# What do you use for your live lead tone to cut through?



## telecaster90 (Sep 25, 2006)

I played with lead with my church's new youth band for the first time last sunday and I couldn't hear my lead tone at all. I have the gain on about 60 and I have it running with Chorus, Delay, and Wah. Do you have any advice for what I should change/add?


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## jakeskylyr (Sep 26, 2006)

For me personally, live lead tones are all about mids. If you back off some of the lows and highs, and accentuate the frequencies between 600-1500hz (ish) to taste, you'll find something. Also, if it all possible, try to replicate a similar musical situation that you will be using it for when trying to tweak this, as to get an accurate idea of which mid frequency (or frequencies) will allow you to cut through. It's also important to remember that lead sounds that sound the best over multiple instruments aren't generally the most exciting on their own.


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## noodles (Sep 26, 2006)

In addition to mids, make sure you turn up the presence more. I've noticed that the presence knob really effects the ability for your guitar to stand out in the mix. Also, the less effects the better. A little bit goes a long way, and what sounds great in your bedroom will get drowned out live.


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## Leon (Sep 26, 2006)

^ +1

with effects, it's nice on a recording or in the bedroom, but once you're in a large room, like in a church, you'll get *natural* reverb and delay, and any that you're adding with pedals can really hamper the sound.


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## maliciousteve (Sep 27, 2006)

shit loads of mids with no reverb and not too much gain


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## rummy (Sep 27, 2006)

Reduce gain, increase mid/high.


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## eleven59 (Sep 28, 2006)

Since I'm playing small clubs/my singer's basement lately, I use a little delay on my solos to thicken it up a bit, but what helps me cut through is the "EQ" boost on my Flextone II, which essentially just makes it cut nicely. I have the option of a pure volume boost, but I never found it as effective.


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## Drew (Sep 28, 2006)

Lose the chorus, first and foremost. Chorus kicks ass for making a guitar part sort of sit back in a mix and blend in, but it robs it of all "presence" and body. 

You can use delay and 'verb if you're careful, but err towards a dry signal. Also,mids are your friend and you don't need a TON of bass for a good lead sound. 

And when in doubt, flex.


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## shadowgenesis (Sep 29, 2006)

what kind of amp are you using? When i have guitar lessons, my guitar teachers runs through my old randall SC-200 combo or whatever it is and no matter how we EQ it, the instant i start playing (through a deville) his sound gets totally drowned. And i've heard from a lot of other people that solid state amps and/or any digital sounds seem to have that problem a lot.


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## Elysian (Sep 29, 2006)

Drew said:


> Lose the chorus, first and foremost. Chorus kicks ass for making a guitar part sort of sit back in a mix and blend in, but it robs it of all "presence" and body.
> 
> You can use delay and 'verb if you're careful, but err towards a dry signal. Also,mids are your friend and you don't need a TON of bass for a good lead sound.
> 
> And when in doubt, flex.


+1


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## telecaster90 (Sep 29, 2006)

shadowgenesis said:


> what kind of amp are you using? When i have guitar lessons, my guitar teachers runs through my old randall SC-200 combo or whatever it is and no matter how we EQ it, the instant i start playing (through a deville) his sound gets totally drowned. And i've heard from a lot of other people that solid state amps and/or any digital sounds seem to have that problem a lot.



I'm using a Line6 Duoverb with a Zoom G2.1u effects box. The other guitar player (electric, at least, we also have a bass player and a guy rockin out acoustic and vox) is using a Squire Strat with a 50 watt Marshall AVT and a Zoom G2 pedal (pretty much mine without the expression pedal)


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## telecaster90 (Oct 1, 2006)

Alright, we played again today. I messed around with my EQ for my lead patch and ditched the chorus and delay. I added tons of mids and a little high and dropped some bass. It sounded great! Thanks for the help, guys!


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## Drew (Oct 2, 2006)

We look after our own here, dude. 

Do you have any way to record your lead tone? I'd be curious to hear it.


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## Jeff (Oct 3, 2006)

Duoverbs were pretty cool amps. The dual amp idea from the Vetta, sans the effects and complexity. Neat stuff.


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## Sometimes7 (Oct 4, 2006)

The other guitarist I play with, he is always complaining he can't hear himself in the band. He's sets up his sound w/o the band to what he thinks sounds good. What is that? Lots of lows & highs, much reduced mids and tons of distortion. I've told him many times, it's because he has no mids. He doesn't listen.


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## starsnuffer (Oct 5, 2006)

Sometimes7 said:


> The other guitarist I play with, he is always complaining he can't hear himself in the band. He's sets up his sound w/o the band to what he thinks sounds good. What is that? Lots of lows & highs, much reduced mids and tons of distortion. I've told him many times, it's because he has no mids. He doesn't listen.



Yep. Often that "scooped-mid" sound sounds great in the bedroom, but it just doesn't work at all live. The guitar is a mid-range instrument.

I had a guitarist like that in one of my old bands. It actually pissed me off so much that I took apart his amp and hardwired a resistor to his mid-control so that the knob didn't actually do anything. It sounded way better.

-W


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## Nick1 (Oct 7, 2006)

I play at my church every sunday and have for 7 years. 

I currently use 1 Roland Cube 60. My Eq is.......

Bass 8
Mids 8
Treb-6
Pres-7

That setting allows me to have a cutting tone that isnt TOO bright and isnt muddy at all. The key to cutting thru is the MIDS!!!!!! 

I most often use the Acoustic amp model on the Cube 60 or the JC Clean model. I use a touch of delay as well. And I get compliments often on my sound.


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## telecaster90 (Oct 12, 2006)

Alright, used my mp3 player real quick to get a recording, so the quality's not the greatest in the world. I also just started throwin some random stuff together. Sorry in advance for butchering the bit of Eruption and for completely not playing Voodoo Child like it seems I was about to 

www.myspace.com/colinpoulton

I put it up as "Tone Test", but check out the acoustic song while you're there too. I'm plannin on recording another one at some point soon.

Arg, myspace is being a tool. Anyone wanna upload this real quick for some free rep? Send me a pm or something.

edit: I got it to work, nevermind. It's on the link above.


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