double duty dirt boxes?

[revelator]

Just wondering...those of you who pull double duty as both a rhythm and a lead player how do you pick your dirt pedals? Do you choose a pedal that works for lead & make do for rhythm or do you make your lead tone come out of your rhythm pedals?

After going thru the huge board faze I've come to the conclusion that I like 3 stages of dirt, super light, mild & heavy OD (NO distortion just thick OD), then I can stack for more variety. My struggle is I don't want to have a set of each for both lead & rhythm. Currently my light works magic for both, my mild is great (read PERFECT) for lead but struggles (read SUCKS) in the rhythm & my heavy od is best for rhythm but nice for lead.

I'm not looking so much for people to solve my issue but rather to see how other lead & rhythm players are handling their dirt needs.

(Sent from my Droid using the free TDPRI app which RULES!!)

[JesterR]

Actually It very depends on situation. I plays both rhythm and leads. Also I play with second guitarist. And actually I can play with only one dirt box, or like now I have 5(!) gain stages on my board from clean boost to fuzz. But that's some rules, which I had:
1)I do not like some kind of loudness war. When I play leads I prefer to have not very bright and loud sound on second guitar, and not a lot of cymbals on drums. So, I want to say, that right arrangement of song and right things, that other guys do is most important. Without it, I can go through dozen of boosters, but all I will get is more muddy song.
2)When I play leads most important parts are midrange and compression. So, for rhythm part I have more dynamic and transparent OD, and for leads I stacked it with some kind of TS-like pedal, which gives midrange and slightly more compressed sound.
3)Also, I try to use my pickups in same concepts of midrange and dynamics. So, if I go through one OD, I'll try to play mostly on both pickups, or roll-off some tone, and for leads go to bridge pickup with tone full opened.
4)And last thing, I try to do things which necessary for particular song. If in this song I should play lead with dirty and muddy fuzz sounds, I'll do it. :)

[RomanS]

I've got a Barber 1/2 Gainer - one channel set for barely breaking up (my basic rhythm tone), the other channel set for low-mid gain (my solo tone); if I need even more gain (whcih I rarely ever do), I goose it with a booster.

[Axis29]

It depends on how I feel at the moment.... no, seriously.

Dirt pedals is the category of pedal I have the most. On my board, there are anywhere from two to four at any given time. Most of the time, I'm trying to emulate my amp being cranked (or someone else's amp being cranked! LOL).

I will use my fuzz pedal, or my overdrive pedal a lot when I'm chunking away at rhythm stuff to try and get a nice crunchy, chug, then I might switch out to my Overdrive when I want a lead, to make it a little creamier... or I might step off all together to make it smoother and cleaner to sit on top of the other guitar player's sound. Or, I might have nothing on for a nice clean rhythm and step on any of the dirt pedals to give my solo a hairy edge.

Then, I use different pickups for different sounds, the bridge pickups into fuzz for really tight scratchy sounds, neck for creamy smooth leads.... Bridge for a brighter sound to sit on top.

Then, i use my volume knob for different effects as well. The fuzz pedals react to the guitar volume... so do a lot of overdrive pedals. The higher you go on the guitar volume, the more dirt you get. Again, I switch it all up!

No rules man, no rules! LOL

[JoshuaCLS]

I play both. I tend to set my amp different between the two. More crunch when playing rhythm, and i use a transparent OD to get that more dirt feel.

When playing leads, I set the amp a little cleaner, and then stack the same transparent OD, some sort of TS variant and maybe a clean boost to get different levels. You SHOULD be able to find an OD that works well for both leads and rhythms. I like both of mine, the full drive 2, and the Jekyll side of the Jekyll and Hyde.

[Chiogtr4x]

With very little exception, other than a dedicated "step on for fuzz/distortion lead" pedal, I prefer finding/using OD's that are very dynamic and I leave ON basically all the time and just roll up for lead breaks and distortion. So that means that my clean sound is usually not crystal clear, but is cleaned up... BUT I also play music that does not typically use a lot of distortion even at my highest settings...The silly Boss Blues Driver and MXR Classic Distortion (bright modded) actually work great for me on this way. Also I like to switch OD's around but won't use more than two dirt pedals on any gig- just not needed for me

[studio1087]

Originally Posted by RomanS

I've got a Barber 1/2 Gainer - one channel set for barely breaking up (my basic rhythm tone), the other channel set for low-mid gain (my solo tone); if I need even more gain (which I rarely ever do), I goose it with a booster.

It's like two TS-808's and you can dial in the amount of mid hump or scoop it out with the mid knob.

Outstanding pedal. Get this.



I think they are $169 now. Worth every cent. I got mine used. Love it.

A good sounding (lower priced) pedal is the Twin Overdrive by Guitar Fetish. It's a TS-808 sound next to a TS9 sound. These are $70 new. It sounds pretty good. I bought when when they first came out.



The Barber has more transparency in it's growl and the mid knob is fantastic.

[Thighbanez]

I usually just use either my "MXR C-D" or "MHP BD-2" for my basic rhythm sound (Have them both set for mild breakup).

If I'm playing rhythm on a softer song I use the BD-2 because it has better EQ and bass.
If I'm playing rhythm on a faster song I use the MXR C-D for it's brightness and treble profile.

For lead I just turn them both on.

=]