I have a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier. I am currently using a Line 6 Pod but it kind of sucks - I can't get the boost I need for soloing without lots of noise.
I am toying with the idea of going barebones and getting some pedals, I want Mod and Delay so I might get the Line 6 Green and blue boxes.
What would anyone suggest boost wise so my solos are louder?
Would you also disagree with the line 6 boxes?
What would anyone suggest as a set up?
I play mainly heavy and only really solo distorted, lots of low end - yet play some clean tracks.
the paul c tim and timmy are almost universally loved for its clean boost. it's also an overdrive pedal. there's a looong wait to get a new one, since he builds them by hand, but you can find them for resale, but usually for more than he charges. if you don't mind the wait, that's probably the one, but if it's not, you can always resell it. if you don't want to wait...
i have a modded ds-1 i use for volume boost. it's a distortion pedal, but the volume boost after the mod is huge even at low levels, so i just turn the distortion down and use it like that, although it's not pristinly clean, but it has a lot of treble boost, so it cuts through. i can also use my supernovadrive as a clean boost. that's a great pedal. 3 band eq and wide distortion range.
it depends on how much you want to spend. i'd just test a bunch of overdrive pedals until i found one that sounds good clean as well as dirty.
What would anyone suggest boost wise so my solos are louder?
I play mainly heavy and only really solo distorted, lots of low end - yet play some clean tracks.
Turn down the low end, that's what the bass is for. Low end in a lead guitar just adds useless mud and mush that soaks up power. Turn up your mids. That will help you cut through the mix.
Scooped mids are for bedroom players, not for band members.
Oh - and contemplate this bit of wisdom: "If everything's loud, nothing sounds louder."
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
I use a Digitech RP355 - for each preset it has 2 amps switchable by a footswitch. I simply set amp B to be identical to amp A (you can make them different if you want) but with more gain. Time to solo? Tap the footswitch. Solo done? Tap the same foootswitch again.
Since I do one-nighters and play sax, wind synth, guitar, vocals, flute, percussion controller and sometimes keyboards on the gig, I use it without an amp, but plug directly in the PA. You can use this pedal with an amp, but I have no experience with that so I don't know how good it sounds that way.
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Bob "Notes" Norton
Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com Add-on Styles for Band-in-a-Box and Microsoft SongSmith
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TRex Moller:
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/T-Rex-Engineering-Moller-Overdrive-and-Clean-Boost-Guitar-Pedal?sku=151129
it has two sections: (1) overdrive and distortion with clean blend to determine just how much crunch you want. (2) settable clean boost. these sections can be used separately or together.
or equivalently a Voodoo Lab Sparkle drive (OD + distortion with clean blend) + an MXR MicroAmp (adjustable clean drive):
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Voodoo-Lab-Sparkle-Drive-Pedal?sku=153508
and
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/MXR-M133-Micro-Amp-Pedal-?sku=151104
I have setups with each version of the above. the second I like because I put the MicroAmp right up front and use it to buffer the guitar signal before routing thru the rest of the pedals.
and one more thing: get a volume pedal.
-=tension & release=-
