Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Plenum n Heather on May 12, 2017, 01:01:20 PM
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I have always been a much bigger fan of boosts than overdrive. I was the only guitar player in my last two bands and it worked just fine. In my current project, however, there are two guitar players and there is more of a need to cut without necessarily adding a mountain of level. I started playing around with stacking boosts and overdrives and am REALLY happy with the way it sounds, particularly with Marshall style amplifiers.
I need 4 sounds for this project: clean, edge of breakup, crunch with a small level boost, solo boost. I ended up stacking the following into either Channel A of a Marshall or into one of my single channel amplifiers:
JCollocia Horus (low gain OD) > Way Huge Green Rhino > Bogner Harlow
All off is clean, the Horus cuts the bass a bit and adds dynamic gain (the gain increases with pick attack); the Green Rhino stacked with the Horus tightens up the tone even more and provides crunch. When I engage the Harlow (compression is all the way down), it gives a level boost for solos.
I have a strymon DECO at the end of the board which adds a bit of compression as well. The Neve transformer in the Harlow also adds a dimension that my Philospher's Tone doesn't have.
So whilst I still prefer using stacked boost pedals, in a two-guitar situation, OD definitely seems to be the better option for cutting through the bigger sound and frequency masking from the other guitarist.
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Really interesting findings Ben.
I always preferred overdrives, but recently switched over to transistor boosts. I have the feeling that these boosts, due to their simplicity, let more playing dynamics through.
I also think its because I'm using a lot less gain on my basic tone than I used to, so I don't need to remove low end to cut. I have my rhythm tone setup so that it moves into a crunch when I play power chords. When I play single notes normally I hear a little bit of compression and, if I pick lightly, can get completely clean.
Then when I use the boost for a solo, it not only increases gain, but also it adds a big dose of level. I find by doing that, setting up the amount of boost for the right solo volume also gives me the right amount of gain which really sings.
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I find that having the second guitar really makes it imperative to have a more cutting sound; when I am playing solo guitar gigs, I prefer a much more 'full range' tone!