As part of the Big Four in metal, Slayer’s career in the music business has been stellar to say the least. Yes, Kerry King, Tom Araya, and the rest of the band have enjoyed success and praise from peers and fans for more than four decades.
To say it simply, Slayer is undoubtedly one of the most influential bands in metal. Their work has laid the groundwork for countless death metal bands that followed. I remember the first time I played Reign in Blood (1986). It was a life-changing half-hour experience. Yes, that record offers 1,700 seconds of pure thrash metal at its very best.
Moreover, it’s a tour through hell and back with some of the best riffs, solos, and songs Slayer has given us in four decades of bringing mayhem to every stage.
I was haunted, the spell of metal took over me and I became an instant Slayer fan. I was in; in for good. I’m still a fan, but one who has been trying to emulate their sound for years. Finally, the time has come to pour in this article everything I’ve learned.
If you too wonder how did guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman (and since 2013, Gary Holt) create the crushing guitar tones of Slayer, you’re in the right place at the right time. Let us explore the guitars, amps, and pedals they used, and how we can emulate their sound without breaking the bank.
Table of Contents
Guitars
Kerry King and Gary Holt split the duties in Slayer after the tragic loss of Jeffrey John Hanneman, Slayer’s co-founder who passed away on May 2nd, 2013.
Although the band’s tone is what you’d call a wall of distortion that’s as heavy as it gets, they run surprisingly different setups. That said, the whole band runs on Marshall tube amps, including Tom Araya. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself here, let’s take it little by little and let’s dive into guitars first.
Kerry King’s Guitars, a Family Business Tale
Kerry King was a BC Rich guy for the longest time. His dad bought his first Mockingbird when he was growing up and he was into the brand for decades. In fact, all that amazing Slayer discography from before 1990 was all BC Rich guitars.
He’s had and played several Mockingbirds, Bich, Warlock, and Ironbird models in the past. Also, the Beast V (now discontinued), a mix of a Warlock and a Flying V.
Between 1990 and the 2000s, Kerry played ESP guitars. That was because BC Rich leased the company to Class Axe and they couldn’t build him a neck-through guitar. He said in a recent interview he responded “‘Well, call me when you can.’ And they never did, so I went to ESP for about a decade.”
During his time with ESP, the company made him a signature model called ESP Kerry King V and it came in special colors with the reversed-banana headstock. That’s a tough one to find, and you’ll have to pay good money for it if one surfaces.
But BC Rich’s lease only lasted for a decade, and when it came to an end, Kerry decided to give them a second chance. That’s when those iconic tribal Vs came to life with different backgrounds and different colors.
The Warlock part of the guitar was gone and Kerry was playing some of the most scary-looking Vs human kind has ever seen.
To better understand Kerry’s relationship with BC Rich, though, we have to know some back story. The BC Rich factory was 20 minutes away from Kerry’s parents’ house. He would go there daily and they were the first to ever endorse him. He became good friends with the Rico family and let’s guess some of that permeated his decisions and he became a BC Rich guy again.
Did you think that was the end of the guitar brand affair for Kerry? Well, you’d be mistaken to think that. The Rico family left BC Rich again and sold the company to the Hanser Music Group. In Kerry’s words: “I have very strong times with family businesses. I was friends with the Marshall family. I was friends with the Rico family. And I was friends with a lot of Dean people”
The key thing here to understand this is that Kerry and Dimebag (Darrell) were very good friends. Therefore, he was familiar with the Dean universe before being endorsed by them. The result of this new collaboration is the Kerry King series of guitars made by Dean.
These menacing six-stringers come in two variables: USA-made or Asian-made. There are, of course, differences in the materials used, construction techniques, hardware, and consequently price between them.
Perhaps the most puzzling thing about Kerry’s guitars over the decades is that he’s a Kahler guy. In case you’re not familiar, it’s the only serious option to Floyd Rose floating tremolos.
When asked about it, he explained that, if you learned on a Kahler, it’s very difficult to make the transition, especially in a musical style in which chugging is the name of the game. I mean, it’s a different experience totally when putting the palm over the bridge.
As you might know, Floyd Roses are very sensitive.
The USA version of his V-shaped Dean comes with a bulky price tag, a mesmerizing flamed maple top, and a combination of an EMG81 in the bridge position and a Sustainiac in the neck. Also, it comes loaded with a 20db boost to push the amp into overdrive or go into a solo even when you’re far away from the pedalboard.
Adding the 24-fret, 3-piece maple C-shaped neck to the equation with 24 jumbo frets and a super fast 12” radius gives you a shredding machine capable of headlining any metal fest around the world. But that’s not all, because Kerry favors a Gibson-like scale of 24 ¾”, therefore bends have a different flavor than most 25 ½” metal guitars.
Yes, fingers feel a little cramped but getting around the fretboard is very easy. Plus, the mahogany body with maple top gives you the exact kind of low-end you need for crushing rhythm parts and over-the-top high-end for soloing… well, like a King.
Moving to the more affordable, Indonesian-made versions of this guitar, the menacing devil horns the company and Kerry gave his new Flying-V version are quite something. Moreover, the stealth black is quite aggressive, especially as you open the case.
This version features the same Kahler bridge with a known combination of EMG 81 and 85 for bridge and neck respectively. Speaking of which, the bridge pickup offers the same PA2 preamp booster for solos.
Although the guitar’s top isn’t that mesmerizing flame maple, the ebony fretboard and 3-piece maple neck still give the mahogany body that snap you need to cut through a dense mix.
Besides the Vs, Dean also made Kerry a USA and an Indonesia Overlord model (close to a BC Rich Warrior in shape) with the exact same characteristics as the Vs.
Finally, if Kahlers aren’t your thing, there’s a hardtail version of each guitar (made in Indonesia).
To imitate Kerry’s take-no-prisoner attack and mammoth high-gain tone, you need active pickups and a big-sounding guitar with piercing highs capable of cutting the mix.
Some affordable options could be the Jackson X Series King V KVXMG and the even more affordable Jackson JS Series King V JS32. This last option might need Kerry’s signature EMG pickups, the EMG KFK Kerry King 81/85 Active Signature Humbucker set.
Gary Holt’s Guitars, a Collection of Non-Les Paul Les Pauls
Gary Holt, the other guitar player for Slayer (and also Exodus) got his start in playing heavy music being Kirk Hammett’s roadie. It comes as no surprise that he’s been a long-time endorser for ESP, just like his buddy Kirk.
Well, we could divide Gary’s guitars into two groups with two extra groups inside those.
His signature Custom Shop Japan-made ESP is based on the Eclipse model (Single-cut, Les-Paul shaped guitar). It features his signature EMG pickups, an 81 in the bridge and an 89R with coil split for the neck (with red covers).
The guitar also features a Floyd Rose locking tremolo, and a one-piece mahogany neck going very deep into the guitar’s mahogany body. This is a mix between set-neck and neck-through construction.
The same is used in Kerry’s guitars.
The ebony fretboard and the maple top with an unapologetic Liquid Metal Lava finish (which Gary calls coagulated blood) give the guitar enough edge to cut through while the mahogany in the body and neck give it an outstanding low-end that’s huge and crystal clear.
The red binding throughout the body, neck, and matching headstock make it even more menacing.
Finally, the guitar’s scale is also 24 ¾” like Kerry’s and the radius is 12” as well. Instead of the 24 frets, this guitar comes with a more traditional 22 extra-jumbo stainless-steel frets.
This Custom Shop instrument comes with an accompanying Custom Shop price tag. But worry not, because ESP also made some LTD models for you to enjoy (and that Gary plays live as well).
The LTD ones are divided into the Eclipse-like and an SV-shaped model (kind of a Randy Roads thing with one side longer than the other). These come in two series, the 600 and the 200. The price difference here is that the 600s cost twice as much as the 200s.
Construction-wise, they share many of the same appointments including finish and 2-ply red binding. The guitars are made of mahogany with a 3-piece mahogany neck and the same set-neck-meets-neck-through build. That said, while the 600 offers Macassar ebony for the fretboard, the 200s have roasted jatoba. Also, the 600s feature original EMG pickups and the 200s ESP LH-301N and ESP LH-301B for neck and bridge.
Finally, and as a fun fact, none of his guitars come with a tone knob. Crazy, huh? Well, where these metal Gods reign, tone knobs aren’t even touched!
So, to emulate Gary’s tone guitars-wise, you should stick with the ESP/LTD versions of his signatures. The GH-SV-200 and GH-200 are a great bang for the buck. If you have a bigger budget, the GH-600 (and its white version) and SV-600 are even better choices.
For those willing to spend much more, the ESP version is the best way to get his exact tone.
Also, if you happen to own a guitar that you can do some overhauling to, his signature EMG pickups with red covers are a definite must.
Finally, if you’re not so concerned about the looks, any well-made guitar with high-output humbuckers and a floating tremolo will do the job.
Amps
While guitar-wise Kerry King and Gary Holt differ, when it comes to amps, King and Holt have only one choice for amps: Marshall.
Kerry King’s Marshall Beast
It’s not to blow any scoop to say that King has his own signature Marshall head and that’s what he uses live and in the studio. According to the man himself, he gave Marshall his all-time favorite JCM800 and they copied that tone adding his ten-band EQ and a very needed noise gate inside the amp.
This is very accurately named “The Beast” after his original Marshall.
Although that amp is now out of production, the idea for Kerry’s tone is exactly that: A souped-up Marshall with decent levels of gain and lots of volume. For the tone you can think of something like the crushing, thick, and demolishing tone of the early records.
Songs like “Angel of Death” or “Jesus Saves” are a great example of how to take the grain of the brown sound and make it mayhem-worthy.
To get the type of volume and aggressive distortion needed for Slayer, there really is just one amp, and that is the JCM800. If you can afford it and have the room for it, the original, classic Marshall JCM800 2203 with its dry, percussive, furious tone is the basis you need to push beyond the limit with an overdrive pedal.
That said, for an even more accurate rig, the JCM800 Modified, recently issued by Marshall with an extra gain mod, will give you enough nastiness to play everything from “Angel Death” to “Raining Blood” and then some going straight from the guitar to the head.
That’s the tone you get connected to a straight Marshall 4×12 cab (1960B).
For smaller budgets and venues, the Studio Classic Head and Combo (basically a miniature 20-watt JCM800 head or combo) will do the job as well. If that’s still out of your league, I would go for the MG line of solid-state combos with multiple voicings (15, 30, and 50 watts).
Another great choice is always the Boss Katana (50 or 100 watts). That said, for Slayer tones, do what they’ve done for decades, and stick to Marshall.
Gary Holt’s Marshall Jubilee
Gary Holt plays Marshall amps as well. His taste is a little more exclusive than Kerry and he plays Silver Jubilees instead of regular 800s. Luckily for us, the company just reissued it in all its glory, the 100-watt Marshall 2555X Silver Jubilee, and miniature, 20-watt head and combo. These are every bit as throaty and nasty as their bigger siblings.
Think of the tones in Slayer’s Repentless album (2015) and Exodus songs like “The Fires of Division”.
Other than that, Gary also played DSL100 heads on tour with Exodus and with Slayer. If you can fit one of those in your rig, you’ll be very close. For smaller rigs and budgets the DSL line starts at 1-watt amps (also available in 5, 20, and 40 watts).
The JVM (215C and 210H, for example) and the MG lines can get the job done in different budgets and venue sizes, too.
Again, the Marshall 1960B cabinets are important to the beefiness of the sound but not all of us can afford to drag one of those to every show. So, a combo or any other speaker cabinet will do as long as you respect the Marshall-Celestion combination.
Pedals
As far as pedalboards go, King and Holt keep it fairly simple. Both only use a handful of pedals. Moreover, except for the Wah and some distortion (which can easily come from your Marshall), you can get away with 90% of their discography without anything else.
Speaking of Wah pedals, both, King and Holt use Dunlop Wah pedals. Kerry favors the Zakk Wylde Wah, which King described as sounding “nastier” than other wah pedals. Both have also used the Dunlop Dimebag Wah, and although they’re always changing, Gary Holt has been using the Jerry Cantrell Wah as well.
To give the amp’s distortion some extra boost, King uses an MXR ZW44. This pedal is no longer available, it was replaced by the MXR Wylde Audio Overdrive pedal, which is very similar. The Ibanez TS9 is also great for pushing your distortion a bit further. Holt has a TS9 mounted in his rack unit and on all the time to push the amp’s preamp before the signal hits it.
This is one of the secrets to Slayer’s tone: The amps are cooking but not too gainy and the active pickups, added to the overdrive pedals, push the heads into mayhem territory. What you get is that thick nastiness that’s not only heavy and tight in the bottom-end but also punches you right in the face with the mid-highs.
That outstanding grain you hear behind every chord is the cascading effect of the gain staging. Everything in the signal is hot, from the pickups to the speakers.
Both, King and Holt also use Flanger mainly for the clean parts. You can do it all with a simple MXR Flanger.
For some extra control over the tone, a noise gate and EQ pedal can also be used. Holt uses a Boss NS-2 Noise Supressor, but any pedal, like the MXR Smart Gate will do.
Finally, Kerry King used a legendary MXR Ten Band EQ to shape his tone and keep his sound tight, which is exactly what he put inside his signature Marshall head. So, if you have one, it’ll help you tighten the low-mids and push the mid-highs a bit too.
King and Holt have several rack-mounted units as well. These are mostly wireless systems, signal splitters for their many amps, and additional compression, and EQ.
Amp Settings
You might think that a band as loud and aggressive as Slayer just turns everything up to 11 and calls it a day. But in fact, the tones of Kerry King and Gary Holt are a bit more complex than that.
For starters, not everything is turned up very high. The settings are actually a bit lower than you might expect.
Kerry King uses his heads almost flat, and doesn’t rely on the amp’s three-band EQ to shape his sound. The bass, for example, is hovered at a very conservative 6. While the treble is also only set to around 4.
The most interesting part is the mids. Where metal bands usually scoop the mids slightly to boost the lows and highs, Slayer always went in the opposite direction. Their mids are actually set as high as the bass, around 6, to boost them.
In the case of Kerry King, he then uses a ten-band EQ pedal (now inside his signature amp) to further boost the mids. The sliders were arranged in an “upside-down v”, as Kerry King put it. He says jokingly that a scooped-mid EQ is a smile and you can’t play Slayer’s music with a smile.
Gary Holt, on the other side of the stage, sets the treble at 5, the mids at 4, and the bass at 7. Again, nothing drastic in his EQ from the amp. That said, if there’s one thing that we, Tube Screamer lovers of the world know, is that it boosts midrange like few other elements in the known universe.
Thus, that’s where Gary gets the secret sauce for the Slayer tone, sticking those mids out and hitting the amp with enough gain before the preamp.
Speaking of gain, Kerry and Gary don’t set it very high, or as high as you would expect. On the contrary, it rarely surpasses 7 and lives around noon most of the time. That said, remember they’re hitting the front of the amp with active pickups and an overdrive pedal.
Finally, the presence of the amp is usually set to anywhere between 4 and 6, and the volume knob adjusted according to the size of the venue.
That would lead to amp settings that look something like this:
- Bass – 6/7
- Mids – 4/6
- Treble – 4/6
- Gain – 6/7
- Presence – 4/6
- Volume – 5-7
In the case you can’t push those mids and the gain with a pedal, make sure you increase the mids to around 7 and the gain to around 8. Furthermore, if you’re playing with a passive guitar and not-so-hot pickups, just push the gain and volume until things get really nasty.
I mean, unleashing hell while playing Slayer is the name of the game, right? Oh, and although the band’s tone evolved throughout the records, these settings will cover 90% of their discography.
These settings should be correct for most Slayer songs and should require little adjusting.
Conclusion
Slayer is one of the Big Four. That means it’s one of the pillars that keeps the heavy metal world in its right place.
Moreover, they recently came back together and are ready to make new music and tour all their hits, at least, one more time. Did they need a comeback to be one of the hottest, biggest metal acts in the genre’s history? The answer is obviously not. Yet, for fans, guitar players, and metal lovers of the world, it’s great news.
So, gather all the correct gear, fish the internet for those well-made, accurate TABs, and join me in celebrating the return of Kerry the King and his accolades to the biggest stages of the planet.
Oh, and don’t worry about the budget, the guitars, amps, and pedals above fit every need and desire.
I hope this guide helps as inspiration. Now that you know how to recreate the heavy, gut-punching sound of Kerry King and Gary Holt, it’s time to have fun and chug your way to stardom sounding exactly like your idols.
Did you catch them on tour yet? Let me know in the comments!
Happy (heavy metal) playing!
