Suggestions for rock lead tone

[krowbot]

Hey all. I'm running with a Fender AV52ri and a Vox AC30cc2. I'm pretty set when it comes to playing blues as far as rhythm tone and lead tone. I was just wondering what kind of pedals any of you fellows use when playing some heavier stuff. I'm thinking more on the verge of maybe some of Radiohead's heavier stuff perhaps.

One specific question I had in mind was what some of you guys use for boost when lead time comes. I've been combining some of my distortion pedals and stompin on an ibanez ts9 to boost up for a lead tone. Do any of you guys use this sort of combination? All suggestions are appreciated !

[Yoni]

tube screamers are great devices. I love my BYOC OD2. cuz it has the boost built in.

[ReIgnition]

Analogman or Keeley SD-1... they both have less mid-range push than their stock counterparts. I'll play anything from mid 80's NYC or DC hardcore (which was the anti-rockstar solos era) to Killswitch Engage.

All my amps are tube and I have a few distortion pedals for low volume crunch but I've been using OD pedals lately and fiddling with my volume knobs to get 'almost' as much heavy crunch while still having tone.

I haven't found a distortion pedal that will sound as good as my cranked Mesa but I'm an old man not living in my downtown loft anymore... residential neighborhoods don't like cranked Mesa's.

Try one of those OD's and or an eq with a stock screamer to pull the mids down if you're going for a newer metal sound.

[beep.click]

Originally Posted by krowbot

One specific question I had in mind was what some of you guys use for boost when lead time comes. I've been combining some of my distortion pedals and stompin on an ibanez ts9 to boost up for a lead tone. Do any of you guys use this sort of combination?

That's exactly what I've been doing lately -- Tele through AC30, and step on a combination of pedals, if I need to get a thick sound.

[dalandan]

RAT.

[studio1087]

I would buy a Bad Monkey by Digitech because it's a nice TS9 clone (tone-wise) with separate knobs for bass and treble. It's important to have a bit of cutting edge (treble) on the boosted overdrive but I like boosting the bottom as well. I like to have a little extra bottom beef when I play a lead. Boosting the gain and boosting both the top and bottom are nice. Nice and full.

As a stand-alone overdrive, the Monkey has a bit more gain than a TS9.

$39 - $49 new (cheap).

[krowbot]

Thanks all. Being a tele forum I guess I was shy to say, but the sound for this particular song I'm working on happens to be driven by a Marshall Shredmaster pedal. Most tunes I've been writing have the heavier rhythm parts played by the rhythm guitarist, but this time I've got two guitars playing really chunky.

I have a proco rat 2 so I'll try boosting with that perhaps? I'll get my hands on a Bad Monkey as well and see how it qualifies vs. using the ts9 as a boost also. Thanks guys!

[Wayne Alexander]

You have one of the world's best touch-sensitive, dirty-sounding amps and you want to use a pedal? Reverse your thinking. Put the volume control on your guitar all the way up. Crank the amp to 100%, reduce the master volume until it's the right volume. Is that sound usable for your lead tone? If so, just turn down the volume control on your guitar to about 50-75% (don't change the amp) and that's your cleaner, rhythm/normal sound. Then turn the guitar volume control all the way up for lead sounds.

You may need a guitar with humbucker pickups, it gives you a lot of options that you don't have with a tele. To my tastes, that's a better sound than Tele/AC30/stompbox (and I've got some amazingly good stompboxes). But we don't all want the same sounds, so your tastes may not match mine.

[rockinhorse]

Danelectro Cool Cat OD.....$40....great little pedal