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Hey all! After playing guitar for over 10 years I’ve finally decided to start taking my rig seriously and dive into the world of gear. I’ve always taken the approach that the “player is more important than the gear” but playing a $99 guitar through a Crate vintage club 50 2x12 combo amp (in dire need of repair) is unsurprisingly not letting me get the tones I’d like.

I’m currently splitting my time between two styles: indie rock and doom/stoner metal. So my question is this:

Is there any gear that can truly effectively give me a good sound in both styles or am I going to have to build toward two separate rigs?

Thanks.

I listen to both too. It's tricky. If you have good quality gear, it's doable. Are you going to be in a downtuned Doom band or more riff oriented?

I've always felt more comfortable (and versatile) with standard tuning and just going for the early doom/proto-metal, retro riffage vibe, but lately I've been trying lower tunings more often when I'm wanting a more modern "crushing wall o' sound" mood.

A friend jokingly told me to get a baritone guitar and a new capo

The guitarist I play with got a baritone guitar and a special edition Gibson SG at the same time. The baritone is fun and sounds great, clean. I haven't heard it cranked up with distortion. The SG tuned down to D standard sounds incredible. Instant Sabbath. He also got a Blackstar combo amp that cranks out killer tone with a Big Muff.

Thanks for the responses!

I tried the Tony Iommi signature SG a few days ago that felt amazing, but the shops amp and pedal selection was very limited, so I couldn't really "run it through it's paces" like i'd like. Also really liked the feel of the Sensei Jr by Reverend (kinda their answer to a Les Paul Jr crossed with an SG).

I've yet to play through a Blackstar but I've put that on my list of stuff to try. I've seen loads of metal guys playing them over Marshall or Orange lately, and that has peaked my interest. I'm curious to see too if I can dial in a good tone for when I play with my indie rock buddies.

If you want to check out my stuff, it's mostly just a guitar or bass and drums.

My guitar signal chain is;

Fender Telecaster Deluxe
DigiTech wah
Amp 1-
Marshall HDFX 100 W/ 4x12"
Boss Metal Zone 2 and Boss Phaser 3 ( in the FX loop of the head)
Amp 2-
Marshall 2 x 12 combo
Electro Harmonix Cathedral Reverb
Electro Harmonix Germanium 4 Big Muff
Boss Tremolo

I like having one amp with crunch and one with lots of delay and reverb. It allows me to play tight and spacious stuff in the same measure.

https://m.soundcloud.com/meezerpocalypse/feedback-crunch-reverb

It's pretty halfass, but I think it pretty much sums up where I'm coming from.

Nice! I'll check it out.

Thanks for all the info on the signal chain and pedals. I love the idea of the two amp method and the potential for great pedal combinations with them.

Sure. One of my favorite combinations is to pick which amp has the better clean tone and just make it sound basically like Creedance Clearwater Revival. Then adjust the other one to have more and more crunch. It's just fun to mess around with, especially when you're playing with a drummer or messing around with looping pedals or something.

Assuming you are not doing indie and metal in the same band/gigs? Separate amps for each is the easy solution. If you can only afford one guitar, you can use an octave pedal to get the low stuff of a baritone.