Your tricks for a SICK lead tone?

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Hey guys!

Just been pondering this lately....

Is there anything special you do to REALLY push your amp over the top for leads? The Stiletto is one of the best amps I've EVER played to do great rhythm and lead all at one setting. But at times, I feel it could just be pushed a little more to leads.

What is your trick? Do I need to add an overdrive to my board?

My inspiration is coming from this...I know it's a different amp, and a player WAY about my level, but the tone is just sick IMO. It just screams.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEtejED3EsM

Appreciate you talking gear with me, as usual!

 

[MusicManJP6]

Have you tried a compressor? Adds sustain, richness, and attack...

 

[vertigo_]

this:

http://www.xotic.us/effects/bb_preamp/

 

[insideout]

Yep, a compressor can do it. For my taste, I like to use a TS-9 though. It's just enough to kick it in the pants and take the amp to that magic happy place of sustain and saturation. Many complain about the mid hump of a TS-9 but using it for a solo tone is perfect - the added mid helps you cut through that much more 8) .

 

[Geiri]

What works for me is that I crank the gain on the amp to say about somewhere between 3 and 5 o'clock and use an overdrive to push the input signal over the edge. When doing this I NEVER use the drive knob on the od just the volume and tone. This gives me the very tight lead tone without the fuzz of the od.

But mind you tho Jp uses massive gain for his lead sound so if you are not getting the results from what I described above try this.

Use the drive on the od and use less treble and presence to eliminate the od fuzz.

What I heard from the you tube vid was a very dark lead tone so if that rocks your boat you should be able to achieve that with lowering the high end frequencies and boosting your gain both on amp and od.

Hope this helps

 

[MusicManJP6]

Sure, an OD may do the trick. I like a compressor more for it's fattening effect though. It helps single notes sound fuller. An OD tends to add more saturation but can also sound a little thin. Try both!

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Looks like I've got some tinkering to do then :lol:

Darn curiosity.

 

[woody]

I really never liked a compressor with my mesa, What about a good EQ

 

[jdurso]

a shot and a beer... gets the fingers limber

for smooth leads the trick for me is back off the presence a whole lot and add some treble from the OCD and a little bump in the mids from the EQ in the loop. Also, I almost always use some reverb and a touch of delay... not so much that i'm hiding behind it but to give it more of a 3d effect and texture. I hate bone dry leads.

 

[Turumbar82]

Recently I've been trying not to use any overdrive or compressor to boost for solos. just to see the difference. I have seen a lot of great players that shred and don't use any boost, like petrucci and I've wondered what is it that he's doing to get such a great lead sound and not use a boost.

I haven't figured it out yet but I used to feel like I couldn't do a decent solo without a boost and now I feel like I don't really need the boost.

Maybe it has to do with technique more than whether there is a boost or not. Or maybe it has to do with really getting your power tubes cooking.

I read an article with David Gilmour and he said you have to get your amp to the point where it is basically on the verge of feedback and that's where you get your best lead tones.

I agree with Jdurso that the mids should be bumped up (800hz) and the presence on the amp should be brought back to give a rounder tone and I completely agree with him about not liking dry lead sounds. I always have just a little reverb and delay on it. Ducking delays are great for leads. They stay out of the way when you are playing and when you stop they come up.

 

[jdurso]

Maybe it has to do with technique more than whether there is a boost or not. Or maybe it has to do with really getting your power tubes cooking.

I read an article with David Gilmour and he said you have to get your amp to the point where it is basically on the verge of feedback and that's where you get your best lead tones.

I agree with Jdurso that the mids should be bumped up (800hz) and the presence on the amp should be brought back to give a rounder tone and I completely agree with him about not liking dry lead sounds. I always have just a little reverb and delay on it. Ducking delays are great for leads. They stay out of the way when you are playing and when you stop they come up.

I think it depends on the amp. I've played a HiWatt using an attenuator before using a PRS CU24 and the feel reminded me very much of a front boosted high gain amp. In that situation the attenuator is almost a must to play at reasonable volumes, but i would guess thats the secret to Gilmore's lead (he probably didnt use an attenuator though).

As for the ducking delay, its a must in my book. The best is in a W/D/W setup... nothing beats a sweet stereo delay.

 

[nitrous2400]

1) boost your **** mids, add sum gain and take away some bass
2) get an overdrive /tubescreamer (ts9,bbpre, ocd, etc.)
3) get a good neck pickup thats smooth and not overly bassy
4) set your pickup heights and intonation
5) learn to play

:lol:

 

[kmanick]

Recently I've been trying not to use any overdrive or compressor to boost for solos. just to see the difference. I have seen a lot of great players that shred and don't use any boost, like petrucci and I've wondered what is it that he's doing to get such a great lead sound and not use a boost.

I haven't figured it out yet but I used to feel like I couldn't do a decent solo without a boost and now I feel like I don't really need the boost.

Maybe it has to do with technique more than whether there is a boost or not. Or maybe it has to do with really getting your power tubes cooking.

I read an article with David Gilmour and he said you have to get your amp to the point where it is basically on the verge of feedback and that's where you get your best lead tones.

I agree with Jdurso that the mids should be bumped up (800hz) and the presence on the amp should be brought back to give a rounder tone and I completely agree with him about not liking dry lead sounds. I always have just a little reverb and delay on it. Ducking delays are great for leads. They stay out of the way when you are playing and when you stop they come up.

Petrucci doesn't use a boost?
have you ever looked at his rig? he's got boost pedals in there, with his rectos he definitely used them, I don't know if he's still using them with the Mark IV's (he probably is).
A clean boost in front of your amp will definitely help your lead tone sing.
I used one with my Rectoverb 100% of the time I had it.
boosting a Stilleto will proboably work wonders.

 

[MrMarkIII]

At the end of the video it says the guy uses a Boss CS-3 compressor and SD-1.
However, the guy's real secret is that he obviously practices his a$$ off.
He'd sound exactly the same through a Crate.

 

[Stratocaster]

At the end of the video it says the guy uses a Boss CS-3 compressor and SD-1.
However, the guy's real secret is that he obviously practices his a$$ off.
He'd sound exactly the same through a Crate.

Very true, MrMark…
But no one is really interested in discussing that, now are they?

Much easier to twist a knob to (perceived) improvement. Plus, it's pretty lonely in the woodshed.


Strat

 

[label thief]

OD, bit of compression.. slapback delay... yeah you can say i ripped off john there.. haha but it works for my leadtone!

 

[dmt]

tricks for tha phat sound:

multiple analog distortion pedals with different eq's, one boosting the next. so a really bright trebely distortion with low gain setting into a higher gain set distortion with a big low end into a clean tube amp run just below breakup.

Same applies for my quad. running the two lead channels in unison for a punchy lead...

 

[camsna]

First and most importantly - Hands

Then guitar.

Then an OD (TS 808, TS9, etc...) in front of the amp, just for a little grind.

Then a well configured delay (or two).

 

[EMGguitarist]

I like adding the reverb onto mine... On my ToV they have a footswitchable reverb for each channel so I'll simply have rhythm set with no reverb and for my lead ill click it on while set at 3oclock or so and its bliss. For overdrive lead for country based and bluesy tones i do the same thing except i use the clean channel and toss in a od-9 for more mids and a scoatch more drive... good luck man!

 

[EMGguitarist]

tubes are also a very important part to this though... no one has mentioned it but **** its suprising with a good set of tubes