The Guitarists and Gear of Nü Metal

Many people associate 1990s hard rock with grunge and the flood of albums from alt-rock, indie, and punk bands. These bands mainly looked to decades past for inspiration and often used gear popularized in the ’60s and ’70s. We’ve already looked at the gear of Britpop bands, which mostly consisted of items that could have belonged to their parents.

With this new entry in our “Guitarists and Gear” series, we’ll look at a different guitar-heavy genre born in the late 20th century—one that often made sounds with contemporary gear. In order to craft the sound of nu metal and rap rock, guitarists, bassists, producers, and even DJs used a variety of cutting-edge equipment and occasionally pushed it even further, demanding specs that didn’t exist yet.

Before we get into the details, let’s briefly look at where nu metal came from. The sonic landscape of hip-hop has always…