Tighter, leaner and more melodic than thrash bands from previous generations, the team of Gates and Vengeance have had a massive influence on current metal and emocore bands. One of the most popular new metal bands over the last decade has been Avenged Sevenfold, with Synyster Gates on lead guitar and Zacky Vengeance on rhythm. A brilliantly complicated tone recipe for sure, but that’s why Jaymz is on this list.
Further depth and texture was provided by overdubbing a Jerry Jones baritone tuned an octave lower than the guitar, while additional overdubs consisted solely of muted string “chuks” to enhance the percussiveness of the attack.
The Mesa’s five-band graphic EQ-in a scooped mid “V” configuration-also played a key role, but the Aphex EQs further sculpted the tone, particularly by cutting 1.2kHz. His main amp on the session was a mid-Eighties Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC++, most likely with a pair of Aphex EQF-2 EQs and an Aphex CX-1 Compressor/Expander in the effects loop. At the core of the sound was his ability to rapidly down stroke all his rhythm hits, but Hetfield was also the master at composing numerous layers of tracks recorded through different amps, cabinets, mics and effects. One of our favorite guitar tones by James was on the song “Sad But But True” from Metallica’s iconic Black Album (see video).
More than any lead player, it was the Mighty Het’s slammin’ rhythm tone that defined heavy metal for much of the last three or four decades. One guy who learned this lesson early in life was Metallica’s amazing rhythm ace, James Hetfield. So while it's fun to work on your lead tone, it’s just as important-if not more so-to make sure your rhythm sound is stellar, too. If you’re playing in a band, chances are 90% of your time is spent playing chords.