Solid Pedal For Leads

P

poo

New member
Hey guys,

Once again i'm lost.
I've been using a Traynor YCV 80 tube combo gigging for the past 6 or 7 months. I particulary do not fashion it's lead channel. I've tweaked and tweaked at it and my leads just arent shaped for intelligibility. (My lead playing could also use a little work..)

Besides the fact, do you guys have an advice or pedals that offer great lead tone? I just want to see im a general consensus whats out there thats worth lookin at!

thanks and peace!
 
Most guys who have this problem seem to use way too much distortion (IMHO).

At a rehearsal volume it's fine to wind it up a bit, but once you're at gig volume, the additional volume will definately give you more 'sound' and if you use the same distortion setting it's gonna sound thin and with no definition.

foo
 
You're definatly right onthatone.
Last set I backed down on the gain, and voila, the tone cleaned up quite a bit. I'm just a stupid idiot.
 
poo said:
You're definatly right onthatone.
Last set I backed down on the gain, and voila, the tone cleaned up quite a bit. I'm just a stupid idiot.
Click to expand...

nah, if you were a stupid idiot, you would have told foo he is a stupid idiot.

Try adding a compressor to the front of your chain. It will help a little with note inconsistencies (level, not pitch... hehe) and help with tone depending on how you set it up.
 
so how would the compressor fit in the chain?
Would i need a preamp before running into the compressor?
is a pedal compressor different than a rackmount for this purpose?
 
HEY POO......................

What works for me is simple, and cheap.

i use a Boss DS-1 pedal ($35) on the front side of my mesa boogie.

i set the boogie for a fairly crunchy rhythm sound......
then drive the output all the way, tone about 11:00, and drive about 12:00..........

then it thickens it up a bit.......

the trick is getting the noise level down, without loosing too much gain.........

the pedal allows you to clean up the amp........

now if you throw in a noise gate after the distortion, in front of the amp, voila!
 
HERE'S A PIC

151258.jpg

$39 AT MUSICIANS FRIEND
 
I'm a huge fan of the ProCo Rat. Very flexible, built like a tank and only needs a new battery every year or so.

Get the "Classic Rat" if new, or find a used one w/the small box and no LED.

They work best if the amp is set w/just a little bit of breakup.

Good Luck,

Mark Gifford
 
There's lots of ways of doing this right. You just have to choose what you like.

What I've found works for me (and depending on what I'm playing I like Robben Ford, Brian May, Jeff Beck and Larry Carlton, among many others) is:

1. Always have the guitar pickup volume on 10, and the tone control on full treble.

2. If you have an amp with a rhythm and lead channel, set the rhythm sound first (unless your lead guitar-playing is the feature of the band). If you have three channels (rhythm, crunch and lead) no issue.

3. If you have a one-channel amp, make it all tube and use a tube distortion box. Individual tastes vary (how much overdrive do you need?) but I like the Real Tube pedal with a power supply (no 9v battery). For most gigs I use a Boogie, but for the 'vintage vibe' gigs, I use a Pro Reverb and a Real Tube pedal.

3. The fewer pedals you use, the better your overall sound is going to be (flame me now, you Boss lovers!).

4. If you need the effects, use the effects loop.

5. Listen to what you're playing. Many guys just play, and don't pay attention - weedly weedly wee.

Hope this helps.

foo
 
Rat....

damn...I'm the 2nd person....:(


1 battery a year...so true, so true..... a low battery might even sound better!!...not sure though..
 
I have owned a lot of overdrive/distortion pedals that I use mostly for lead guitar and heavy riffs. The best I've used is the Tech 21 Double Drive. This pedal really does sound like a cranked amp, and for the first time I've found a pedal that makes me not want to even look at expensive high-gain amps. It will become a classic. $100 It has a good by-pass and it doesn't suck your tone when it's turned off, a very important feature.

The Boss Blues Driver pedal is good too. It does impose a little bit of character on your sound, a very creamy sound. John Scofield and Larry Carlton both use this pedal, and that should give you an indication of what kind of sounds it's capable of. Good for classic rock and blues.
 
Wide Awake said:
I have owned a lot of overdrive/distortion pedals that I use mostly for lead guitar and heavy riffs. The best I've used is the Tech 21 Double Drive. This pedal really does sound like a cranked amp, and for the first time I've found a pedal that makes me not want to even look at expensive high-gain amps. It will become a classic. $100 It has a good by-pass and it doesn't suck your tone when it's turned off, a very important feature.
Click to expand...

How does the double drive compare to the other tech21 products? I'm a huge tech 21 fan. I have a sansamp original, acoustic DI, and I won a triac about 10 min. ago on ebay for $105. I've scoped on the double drive, but wasn't quite sure how it differs from the other pedals.
 
Go to www.tech21nyc.com and they explain it well. It gives you distortion characteristics of a Class A amp (like a vintage Vox) and also characteristics of a Class A/B amp (like a Fender or Marshall). You can use them separately or cascade them.

I've used the SansAmp PSA-1 in front of an amp, but I think the Double Drive sounds more organic, like a real Marshall or Fender stack. It doesn't have speaker simulation, it's more like a traditional distortion pedal simulating power amp distortion. If you find one in the stores check it out. I'm using the Double Drive in front of the PSA-1 for recording and it's taken it to a whole new level. I've never been completely happy with the PSA-1 for saturated/distorted lead sounds, I've always used overdrive pedals with it.

Tech 21 is a very innovative company.
 
When I'm playing live, I crank up the amp and drive the tubes pretty hard. That's my lead sound. When I'm playing chords and such I just roll off a little volume at the guitar and it cleans everything up nicely.

But, if I have to keep it down I use a tube screamer for leads.
 
Wide Awake said:
Go to www.tech21nyc.com and they explain it well. It gives you distortion characteristics of a Class A amp (like a vintage Vox) and also characteristics of a Class A/B amp (like a Fender or Marshall). You can use them separately or cascade them.

I've used the SansAmp PSA-1 in front of an amp, but I think the Double Drive sounds more organic, like a real Marshall or Fender stack. It doesn't have speaker simulation, it's more like a traditional distortion pedal simulating power amp distortion. If you find one in the stores check it out. I'm using the Double Drive in front of the PSA-1 for recording and it's taken it to a whole new level. I've never been completely happy with the PSA-1 for saturated/distorted lead sounds, I've always used overdrive pedals with it.

Tech 21 is a very innovative company.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I did check out the tech21nyc site as well as harmony-central, etc... still not quite sure how the pedal would differ from the others other than interface. I thought all of the tech 21 pedals could sound like a marshall/fender/vox?

How do you setup the PSA-1 with the Double Drive? I'm imagining you're using the PSA-1 for cabinet/mic'd cabinet emulation and not amp emulation? Is the Double Drive drastically different than the other Sansamp sounds?
 
The Double Drive is just an overdrive pedal and it doesn't give you the sound of a miked amp like for instance the GT-2 or Tri-ARC do. It sounds different from the usually SansAmps because the Class A amps that it is emulating are rich in even harmonics. That's been something that has been difficult to emulate well in a pedal or modeler. When you cascade the Class A and Class A/B together you get sounds that are much richer than the typical distortion pedal. It's hard to explain, you just have to hear it.

If I want very distorted sounds on the PSA-1, I set it to a clean or semi-clean sound. The PSA-1 is always set for amp simulation, it doesn't give you a choice of cabinets. I use overdrive pedals to push it into distortion.
 
tech21nyc stuff

I use a tech21nyc Trademark 60 live. I checked for close to a year before I bought it. I wanted a dependable solid state amp for live use, and this really does it. Both channels sound great with a Tele, Strat, or LP. My TS9 sounds great with both channels. The other guitar player I work with uses a SansAmp with an old Lab Electronics L5 Twin and his rig sounds great, too. Their stuff just rocks.
jimbo
p.s. I'm checking into that Double Drive. I tried for a year to make my '73 Twin really move some air, but I wanted to keep the EV's in it. Other than the Hughes & Kettner TubeMan, that sounds like the only thing to really make it scream, and it's not so exspensive.
 
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