BTBAM Guitar Tone: Jens Bogren’s Mesa, Pedal & EQ Tactics

Between The Buried And Me. Their name alone evokes complex soundscapes, intricate rhythms, and, of course, massive guitar tones. Getting those heavy, articulate, yet expansive rhythm guitars to sit right in a dense prog-metal mix is no small feat. Luckily, we got a peek into how the legendary Jens Bogren (Opeth, Arch Enemy, Devin Townsend) approached the guitars for BTBAM’s track “Millions” during a Nail The Mix session.

Jens is a master of detail, and while he uses many familiar tools, it’s his nuanced approach and subtle tricks that elevate his mixes. Let’s dive into how he sculpted those BTBAM rhythm guitar sounds.

The Core Tone: Amp, Pedals, and Cab Choices

Jens started with DI tracks, re-amping them to build the core guitar sound. Here’s the foundational gear he dialed in:

The Amp: Mesa Dual Rectifier Power

For the heavy rhythm guitars, Jens opted for a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier. Specifically, one of the coveted “pre-500” models, known for a slightly different output transformer and a character favored by many tone chasers. He noted that the Mesa is one of his go-to amps for big, open chords – a BTBAM staple – because of its excellent string separation. It offers a rockier vibe that prevents dense chords from becoming muddy, unlike some amps optimized purely for tight, palm-muted chugging.

Pedal Power: Pushing the Front End Differently

Interestingly, while Jens often uses different amps for the left and right guitar tracks to create width, he stuck with the Dual Rectifier for both sides on this track. However, he introduced variation using two different overdrive pedals to push the amp’s front end:

• Left Channel: A Masotti-modified Tube Screamer (specifically a “Keeler” mod) known for retaining more low-end than a stock TS.
• Right Channel: A Maxon OD808 (likely the classic green one), another popular choice for tightening up high-gain amps.

This subtle difference in how each side hits the amp can create a more interesting and wider stereo image.

Cabinet & Mics: The Classic Foundation

The re-amped signal was fed into a Mesa oversized Rectifier cabinet loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers. This is a classic pairing for modern metal, known for its tight low-end and articulate midrange. While Jens didn’t detail the specific micing in this clip, a well-placed dynamic mic (or a blend) on V30s is standard practice for capturing this kind of tone.

Shaping the Sound: EQ Strategies

With a solid re-amped tone captured, Jens moved on to EQ, focusing on subtle but impactful adjustments.

Initial Clean-Up: The Essential Low-Cut

Before any aggressive shaping, Jens often implements a high-pass filter (low-cut). For the BTBAM guitars, he considered a cut around 50Hz. This isn’t about drastically altering the tone but more of a “safety” roll-off to remove unnecessary sub-bass rumble that can muddy the mix, especially once the bass guitar comes in. He emphasized not going too high to avoid thinning out the fundamental frequencies of the guitars.

The SSL “Random Channel” Trick for Width

Jens uses the Brainworx SSL console emulation plugins. A neat trick he employs is hitting the “random channel” button for each instance of the plugin. These plugins emulate the subtle sonic differences between individual channels on a real SSL console (up to 64 or 70+ variations). While it might seem minor, applying unique channel emulations across your mix can contribute to a wider, more three-dimensional stereo image. He wishes this was an automatic feature – a little hint for Brainworx!

Bus EQ: Refining the Overall Guitar Character

Instead of EQing each guitar track identically, Jens often EQs the main rhythm guitar stereo bus. This ensures both sides get the same treatment, maintaining cohesion. For this, he reached for the FabFilter Pro-Q 3 (though he also mentioned a fondness for Flux E-Pure EQ). Here are the key moves he made:

• Adding “Air” and Definition: A gentle high-shelf boost, lifting frequencies above the main fundamental harmonics of the guitars. This adds clarity and brings the guitars forward without making them harsh, especially helpful when hi-hats and cymbals might otherwise mask this top-end detail.
• Carving Space for Vocals: An “experience-based” dip in the lower-midrange (around the 300-500Hz area, though he sweeps to find the spot). This proactively creates room for the fundamental frequencies of the vocals, preventing cluttered mids. You can find more in-depth strategies on our EQ hub page.
• Taming Potential Harshness: He identified a slight build-up in the upper-mids/lower-treble (around 4-5kHz in this case) that could become “nasty” with cymbals. A small, targeted cut here keeps the guitars smooth and prevents ear fatigue.

The Compression Question: Less is More (Usually)

When it comes to distorted rhythm guitars, Jens generally avoids heavy compression.

The Power of Amp Distortion

He pointed out that the distortion process itself heavily compresses the guitar signal, smoothing out dynamics. Adding further compression can often suck the life and low-end punch out of already processed guitars. Usually, any additional dynamic control comes from master bus compression, which makes the guitars react to the overall mix, particularly the drums. For more on dynamic control, check out our metal compression secrets.

Advanced Trick: Multi-Band Sidechain Compression

However, Jens did demonstrate a more surgical approach using multi-band compression, specifically with the Waves C6 Sidechain. This isn’t for overall dynamic control but for solving specific problems:

1. Controlling Palm-Mute Low-End: He set up a band on the C6 to focus on the low-end of the rhythm guitars (around 100-150Hz). This band can be set with a slightly longer attack to gently even out the “boominess” of palm mutes without aggressively clamping down on them. This can allow for a slightly boosted overall low-end that’s more consistent.
2. Making Room for Toms: The real magic here was using the C6’s external sidechain feature. He created a send from the tom tracks to the C6 on the guitar bus. When the toms hit, the C6 ducks the targeted low-mid frequencies (again, around 100-150Hz) in the guitars. This creates momentary space for the toms to punch through clearly, keeping the low-end of the mix cleaner and more defined.

A Word of Caution: Phase Shift
Jens wisely noted that multi-band processors can introduce phase shift around their crossover frequencies. This might subtly alter the character of your guitars. It’s essential to listen critically in the context of the mix to ensure the benefits outweigh any potential sonic downsides. For this particular BTBAM track, which wasn’t overly palm-mute heavy, he felt the general tom-ducking could be useful, but the dedicated palm-mute taming might not be necessary.

Bringing It All Together: Learn from the Pros

Jens Bogren’s approach to Between The Buried And Me’s rhythm guitars showcases a blend of solid fundamentals and clever, detailed enhancements:

• Solid Foundation: Starting with a great amp (Mesa Dual Rectifier) and cab (Mesa V30s), pushed by carefully chosen pedals (Masotti-modded TS, Maxon OD808).
• Smart EQ: Gentle low-cuts, bus EQ for overall shaping (adding air, carving space, taming harshness with FabFilter Pro-Q), and using plugin features like SSL’s random channel for subtle width.
• Considered Dynamics: Generally avoiding compression on distorted rhythms, but employing multi-band sidechaining (Waves C6) for surgical problem-solving like making space for toms.

These are fantastic insights you can apply to your own metal productions. But imagine seeing Jens Bogren dial in these tones, make these decisions in real-time, and explain every single step for an entire song.

That’s exactly what you get with Nail The Mix. Each month, you get the raw multi-tracks from a massive song and watch the original producer mix it from scratch, sharing their workflow and secrets. If you want to go beyond presets and truly understand how to craft professional metal mixes, it’s an invaluable resource. You can even get your hands on the full session for BTBAM’s “Millions” and learn directly from Jens by checking out the Between The Buried And Me Nail The Mix session.

Ready to take your metal mixing skills to the next level? Explore how to Unlock Your Sound: Mixing Modern Metal Beyond Presets and join a community of passionate producers.