What is the Silvera guitar tone?
The Silvera guitar tone is a sludgy, pick-driven groove riff, heard on Gojira's 2010s groove metal recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Gojira reportedly tracked it with the signature Charvel San Dimas that Joe Duplantier told Total Guitar he runs around to find and wrestles into submission when it is time to record, through the EVH 5150III amps that EVH's blog, reporting the same interview, says the band relied on alone for Magma: Duplantier said they kept a DI to re-amp everything if they were not satisfied but never had to bother, and recorded with one Shure SM57 right in front of the EVH speaker, unprocessed, adding that Diezels always sound great but the EVH always suits him best; he wanted people to hear the texture and tone of the guitars and the pick attack on the strings, so instead of a wall of stacked tracks the album has two guitars at most, with a Telecaster added under the Charvel in the choruses, and he said the only effect for the band had really been the amp's distortion, with Magma the first time they used a pedal, a Whammy, though no source read here places it on this song; their noises are made by hand, like the pick scrape that came from an accident on tour, pinched harmonics and weird bends; Duplantier produced the album at Silver Cord Studio, the studio he began building in Queens in November 2014 and finished by April 2015, before the sessions stopped when his and drummer Mario Duplantier's mother fell ill, and he said her death in July 2015 drastically affected the creative process; mixed by Johann Meyer and mastered by Ted Jensen, Silvera, which Wikipedia says shows traits of sludge metal, got a video by Drew Cox on 20 May 2016, ahead of the album's release on 17 June, was first played live at Rock in Vienna, and was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 59th Grammy Awards. Here the sound is an EVH 5150III through one unprocessed microphone, on two guitars at most, so the pick attack and the amp's own distortion carry the riff rather than stacked takes or extra gain.
You do not need that exact gear to land in the same place. What carries this sound is the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup choice and the order of the effects, and all four can be rebuilt on equipment that costs a fraction of the original. The numbers change from amp to amp, because a high-gain head and a small practice amp reach the same voicing from different knob positions. That translation is what Tonelify works out for the rig you actually own.
Silvera amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 8, Bass 6, Middle 2, Treble 8, Presence 7, Reverb 1, with the bridge pickup.
- Gain 8
- Bass 6
- Middle 2
- Treble 8
- Presence 7
- Reverb 1
- Signal chain
- EVH 5150III distortion, the only effect in Duplantier's words
- The control that matters most
- The pick attack. Duplantier wanted the pick attack on the strings to be heard, kept the album to two guitars at most and used one unprocessed microphone on the amp, so set the gain lower than a wall-of-sound setting and pick hard; his scrapes, pinched harmonics and bends are made by hand, not by pedals.
These positions are free and they are a starting point. A Katana, a Spark and a valve head reach this voicing from different knob positions, so Tonelify rewrites every value above for the amp and guitar you own. A first plan starts with 7 days free, $0 today.
Adapt these to my amp- Pickup
- Bridge pickup
These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. If you tell Tonelify which amp you own, it rewrites every value above for the controls that amp actually has.
Does the Silvera tone sound off on your amp?
Pick what you hear. You get the knobs to turn from the starting point above, and how far.
What gear did Gojira use on Silvera?
The signature Charvel San Dimas that Joe Duplantier told Total Guitar he runs around to find and wrestles into submission when it is time to record, through the EVH 5150III amps that EVH's blog, reporting the same interview, says the band relied on alone for Magma: Duplantier said they kept a DI to re-amp everything if they were not satisfied but never had to bother, and recorded with one Shure SM57 right in front of the EVH speaker, unprocessed, adding that Diezels always sound great but the EVH always suits him best; he wanted people to hear the texture and tone of the guitars and the pick attack on the strings, so instead of a wall of stacked tracks the album has two guitars at most, with a Telecaster added under the Charvel in the choruses, and he said the only effect for the band had really been the amp's distortion, with Magma the first time they used a pedal, a Whammy, though no source read here places it on this song; their noises are made by hand, like the pick scrape that came from an accident on tour, pinched harmonics and weird bends; Duplantier produced the album at Silver Cord Studio, the studio he began building in Queens in November 2014 and finished by April 2015, before the sessions stopped when his and drummer Mario Duplantier's mother fell ill, and he said her death in July 2015 drastically affected the creative process; mixed by Johann Meyer and mastered by Ted Jensen, Silvera, which Wikipedia says shows traits of sludge metal, got a video by Drew Cox on 20 May 2016, ahead of the album's release on 17 June, was first played live at Rock in Vienna, and was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 59th Grammy Awards.
Sources: Charvel: Gojira's Joe Duplantier to Total Guitar, 'I just beat my guitar', EVH: Gojira's Joe Duplantier to Total Guitar, 'EVH always suits me best', Wikipedia: Magma (Gojira album)
Tonelify's tone matcher reads that chain and translates it to the amp and guitar you already own, returning gain, bass, mids, treble and presence values along with a pickup position.
How do you get the Silvera tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Silvera
Get exact knob settings adapted to your rig
Silvera tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Silvera?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 8, Bass 6, Middle 2, Treble 8, Presence 7, Reverb 1, with the bridge pickup. These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. Tonelify rewrites the same values for the specific amp and guitar you own, because a high-gain head and a small solid-state combo reach the same sludgy, pick-driven groove riff from different positions.
What amp did Joe Duplantier use on Silvera?
Amp: EVH 5150III, the band's only amps on the album, one SM57 on the speaker. Guitar: Signature Charvel San Dimas, a Telecaster under it in the choruses (album account). Sources: Charvel, EVH and Wikipedia.
What were Joe Duplantier's amp settings on Silvera?
None of the sources cited on this page gives Joe Duplantier's full amp settings on Silvera. The numbers here are a starting point for that kind of part, not the settings from the session, and Tonelify rewrites them for the amp and guitar you own.
How do you get Joe Duplantier's tone on Silvera?
The pick attack. Duplantier wanted the pick attack on the strings to be heard, kept the album to two guitars at most and used one unprocessed microphone on the amp, so set the gain lower than a wall-of-sound setting and pick hard; his scrapes, pinched harmonics and bends are made by hand, not by pedals. Play it with the bridge pickup.
Can you get the Silvera tone without the original gear?
Yes. The parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order, and those translate to other equipment. Tonelify's adaptation step works them out for the amp and guitar you own.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
A match for your own gear takes a plan, and a first plan starts with 7 days free with nothing charged that day: Stage is $6.99 a month for 20 matches, Headliner is $10.99 a month for unlimited matching within a fair use limit of 150 new matches a day, and yearly billing works out cheaper on both. Reading this page and the rest of the library costs nothing and needs no account.
