Lead tone on Dual Rec with OD808?

[tomprs]

Hello!

I have a spare Maxon OD-808 and I wanted to know if people also use it as a lead-boost for soloing. I've been using it as a boost for rythm but I actually like the tone of my amp better without it. I already use it to get a warm overdrive on my clean channel but I'm now looking for a good lead tone.

Thanks for your answers!

Tom.

 

[Gnarkill3k6]

A very daring suggestion.... just try it.

 

[tomprs]

A very daring suggestion.... just try it.

Haha yes thanks! I was just curious about how others are using their OD808

 

[b0nkersx1]

I don't use it for leads, but I use it for rhythm. Almost seems kind of backwards, but I feel like it takes too much expressiveness out of the leads, and I don't particularly care about expressiveness when I'm chugging along playing rhythm. It's a little bit better with the gain brought up and the volume brought down, but I prefer dry vintage for leads (with delay sometimes). Sometimes I throw a BB Pre on top of leads for a little bit more gain, which I like, but still prefer dry most of the time.

 

[VanWreckto]

IMO, a great lead tone is one that has less gain, more mids and with increased volume. That's what makes it cut through. Not increased gain, which adds compression and narrows the spectrum which then makes it get lost in the shuffle/mix.

 

[Gnarkill3k6]

I thought compression DOES cut better through the mix... no?

 

[screamingdaisy]

IMO... Tubescreamers are fine for shaping the sound of the amp a bit but they're underwelming for lead guitar. It's like pissing next to a firehose... yeah, it'll help put out the fire faster... but no one is impressed by it.

If all you're looking for is a bit of extra sustain, then go for it. But it's not like you're boosting a Marshall... the crowd isn't going to be impressed by the tiny bit of upper mids you just added to your Recto. If you're in a two guitar band they probably won't even notice the difference.

Far more effective is setting up a dedicated lead channel or using the built in solo boost. Using a volume boost is like punching people in the face with your guitar. You'll stand out against the rhythm section instead of blending in with them. It also fattens up single notes so you won't suffer from thin/wimpy lead guitar syndrome.

 

[tomprs]

IMO... Tubescreamers are fine for shaping the sound of the amp a bit but they're underwelming for lead guitar. It's like pissing next to a firehose... yeah, it'll help put out the fire faster... but no one is impressed by it.

If all you're looking for is a bit of extra sustain, then go for it. But it's not like you're boosting a Marshall... the crowd isn't going to be impressed by the tiny bit of upper mids you just added to your Recto. If you're in a two guitar band they probably won't even notice the difference.

Far more effective is setting up a dedicated lead channel or using the built in solo boost. Using a volume boost is like punching people in the face with your guitar. You'll stand out against the rhythm section instead of blending in with them. It also fattens up single notes so you won't suffer from thin/wimpy lead guitar syndrome.

Yeah you're right. The problem is that I don't use the fx loop on my dual rec so I don't have the Boost option. What would be the best way to make the loop as transparent as possible so I could use the boost (I prefer the sound of the amp with the loop totally by-passed)? I have all my effects set up in front of the amp.

 

[screamingdaisy]

Yeah you're right. The problem is that I don't use the fx loop on my dual rec so I don't have the Boost option. What would be the best way to make the loop as transparent as possible so I could use the boost (I prefer the sound of the amp with the loop totally by-passed)? I have all my effects set up in front of the amp.

Is the difference in FX loop bypassed actually audible when you're playing with your band? With my 2ch the FX loop is pretty atrocious, however my Roadster the difference is pretty subtle.

 

[b0nkersx1]

Yeah you're right. The problem is that I don't use the fx loop on my dual rec so I don't have the Boost option. What would be the best way to make the loop as transparent as possible so I could use the boost (I prefer the sound of the amp with the loop totally by-passed)? I have all my effects set up in front of the amp.

You don't even have to go that far. If you hard bypass the loop, you can just set one channel to be really loud, and use it as lead channel (ie ch3 modern rhythm with volume at 10:00, and ch2 vintage lead with volume at 12:30)

 

[tomprs]

Yeah you're right. The problem is that I don't use the fx loop on my dual rec so I don't have the Boost option. What would be the best way to make the loop as transparent as possible so I could use the boost (I prefer the sound of the amp with the loop totally by-passed)? I have all my effects set up in front of the amp.

Is the difference in FX loop bypassed actually audible when you're playing with your band? With my 2ch the FX loop is pretty atrocious, however my Roadster the difference is pretty subtle.

The difference is actually not that big, I will maybe go this way for live gigs. Good thing is that I would also be able to use the general master volume, which is very useful when you don't want to loose time adjusting the 3 channels volumes during a soundcheck. Having a channel set very loud could be an option but it has to be channel 3 as I use channel 2 for rythm (channel 2 in vintage mode is THE sound I had been looking for years before buying the dual rec!). And so far I haven't been able to get a satisfying rythm or lead tone out of channel 3...maybe I'll try with Raw and Vintage modes.