. The guitar sound on those tracks is still heavy, but not quite as "scooped out." For songs where they used Fender Strats (What I've Done, Bleed It Out, TLTGYA), roll the gain back a couple notches (or use an outboard distortion/overdrive pedal instead of your amp's distortion, I find that works well with my Strat), roll the bass down and the mids up a fair bit (I use a flat 7-7-7 setting), and turn up your presence knob to about halfway. I think these settings can also be applied to just about anything from ATS/Living Things (there are a lot more varied guitar sounds on the last two albums, but a lot of that comes from the use of different effects).

[RogueSoul]

Thanks, Astat