How to achieve that crystal clear guitar and snare, your ideas please?

Hello everyone and thanks for taking your time to read this, I am grateful!
Admin may think that this belongs in techniques but I think not because this question involves (probably?) plug-ins and EQ I am guessing. If i am wrong then I apologize.
 
Now, the question. I have been trying for years to achieve that crystal clear rock guitar sound for recording and also the beautiful hard snare drum that you hear in many meal/rock songs. I am not talking about merely a matter of volume but of clarity and volume.
I have tried many different EQ schemes to get this sound and sometimes get close-until I compare mine to the Pros and hear that they are still so much more loud and clear than my guitars. I am possibly obsessed with this and maybe my guitars and snare are okay, you can hear mine well enough but I can't get past the sound that they are getting!
 
I once thought that this sound that I am looking for was accomplished through mastering-and that is the case somewhat I think, but, I still think that the source of the clarity and booming volume comes from the original recording and mix. Perhaps you disagree. If so, I would love to hear your insight on this.
 
Maybe my "dream" record is just clipped all over the place but if it is I can't hear it. No, in fact its the opposite, how are they getting the guitars so clear and loud while still being "distorted"?
 
My dream record that I use as the ideal mix and master is "Astrocreep 2000" by White Zombie. To me, this record sounds far superior in its genre than others (not that I have heard everything that's out there!).
 
I don't know if I am allowed to try and place a White Zombie audio clip here or not so I didn't try but if you have ever heard "More Human Than Human" then you have heard a sample of the sound that I am talking about.
 
Anyway, while you are thinking about this, I will tell you what I have tried so far:
 
A variety of distortion levels-from almost none to moderate.
 
Using Sonar's Multiband-this did make them louder but introduced some gnarly irritation which was nearly unbearable
 
Playing around with all the frequencies in  Sonar EQ-including the "Q", cutting, adding etc
 
Using CLA Compressors. CLA Guitars and  Sonar's stereo imaging
 
Doubling (2 doubles per side, each EQed and panned differently) a total of 4 guitars altogther
 
No reverb and very little delay--going for the clearest sound that I can get. I use a little delay in either quarter, eighth or none.
 
I use 59% distortion on the recordings with another 12% from a stomp box (Rat)
 
There may be something that I am forgetting but as you can see, I am trying many different things. This above stuff is what I have currently settled on and its not bad but I still don't have the sound that I want for my final recordings.
 
Please, feel free to tell me what you do for guitars, even if you do not do heavy or rock. Also, if you think that I am obsessing, please tell me so. I work in a vacuum I suppose, as an independent artist, so All I really have is you guys and stuff that I read on forums and mags.
 
About the snare drum? The same thing. How our they getting such a loud and clear snare hit? I have about the same thing as the guitars and have an okay sound but still not super clean. Do any drummers or producers have any insight into how to get a clean, above the mix (but not clipped) snare sound? Again, you could hear this snare if you listened to a tack or 2 on WZ Astrocreep 2000.
 
Maybe I am obsessing over this too, but I want 2 things for sure: Loud and clear (but still distorted) guitars and a beautiful snare that shines through all the time.
 
Again, if you have any ideas or tricks that you can share please share so I can finally stop obsessing over this and move along.
 
 
I thank you all for reading and hope to get something new to work with from you guys!
 
Thanks,
 
bob
 

When you do what Steve says with the double micing the snare, invert the polarity of one of the Mics... usually the under drum one.

Doesn't it start from the tools?
Do you have the same type of guitar+mics+string gauge and amp as used in your reference material?
Or do you get the sound you want when you play through your amp, but can't capture/edit/make it sit in the project correctly?
I don't actually know anything about guitars, so...

"Typically for recording, the most important things in order are:  player, instrument, room, mic, pre, effects and converter. "
 
Not much to add to that.

I can give you some ideas about the snare itself.  And interesting no one has actually mentioned it here so far. If you want a killer snappy crystal clear snare sound you really have to get the drum sounding that way before you do anything else.
 
I think many drummers could improve their snare tuning and maybe some of the tips presented here might help
 
1   Underneath snare head.  Correct tension.  This has to be tight people and I mean tight.
 
2   Snare wires themselves.  These are not created equal.  Good quality ones here please.  Position of the snare wires in relation to the hoops when engaged.  Snare wires need to be dead centre of the drum eg equal distance from both hoops.  I know on my Sonor snare drum if this is not so the sound sort of goes out the window.
 
3   Actual tension of the snare wires when engaged.  Tighter gives more snap but can get too thin if over tightened.  Loose gives a fatter sound but rattles a little more and not quite as much snap.
 
4   Sticks with nylon tips make a different sound to wood tips. (more top end)
 
5   Top head tension.  Must be even all round and this tension determines the overall pitch of the snare.  Up higher means slightly shorter but snappier sound too.  Lower gives a fatter sound.
 
6   Top head tension in relation to snare wire tension.  Both of these things need to be set with each other in mind.
 
7   Use of drum hoops. These are these hoops that you can put on the snare around the edge to control the ring. Some like them some dont.  If you want lots of natural ring then leave them off.  I find they are Ok and can work well.  Most commercial hoops are a little two wide for my liking.  I have cut one of my hoops in half so it is only around 10 mm wide compared to say 20 mm. This lets a little ring through for colour but still dampens the not so nice ring sound at the same time.
 
When you do all of this first then you can almost put any mic near it and you will get a killer snare sound.

Can't help you with your instrument's "tone", but I'll point out that one way to make something louder is to make everything else a bit quieter. You can also try a limiter, and bring it up a bit.

So far the best big guitar tone I've achieved is with this chain:
1) http://nickcrowlab.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/nick-crow-7170-lead-tube-guitar-amp-vst.html
2) NadIr which you can download here http://www.igniteamps.com/en/audio-plug-ins
Best cab impulses I could find for the chain: http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=197925
 
Having said all this: The guitar tones you are looking fore have been engineered by very experienced professionals who know how to work very expensive gear in top class environments.
You can definitely approximate the tone but you can't have it 100%
 
Good luck!

http://www.jyuenger.com/?p=4526
this links to the guitarist describing his setup for that era. Sounds like tuning down to c# may be one secret...