Gravesaw: black metal amp and cab for DI guitar and bass
Gravesaw is a VST3 amp with the cab built in: plug in a guitar or bass DI and choose a voicing between raw buzz and a thick wall. It comes from Code Chaos Audio, the plugin label of Polished mastering engineer Tim Borchert, and it targets problems that show up again and again in black metal premasters: fizz that turns painful once the track gets louder, low end that clouds the tremolo, and noise between the riffs.
Hear it: Gravesaw
Gravesaw demo: one DI riff at 170 BPM, six presets, then a full mix (26 s)
- DI guitar (dry, as recorded)
- Gravesaw: Cold Tremolo Lead
- Gravesaw: Carpathian Buzz
- Gravesaw: Frozen Wall Thick
- Gravesaw: Raw Rehearsal Room
- Gravesaw: Tamed Fizz
- Gravesaw: Four-Track Demo
- Full mix: Wall Rhythm L/R double-track + Cold Tremolo Lead + Bass Grind + Black Metal Drum Kit
Rendered with the plugin. The drums in the last section come from the Black Metal Drum Kit by Code Chaos Audio.
Preparing a black metal demo mix with Gravesaw and Rimehall
This is the order that keeps a home recording easy to master. Everything happens in the mix, before anything goes to a mastering engineer.
- Record two rhythm takes, not one. Start from the presets Wall Rhythm L and Wall Rhythm R, pan the takes hard left and right, and try the wide L/R cab pair that Gravesaw includes for double-tracked rhythm guitars.
- Set the gate so the gaps stay silent. The gate sits in front of the amp (from -90 dBFS, which is off, up to -30 dBFS, with hold and hysteresis). Mastering compresses and limits, and any hiss between tremolo bursts comes up with it.
- Use Tight before you reach for EQ. Tight is a high-pass in front of the distortion, adjustable from 20 to 400 Hz. Less low end into the gain stage means a tighter riff and more room for bass and kick. For a doom bottom, keep it low.
- Decide on Fizz and the Tamed cabs on small speakers. Fizz shapes the top end above about 4 kHz. Six of the 19 cabs are harshness-tamed versions, for bright pickups and fizzy settings.
- Run the bass DI through Gravesaw as well. The bass presets (Bass Grind, Bass Clank, Doom Bass Deep) and the three bass cabs give it grind. Low Blend mixes the clean DI low end back under the distortion, so the bottom stays solid.
- Then add space. Rimehall on the guitar bus puts the riff into a cold hall without burying it. Export the mix with 3 to 6 dB of headroom and no limiter on the master bus.
Why double-tracked guitars have to survive mono
Phones, Bluetooth speakers and many club and festival systems play your song in mono or close to it. Two separate performances panned left and right add up to a louder riff in the middle when they are summed. A single take that was copied, delayed or widened to fake a double can cancel parts of itself in mono, and the guitars suddenly sound thin and hollow.
A master cannot repair that, because the problem sits inside the mix. That is why the audit at Polished checks the stereo image and phase of every mix before mastering. Recording real double-tracks with matching tones is the cheapest fix there is.
At a glance
| Detail | Gravesaw |
|---|---|
| Price | €19 on Gumroad, free demo available |
| Format | VST3 + Standalone, mono or stereo input |
| Windows | Windows 10/11: VST3 + Standalone |
| macOS | Apple Silicon (arm64) only, no Intel build. VST3 + Standalone, not signed or notarized: macOS blocks it at first, allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security. |
| AU / Logic Pro | No AU version, so Logic Pro is not supported. |
| Copy protection | No licence server, no login, no online check. |
| Cabs | 19 built in: 10 guitar cabs, 6 harshness-tamed versions, 3 bass cabs. Synthesised from a model in code, not captured from real cabinets. Cab off for your own IR. |
| Presets | 16 factory presets |
| Gain stages | 4x oversampling with anti-aliased clipping |
| Latency | 61 samples (1.4 ms at 44.1 kHz), reported to the DAW |
| Output | Safety stage keeps peaks below -0.3 dBFS |
| Testing | Automated checks on every preset. Not tried in every DAW yet. |
| Demo | The free demo is the complete plugin; it plays a short noise burst every 45 seconds. |
Checkout, payment and any applicable taxes are handled by Gumroad. Polished only links to it.
Tool, mix or master?
For rehearsal demos and pre-production, a Gravesaw tone in a rough mix is all you need. When the songs go to Bandcamp, streaming or a label, a separate mastering pass with fresh ears pays off: loudness for each platform, harshness under control, low end checked in mono. Polished starts every master with a written audio audit of your mix, so you know what to fix in the mix first. See black metal mastering.
Mastering at Polished starts at €79 per track, all prices incl. 19% VAT, pay after delivery if you like. Request an audio audit.
Cheaper in a bundle
Gravesaw is part of the Code Chaos Black Metal Suite. It is included in both bundles:
- Black Metal Suite Essentials: €39 instead of €59 (save €20). Contains Gravesaw, Rimehall, Black Metal Tone Kit, Black Metal Drum Kit.
- Black Metal Suite Complete: €69 instead of €105 (save €36). Contains Frostfret, Hoarfell, Gravesaw, Rimehall, Black Metal Tone Kit, Black Metal Drum Kit.
Compare the bundles. Bought separately, Gravesaw costs €19.
Gravesaw FAQ
Does Gravesaw run on a Mac?
Can I use my own impulse responses?
Is there a free trial?
Does a good amp tone make mastering unnecessary?
More tools
Try Gravesaw free.
The free demo is the complete plugin; it plays a short noise burst every 45 seconds. Buying and downloading happens on Gumroad, under Code Chaos Audio.