I really need advice on buying a new amp to replace an old amp I’ve been using for the past 10 years. Since then I’ve become much more serious of a musician. I really want pro gear now that can create professional sounds for a new album I am writing

Here are my specifications so far:
1. I think I probably don’t need a Head+Cab setup as I heard this is geared towards concert volume playing. I don’t think I’ll ever play with a band in front of people live. I’m a one man studio project so therefore recording music is my first priority
2. Obviously I play metal and therefore I assume I can rule out brands like Fender
3. I know I can also rule out anything that is not full tube amp
4. Nothing above $800 , but if I find something that sounds like exactly what I want and sounds good I may pay more
5. Must have the ability to be able to use one of those devices that allows you to play the amp directly into a computer

Other than these specifications I have no idea what to focus on during my search. However, I have a very strongly defined conception of how I want my recorded guitar to sound on my new album. Now that I am ready financially to upgrade my gear I really want to find something that meets this expectation

So I really want my amp to be able to sound like the OSDM sound of the early 90’s (Scott Burns) and also be good for 90’s era style Black Metal at the same time. Despite my appreciation for murky guitars from those eras, I really want my amp to be able to produce crystal clear clarity of sound. I’m not sure if what I am describing is something that is manufactured in the studio during mixing and engineering and mastering or if the OSDM guitarists literally had amps that sounded like the Scott Burns production guitar tone. I’m completely ignorant in this regard. Can anyone clear this up for me?

Lastly I don’t even know how to begin shopping for the amp. I feel kind of lost and overwhelmed with the amount of selection out there and how technical the products are. Do I just go to a brick and mortar store and just start trying out the amps? But don’t most brick and mortar stores have a really limited selection? And I don’t see how online stores can help any better as you can’t try out any of their products either before purchase or before delivery

There are some important things to know when looking for an amp that fits what you want:

Tube amps sound their best when you crank them up. When the tubes are working at their limits, especially in the final stage, you are getting the typical tube amp sound. That would be the classic 80's Marshall amp sound for example. Also note that tube amps work by amplifying the electric signal from your guitar directly without much high technology. That means you cannot plug your tube amp directly into an interface, that would simply grill it. So you pretty much have to mic your tube amp when you want to record it.

When you are looking for the 90s Black Metal sound, you don't need a tube amp anyway. The Norwegian Black Metal sound was created by designing your guitar sound differently than the 80s Marshall sound. This was done for example by cranking up transistor amps to the max, or even running a distortion pedal through a stereo system, in the case of one of the Burzum albums. This sound can be imitated by cranking up any amp and turning down the mids and lows. It is also important to note that Norwegian Black Metal musicians did lots of creative and innovative home recording. The sound comes from using "bad" equipment in a genius way.

I know less about Scott Burns and his sound, but I think a lot of it comes from micing amps in an intelligent way. I found this very long interview with him, where he seems to talk about his techniques. Maybe this can give you some ideas. It should be stated that more or less the sound of all metal recordings is created in the studio. Metal is super heavy music that has to be stuffed into two stereo channels and a certain dynamic range. In the 80s and 90s, this was done by making the sound thin or muffled in a certain way, since the 2000s, digital technology makes it possible to sound superheavy and clear, but the price is that it also sounds sterile and fake. Nothing wrong with that, but it's how it is. It also follows that if you want to create good old school sounds, you need to know a lot about music production in the 80s and 90s. I already said it above, in the pre-digital age, that meant using subpar equipment (compared to today) in an intelligent way.

I think the smartest way to go would be to get a modelling amp. Modelling amps use digital technology to emulate the sound of other amps, like overdriven tube amps. They have bit of a bad rep because they sounded shitty in the 2000s and where often marketed to beginners, but nowadays they are a very reasonable tool to create great metal sounds. I think I would look for a modelling amp that emulates a few relevant amps well, rather than striking you down with one million effects and options. I would also get a Boss Metalzone Pedal (there are various rereleases), as that is very good at creating buzzing, heavy metal sounds, and was used by many bands historically.

This should give you many ways of recording metal guitar. When you have played around with the options the amp and the pedal give you, then you can start exploring how you can mic the amp, which will give you even more options.

I don’t know if it’s possible, where you live, because of COVID-19, but seriously, go to the local music shop, and ask to plug in your guitar, and try things out. I have a good independent one here, which usually has great stuff, used, for much cheaper than new.

If it’s just a studio project, production is more important. Effects can change your tone too. I’m pretty sure that the HM-2 sound came from them having access to those pedals, but only cheap amps, and that was the only way to overdrive them enough.

You should try out what you can, if possible. If you can get a modeling amp to sound good, than it sounds good. Solid state and tube matters less than “does this sound good?” There are doom and stoner metal bands that use solid state Orange crush amps, and those are genres that require more bass, and old school Marshall-sounding dirt. I actually tried out a Fender amp, at a local shop, it was called a “hot rod.” I think it’s a tube pre amp, and solid state power amp. On the second, heavier gain channel, with an SG style guitar’s pickups turned up all the way, it sounded pretty heavy. With the right equalization, and recording, you could get a good black or death metal sound out of it.

If you can, try, before you buy. You might find something really good, for a good price.

Wow thanks for all the advice. This was all really helpful.

That Scott Burns interview was amazing too

Thanks for the advice too. I'll hit the stores then and just start trying stuff out with all that in mind

Those 90's death metal classics often used solid state amps. There's two in particular that a number of those bands used: the Ampeg VH-140c and the Crate GX130c/GT3500H/GX900H. The amps are very similar to each other (if not just clones, I'm not sure). So depending on which 90's death metal you're referencing your requirement of your future amp being a full tube amp might hinder your search for the sound.

I'm not very familiar with the amps used in 90's black metal but honestly "the sound" is just lofi with healthy treble and mids; so I think you could get an acceptable cvlt sound with almost any high gain amp. So I wouldn't really let trying to get this "sound" influence your decision much.

All that said, I'll parrot what has been said above: go play some amps at a local shop. I know you mentioned you want a combo amp but consider two things 1) you might want to play live or at least jam with someone some day down the line (combo amps could work but just depends on wattage, speaker configuration, and aesthetic) and 2) mixing and matching amp heads and cabs gives you a lot of different flavors, different pairing can produce drastically different sounds. A lot of combo amps provide the functionality of detaching the inner speaker in order for you to attach it to a different cab though, so at least make sure your amp can do that.

Another note, I'd use that sound in your head as a guide but not as the decision maker, you need to actively listen when playing the amps. You might be surprised to find that an amp that doesn't sound at all like The Bleeding is the one you want to spend hours in front of.

And for the love of all that's unholy, please learn about Ohms as it related to guitar amps and cabs. You don't want to destroy your future amp or the amps you explore at a local store!

I hope that's helpful! I'm happy to answer any more specific questions you have; I love vicariously shopping for music gear, ha

Schuldiner used a Marshall Valvestate. You can pick one of those up for very little on the used market. With a cheap amp like that or the crate suggested you can get a great sound with the right bridge pickup (I’d recommend a high output Dimarzio).

Schuldiner used the Valvestate on Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance. Which are very definitely a bit less OSDM than the preceding albums. I believe he used the Gallien-Krueger 250ML on Individual Thought Patterns (also not super OSDM sounding). Before that, his amp choice is less clear but he at least played the Randall RG100ES at some point. So that Randall amps might be the OSDM sound of Death I think.

Fun facts:

Iron Maiden's Somewhere in Time uses the Gallien-Krueger 250ML as well; you can tell how similar the guitar tones are between SiT and ITP if you compare them. Given the direction ITP went, I think it makes sense Chuck chose that amp because he liked SiT, that just a thought, I didn't read about that anywhere.

Meshuggah used the Valvestate too, at least early in their career. Don't really know for how long (or if they still do) though.


EDIT: That information is just from memory so it might all be wrong

Interesting. I always though he used the Valvestate on ITP at Scott Burns’ recommendation but that clears that up.

I’d still recommend at least investigating the Valvestate if you want an amp that won’t burn a hole in your pocket but will still bring the heavy.

My information is actually from memory so maybe I got bad info or am misremembering, so you may be right in thinking ITP is also a Valvestate. I will say I think Symbolic and TSoP sound pretty similar tone-wise while ITP is the outlier. Could be just a difference in mics/cabs/recording techniques though, you can get pretty different sounds even with the same amp!

Updating my post to reflect my uncertainty.

Not necessarily true. I'm not certain what exact equipment they used, but the De Mysteriis guitar tone is recognisable as a distorted Marshall JCM 800. You can replicate the tone by playing a JCM 800 (the mids of that amp are important, so other Marshalls like JCM 900 or 2000 might not work), preferably on a vintage-y Les Paul type guitar, and some distortion pedal in the front. However, the distortion is far from overbearing. Its more for extra gain and some colour, than completely decimating the guitar tone with clipping, so the distortion pedal shouldn't be too extreme, and the settings should be quite controlled as well. It's quite an artful mix, really.

It's not the only example of, shall we say, traditionally good-sounding equipment used for classic black metal records. Gorgoroth's Antichrist sounds really nice and clear, with a vicious bite in the guitars, but quite a lot of character still. Emperor had quite tasteful tones as well. Satyricon's Nemesis Divina is far from sounding nasty. It was, I think, Burzum and Immortal that popularised the counterintuitive way of producing shitty tones for maximal effect, and I'd wager that Pytten's magic touch is no small element in why they still sound good. Filosofem, with all its surrounding hype about using the worst possible gear to record, should come with the disclaimer Do Not Try This At Home.

^
Indeed, if i remember well the magic mix for De Mysteriis was the classic JCM800, tubescreamer and Les Paul helped by the reverb of the Grieghallen itself.

Well, there's got to be more distortion than a tubescreamer there. Les Paul, Tube Screamer, and JCM 800 sounds like The Trooper, basically - which is pretty much that De Mysteriis tone minus the abrasive distortion layer . Hellhammer's account is that there was a "heavy metal" type pedal, e.g. a HM2 clone.

Yeah i'm quite sure that Pytten confirmed the tubescreamer, i would not be surprised if they used that and an HM2-like to get that sound

edit: i delved i bit and found that the "heavy metal pedal" was very likely a Arion Metal Master SMM-1, which seems really similar to the HM-2, maybe with a bit more of low end. Seems believable!

I think I overemphasized my desire for the OSDM sound in my OP. In general, I actually want an amp that can give me a clear crisp sound where you can hear all the notes
and nothing is murky.

As for my mentioning of 90's Black Metal in my OP, I actually had the following favorite bands/albums in mind:

Varathron - Walpurgisnacht
Impaled Nazarene - Ugra Karma
Ancient Rites - Fatherland
Enthroned - Towards the Skullthrone of Satan
Cirith Gorgor - Unveiling the Essence
Dark Funeral - The Secrets of the Black Arts

Note that none of these albums have a lo-fi Burzum/Darkthrone type sound. Instead they all have a big, full, almost heavy, sound to them.
I particularly really like the tone of the Varathron guitar on the Walpurgisnacht album and the Impaled Nazarene
guitar on Ugra Karma. Does anyone know what amps and gear they use on those albums?

I actually already almost have an entire album of new music written already. And I already have a strong idea of how I want the album to sound.
I want to have a big guitar sound, and a crystal clear sound too, no murkiness. With that being said what amp would be good for the songs
I have created and the sound I have in mind for them? So I actually have not recorded anything for the album yet but I do have everything
written out in a tabbing program and from there I extracted MIDI files from the tabs. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I actually really
like the MIDI guitar sound. Everything just sounds so perfect. You can hear all the riffs and the notes. Is there any amp out there
that can sound as perfect as a MIDI guitar sound?

I've also noticed that for pretty much all bands that I have heard that tremolo pick powerchords (mainly Black Metal groups) the notes always
sound murky and blurred, even for the Blackened bands that are going for an aggressive percussive sound as opposed to an airy and
atmospheric sound. Is it simply impossible to get tremolo picked powerchords to sound perfect like a modern Death Metal guitar production or the MIDI guitars?

Here is the link to my MIDI guitar album for reference:

https://www.reverbnation.com/2957282/album/272605

The clarity is more about your playing and the amount of distortion you're using. The more your sound distorts, the more the notes blend into each other, and articulation becomes more difficult. Ugra-Karma, for example, has massive amounts of distortion. Just listen to that intro of Chaosgoat Law!

That Varathron sound isn't really the peak of clarity and articulation either, but it's much better for sure.

No amp is going to give you midi-like clarity just like that. You'll just have to learn to play that well. It's easy to overestimate the importance of gear, and downplay the importance of skill.

If you want an example of skill and equipment creating a brilliant alchemy of note separation and clarity in a black metal context, listen to Deathspell Omega: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM9PUegDRz8
Les Paul with vintage-style pickups, Marshall JCM 800, and more skill than you can shake a stick at.

Have you thought about software amp simulators? There are many free ones available that are emulations of real amps. That way you could experiment and see if you can get a usable sound out of a particular model. You could even run the unprocessed MIDI tracks through a virtual FX chain.

I don't think there's an amp particularly suited to the purpose of clarity. In metal, the brands are always pretty much the same familiar ones, the main difference to me is classic (Marshall) vs. modern (Mesa, Peavey, Soldano).
Distortion or fuzz pedals aren't usually associated with a clear sound, whereas boosters like the Tube Screamer are, since they boost the high mids and filter extreme highs and lows and make the amp distortion sound less murky.
Pickups can make a difference, too. A hot and midrange-heavy bridge pickup like the Hot Rails can make the notes cut through better and allow not having to add too much gain afterwards.
So I think what's been suggested so far is much more relevant than a particular amp model, unless it's something ill-suited for fast, technical metal to begin with (I'm thinking anything traditionally low gain like Fender or vintage/wooly like Sunn, Orange, Hiwatt, anything doom or sludge bands usually go for).
Usually you want less gain, less overdubs (unless your playing is really tight), less lows, more mids, good highs and presence but not piercing or fizzy...that's the textbook, but easier said than done if you ask me!
Even the pick can make a difference, you want something stiff for clarity.
To be honest, I don't think your skills are that important for this...you can be really articulate and clean through a maxed out HM-2 and it's still going to sound like a wall of fuzz. What can make a difference there is songwriting, I think. Massive chords with lots of voicings are obviously going to sound more messy, especially if the music is fast.

PS Almost forgot, obvious, perhaps, but tuning is also a factor; the lower the tuning, the less clarity.
PPS About the Valvestate, if I may relate my own experience, since I've had one: they were great, inexpensive amps. Plenty of volume and distortion, not too maintenance-intensive unlike proper tube amps, convincing tone although not as "warm" as real tubes. Versatile, too. You didn't even need pedals.
However, this day and age, I think one is better off with a digital emulation instead, either amp or pedal-based. Even low-tier ones sound convincing enough to me. Perhaps I have low standards...Plus, if it's only for home recording, even the Valvestate is too loud. The great thing about digital emulations is that you can have the exact same tone at any volume.

Everything all makes sense to me know. I feel like a I have a really good idea right now of how to go about finding the right amp

I just got one last question .

So I’ve been told by other musicians that I could buy a little device for my amp that will allow me to play directly into my computer. The advantage of this is that I will have more editing options when working with the raw tracks and most importantly of all to me the process will only create acoustic guitar noise to anyone in my vicinity and therefore my guitar won’t disturb my neighbors.

Any advice on which of these devices I should get? And does this accessory that I need change any of the previous advice that has been given to me in this thread?

The device you have in mind is likely a DI box, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

With a DI box, you basically split the signal so that it goes from your guitar to your computer/audio interface, completely raw and unprocessed, and to your amp. It's up to you if you want to also mic up the amp and record it or just monitor what you play through it and only use the direct recording for your music.

To me, purchasing a good amp and only use it to monitor without recording it doesn't really make sense. Plus, if it's a loud amp, it's not like it will make less noise using it like that.

If you really don't want to have problems with the neighbors (very sensible attitude, I should say), there are better ways.
First one is to use a small, quiet amp only to hear what you play and then split the signal with a DI box to the computer and record just the clean output of the guitar, then process it with digital amp simulators in your DAW.
Alternatively, you could go for plugging directly into an audio interface, make sure you have a low latency, use a digital amp simulator and listen with headphones.
Last, and perhaps the simplest way, is to go for a hardware digital modeler, whether a pedal or a full-blown amplifier that uses digital modeling. The latter often give you the option to record directly, without micing up anything, if memory serves me well.

As for DI boxes, if that's indeed what you had in mind, there are various brands and price tiers, but if you don't plan to haul it around too much, there are a couple made by Behringer that are inexpensive and should work fine. It's not like they colour the sound or anything so no reason to spend a fortune.

Partly unrelated to your question, but there are obvious advantages in working with a direct recording of the guitar vs. the sound of an amplifier. Like you said, editing is much easier and you have the option to make it sound the way you want and change it as often as you want. You could even re-amp it with a real amplifier later on.

Hope that was useful!