I'll say it right out of the gate: I've never really been a Peavey guy.
That might sound weird coming from someone who builds tones for metal guitarists, but hear me out.
What I mean to say is that the Peavey 5150 never quite clicked for me. But I can understand why some people swear by it.
From the 5150's debut in 1993 to the 6505 version in 2005, Peavey amps have played a crucial role in shaping black metal.
And even though I personally gravitated towards other amps, I respect the hell out of Peavey's legacy.
That's exactly why I bought Neural DSP Archetype: Gojira X: so that I could create high-quality metal guitar presets that let Peavey fans get the most out of that iconic sound.
What is Neural DSP Archetype: Gojira X?
In short, Archetype: Gojira X is Neural DSP's recreation of Joe Duplantier's iconic sounds.
Gojira is an interesting band themselves, and as such, Neural DSP's goal was to "encapsulate the sonic diversity of one of the world's most influential metal bands."
According to many of you on Reddit and review sites, Neural DSP knocked it out of the park.
The TL;DR of Gojira X is:
- Three amp models: Clean, Rust, and Hot.
- Built-in effects: Pretty much everything you want, from overdrive to phaser, and workhorse effects like delay and reverb.
- Transpose & Doubler
- Ability to unlink the guitar amp from the cabinet
- EQ and cabsim with IR loader
The plugin is designed to be able to create lower gain clean tones with tube saturation to ridiculous rhythm tones, and it does it quite well as Gojira X is one of Neural DSP's most popular amp sims.
The Peavey Legacy in Black Metal
When Eddie Van Halen and Peavey launched the 5150 in 1993, I doubt highly that either party realized they had just released an amp that would become the sound of black and death metal in the coming decades.
While Marshall was well-represented in thrash metal, Peavey became a go-to metal amp... so much so that the number of bands that have used, and continue to use, the 5150 is probably in the tens of thousands.
And that's because the Peavey 5150 was affordable, and it had tons of gain, low end chunk, and with the presence and treble jacked up, it had an extremely aggressive high end.
Pretty much perfect for extreme metal.
So like I've been saying: even though Peavey has never been my personal favorite, it's undeniable that the 5150 is part of metal's bloodline.
Building Presets with Respect
Being that I'm not emotionally attached to the Peavey 5150, it's actually been a bit easier for me to study the bands that use it and create awesome guitar tones.
Anytime I create metal guitar presets, I always ask myself, "What is the heart and soul of this guitar tone? How can I recreate it?"
That's how my three Neural DSP Gojira X preset packs came to life:
Ultra Low Vol 1
This was one of the first packs I put together for Gojira X and it definitely was a bit outside my wheelhouse. I actually asked my friend Andrew Baena for advice, since he is much more versed playing super low-tuned guitars.
I listened to and studied the sounds of Lorna Shore, Whitechapel, Chelsea Grin, etc., and created some pretty brutal, mix-ready tones for you to use... actually it came out better than I thought it would.
Modern Black Metal Vol 2
All this talk about how black metal and the Peavey 5150 go together like peanut butter and jelly, how could I not make a modern black metal guitar presets?
Inspired by Asagraum, Naglfar, Dark Funeral, Myrkskog, Nordjevel... it was a lot of fun and pretty easy to get the results I was after for this preset pack.
Let's just say that those tremolo riffs sound icy and aggressive and, once again, it's pretty clear why so many black metal bands have used the 5150 over the years: it captures that black metal tone pretty easily.
Symphonic Black Metal Vol 1
This preset pack was fun to create because while it's still black metal, I was creating sounds based around Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Old Man's Child, Limbonic Art, and others.
As it turns out, to the surprise of nobody, the 5150 helps guitars cut in dense mixes, especially with orchestral arrangements.
Each preset pack was crafted with respect for Peavey's tone heritage, and I took the process seriously because I am not interested in delivering sub-par presets.
And I have to admit... they sound pretty sick, so even if you're not a Peavey loyalist like myself, these tones are powerful and will get the job done!
Peavey Fans Will Feel at Home
If you grew up listening to black metal in the late 90s and beyond, then you'll be right at home with the Gojira X.
Neural DSP did a great job capturing the dynamic and unique sounds of Gojira, and it just so happens the positive side-effect of that is you can get old-school aggression with modern precision.
In other words: from djent to symphonic black metal.
Grab the Gojira X Preset Packs
Check out my three (more coming soon!) Neural DSP Gojira X preset packs:
Each preset pack was designed to sound like the real deal so that you can focus on writing music instead of tweaking virtual knobs.
Let me know how you like them!