Riff Tone

Blackwater Park

Opeth

Guitarmetal2000s

Original Gear

GuitarPRS Custom 24 (early 2000s, likely 2000 or 2001 model, used by both Mikael Åkerfeldt and Peter Lindgren for rhythm tracking on Blackwater Park)

AmpLaney GH100L (Mikael) and Laney VH100R (Peter), both British tube heads

PickupsSeymour Duncan SH-4 JB (bridge) and SH-2 Jazz (neck) humbuckers (Peter), Seymour Duncan SH-10 Full Shred (bridge) and SH-1 '59 (neck) (Mikael)

Amp Settings

gain7.5

bass6

mid6

treble6.5

reverb1

presence6.5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 2000/2001. Rhythm guitars quad-tracked: Mikael and Peter each tracked through their own Laney amp. No evidence of other amps or guitars for the main riff rhythm section. PRS guitars with Seymour Duncan pickups confirmed for this era. No evidence of effects loop or rack effects for rhythm. Pedals minimal or none on rhythm tracks.

Tone Character(10)

tight and percussiveclear note separation under heavy distortionarticulate palm mutingslightly scooped but present midscontrolled low end for clarityBritish-voiced high-gain saturationquad-tracked thicknessminimal ambienceaggressive attackmodern metal rhythm

Difficulty

The riff requires advanced palm muting, precise timing for quad-tracking, and clarity in complex, dissonant chord shapes under high-gain settings, making it challenging for most players.

Sources

Opeth Tone? - forum topic - Ultimate Guitar Mikael Akerfeldt on 20 years of Opeth's Blackwater Park - Guitar World Guitar tone on Blackwater Park : r/Opeth Opeth Blackwater Park tone? : r/BossKatana [QUESTION] How to get a distortion tone that makes typically ...

This tone has been researched 3 times by the community

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