80s Distortion Sound

[BradGray]

Hey All!

I'm working on a listing that has an '80s distortion sound for the guitars. Any tips for achieving that guitar sound? Much of it was built off of the Prescence feedback loop, along with solid state amps becoming more popular during that time. I've never chased after that tone before....more like ran away from it lol.

Any thoughts, ideas?

Thanks!
B

[AlanHall]

Brad,
I was more into The Police and King Crimson in the 80s, but IIRC correctly, the RAT pedal was highly regarded. I found this (below). May be of some help to understand the distortion/tone/signal flow of that kind of distortion?

[web copy]
Is rat pedal good for metal?
The rat is great for some bluesy mid-gain tones and for a nice fuzz when it's cranked to higher gain, has been a staple in sludge and doom metal, and was used in some iconic 80's metal records.Aug 21, 2020

Regarding the advice to use a RAT for metal. : r/guitarpedals - Reddit
[/web copy]

edit: alternatively, you may be able to find some free (or cheap!) plugins that emulate a RAT and give an 80s style grind.

[BradGray]

Interesting - thanks Alan.

I actually have the rat pedal plugin, from UAD, but was shying away from it as it's noisy as hell. I'll circle back with it and try to layer it in to find that tone.

[Telefunkin]

It might help to post the ref tracks so we could hear what the listing is looking for (ragged-edged punk? Van-Halen 'brown sound'? Boston distortion/chorus/delay/verb combo? etc). Here's some tips on getting that last one ....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3rHIAzC8jU

I find getting guitar tones to be a very personal thing though and nobody else's setup will work the same for you as it does for them (and v.v.). Then there's all the variables including humbuckers/single coils, heavy/light strings and pick, valve amp/pedals, mic/DI etc, not to mention playing technique. Whatever it is you're looking for though I'm sure there'll be an amp sim claiming to deliver it. For example, the various NeuralDSP offerings which include a Soladano and a Boogie MkIIC...
https://neuraldsp.com/plugins
However, you could always just go for it with the RAT to see whether you can get close to the ref track tones, then post what you get and seek some opinions.

[AlanHall]

...and the way distortion and tone-shaping stages are stacked or alternated will have a huge impact on the harmonic content and apparent 'distorted-ness' of the resulting signal. Experiments with amp design and pedalboard layout proliferated in the 80s and beyond for that very reason. Have fun!

[BradGray]

Thanks to you both; appreciate the ideas!

I also stand corrected, UAD provided a RAW pedal, not a RAT. Still a fuzzy distortion, but I'm not overly fond of its tone.

I think I was able to build in and tonally match some of the 80s semi-fuzzy rhythms. I tracked it and manipulated with some eq, and added some free overdrive pedals that came with amplitube. For the tone, it's in line with the reference and the 80s sound. Only thing that hit me afterwards was that I used a tele with a single coil (lace sensor and hot output), but I'll still layer in some big humbucker saturation as well. Interesting, I initially came very close to the Orange amp tones, really thick and fuzzed out....but it was not what I was looking for. =P

That said, I really liked blending in a subtle chorus with the fuzzy tone. It rolls out the lows quite a bit and helps it sit better.

=)