ABOUT METALHEAD ELECTRONICS
From a Small North Hollywood Shop to a Distinctive High-Gain Sound
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Elan Memran and his brother Remmie founded MetalHead Electronics in North Hollywood, California.
It was a time when guitar players were pushing tube amplifiers harder than ever before, searching for more gain, more sustain, tighter response and new sounds that stock amplifiers could not always provide.
Elan began developing his own high-gain circuits and modifying Marshall and Fender tube amplifiers for professional guitar players.
Those modifications became the foundation of the MetalHead sound.
THE ORIGINAL METALHEAD MODIFICATIONS
The MetalHead philosophy was not simply to add a distortion pedal in front of an amplifier.
Elan modified the amplifier itself, developing tube gain stages and supporting circuits designed to create extreme saturation, sustain and aggressive response directly from the amplifier.
Different MetalHead modifications included additional gain stages, gain controls, bass response modifications, channel switching, master volume circuits, active tube effects loops and MetalHead’s high-gain noise reduction system.
The result was a hot-rodded tube amplifier designed to remain tight and responsive even at very high levels of gain.
PLAYERS AND ARTISTS
Over the years, MetalHead Electronics modified amplifiers and developed equipment used by professional musicians including:
- Dino Cazares of Fear Factory
- Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine
- Ernie C of Body Count
- Ian Crichton of Saga
- Butch Walker of SouthGang
- Armored Saint
- Randy Piper of W.A.S.P.
- Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns
- Kelle Rhoads Band
- Bruce Hornsby
And many others.
DINO CAZARES AND FEAR FACTORY
One of the best-known examples of the original MetalHead work is the modified Marshall JCM800 2203 used by Dino Cazares of Fear Factory.
The amplifier featured a modified preamp section and noise-gate circuitry installed by Elan Memran at MetalHead Electronics.
That amplifier became part of Dino’s early Fear Factory recording rig and is closely associated with the tight, aggressive and highly controlled guitar tone heard during the band’s early period.
Decades later, original MetalHead-modified Marshall amplifiers continue to attract interest from guitar players and collectors searching for that distinctive high-gain circuit and response.
FROM AMP MODIFICATIONS TO THE ELAN MK SERIES
The ideas developed inside the MetalHead workshop did not stop with modified Marshall amplifiers.
Elan used the experience gained from those amplifier modifications to develop a series of all-tube guitar preamps, including the MK2, MK3, MK4 and MK5.
The Elan MK5 brought the MetalHead tube-gain philosophy into a compact floor preamp format, allowing guitar players to access Elan’s tube circuitry without relying on a permanently modified amplifier.
The designs also evolved into products including the German Axis Excalibur EP1.
These products extended the MetalHead approach from custom amplifier modification into standalone professional tube guitar equipment.
WHY THE METALHEAD SOUND IS STILL SOUGHT AFTER
The original MetalHead amplifiers were individually modified in the North Hollywood shop and only a limited number were produced.
Today, original examples occasionally surface among collectors and guitar players who remember the distinctive feel and response of the circuit.
For Elan, high gain has never meant simply creating more distortion. The objective is to create gain, sustain, harmonic richness and aggressive response while maintaining control and articulation.
That philosophy remains at the center of MetalHead Electronics today.
METALHEAD ELECTRONICS HISTORY
1989 LA Guitar Show and NAMM Show
Watch original footage from the early days of MetalHead Electronics.
MetalHead Electronics, North Hollywood, California
THE METALHEAD STORY CONTINUES
Today, Elan Memran continues the MetalHead Electronics tradition, applying decades of tube amplifier design and modification experience to classic Marshall modifications, tube amplifier repair and new guitar amplification designs.
The technology continues to evolve, but the objective remains the same: build real tube circuits that respond directly to the guitarist.
Real Tubes. Real Amplifiers. Real MetalHead Tone.
