# Lead Tones/Effects



## shadowgenesis (May 8, 2006)

So what kind of tones do you use when you're soloing? What kind of gain settings do you use? What pickup do you prefer? Do you like to throw on verb or delay or just a dry signal? Do you ever throw on modulation or other effects for a little flavor? And if you are using effects, what kind of pedals are you using?


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## Drew (May 8, 2006)

UV7PWH - straight into Mesa Nomad 45 2x12, typically set with the gain at about 11 o'clock, treble 12:30, mids 1, bass 10, and presence 10:30, with a Line6 DL4 in the effects loop set for a light 3-4-repeat delay, and a bit of amp reverb, too. Generally bridge pickup, but depending on the situation sometimes the neck - we'll say 75%-25% on each. When I'm recording, I'll kill the 'verb and delay and add them into the mix for added control. 

Rarely I'll grab a wah or something, but I like the sound of this amp enough that I don't want to do too much to the tone I'm hearing.


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## telecaster90 (May 14, 2006)

I either use Wah, Wah and Delay, or Chorus and Delay. I tend to stick to my bridge pickup.


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## 7slinger (May 14, 2006)

right now just a little verb from the Gsys


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## All_¥our_Bass (May 22, 2006)

I like overdrive, distortion, fuzz, delay, touch o' 'verb, octaver(-1 or +1) and sometimes wah.

I also stubled across a wonderful sound at GC by running my bass through and overdrive and a chorus(in series). I later recreated a preset identical to this on my multi fx unit.

Here's a sound clip (I made it at like three in the morning 2 months ago, timing's not perfect but still pretty good)
Have a listen


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## Toshiro (May 22, 2006)

Light compression, enough gain to sizzle a bit, MIDS!, slow as hell chorus, 350ms delay with 2-3 repeats, little bit of 'verb. I use all my pickups for variation in tone/gain. The singles and notch(H-S-H) positions sound cool for some things. Generally, I like to use the bridge for anything below the 12th fret, and neck for anything above.


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## noodles (May 22, 2006)

Depends on the type of solo I'm doing. For the faster stuff, just a touch of delay and reverb, a moderate amount of gain, and a fairly bright tone on the bridge pickup.

Now, fo the slower stuff, neck pickup, drenched in reverb and delay, with some more gain. I love soup.


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## eaeolian (May 22, 2006)

^ You forgot wah. 

Me? 2-3 repeat delay, about 20% mix, and a fair amount of gain. I use the bridge pickup 90% of the time. I use more mids in my lead tone, too.


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## Regor (May 22, 2006)

I just replicate the output signal in the mixer section of my G-Force to double the signal for one solo boost, and then I have it replicated 3x for another solo boost (kinda like a 'mild' boost for harmonizing lines, and a full solo boost).

FX wise, I have an '80s metal' setting with some thick chorus and reverb. But that's about it.


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## abyssalservant (May 23, 2006)

Distortion(razor), reverb (somewhat). Used to use some wah, towards the "ah" and slight wiggling (Kerry King-style or Mike Amott-style), but knd of got sick of that.
At some points I've done different tones for interesting sections, like "In the Ashes," where I used a clean, 'verbed tone with delay that matched the tempo. Would have liked to put some chorus on it.
Have also occasionally thrown in touches of phaser, or a shred of delay on the last notes of a solo, but only post-performance in the "studio." I really don't like going overboard with effects. The lighter the touches, the better.
AYB's also used some interesting shit that he didn't mention - like on the joke solo "A Unda Watta Bass" . . . but damned if I know what he did. The combination of distortion/fuzz, octave down, and carefully calibrated reverb or delay makes a bass sound as evil as hell and gets fun feedback.
He's also used some sort of bizzarre noise gate and combinations of octave down and up to make a bowed-bass sort of sound. At one point on a crappy "noise" song, I used octave down and two octaves down with more medium distortion and manual chorusing to make the guitar sound like a pipe organ from another planet.


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## noodles (May 23, 2006)

eaeolian said:


> ^ You forgot wah.



That goes without sayin'...


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## Leon (May 24, 2006)

rock stuff: neck pickup (Air Norton 7), light delay (only noticeable when no note is ringing), light reverb (same as delay), and a cranked Nomad with the gain at about 2pm.

mellow stuff: same as before, but i turn the volume down on the guitar to clean it up.

i like to experiment with different sounds, but that seems to be my favorite so far.


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## The Dark Wolf (May 24, 2006)

I use both pickups, neck and bridge. I tend not to use in-between pickup sounds, unless I'm going for a bluesy/Strat-like tone, and then I'll use my neck in parallel mode, for that single coil sound.

I use a fatter, middier tone for lead, with less attack. I use a large reverb and stereo delay, about 800ms or so. No other effects except compression and EQ. Also less gain than I do for my regular rhythm, or at least, less effective gain (as in, sounds less buzzy and harsh).

Volume pedal and occasionally wah.

Since I use amp modelers, I use completely different models for lead and rhythm. I go for a kinda Mark IV/Soldano sound on rhythm, but a hybrid Mark II/Marshall sound for my leads.


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## maliciousteve (May 24, 2006)

my favourite set up is

My RG with bareknuckle holy divers straight into my ADA MP-1 with a Peavey 50/50.

I don't use alot of gain, just enough to make it sing. I like to hear the dynamics in my playing. I don't use alot of presence or treble, i boost the mids way high and have a good amount of bass. Super smooth lead tones.

For rhythm i take out some gain and add some treble to the sound.


With 7 string metal playing i put a boss sd-1 in the front to tighten up the low end and give the sound a more 'modern' tone.


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## All_¥our_Bass (May 24, 2006)

abyssalservant said:


> ... AYB's also used some interesting shit that he didn't mention ...


Well, because most of those things were/are a little more "specialized" I decided it would be best to mention things that are used more/most often.


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## Adam (May 24, 2006)

For shred: Neck p/u through a DOD YJM 308, with no delay or reverb
Vai Stuff: same but with alotta reverb and delay


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## bostjan (May 24, 2006)

Man, it totally depends!

I love throwing in an effect here or there. As for pickups, I love solos that start on the bridge pup and switch to the neck half way (or a little before) through. 

But in a pinch, I'd go with something high gain with either an EMG 707 or an AN7N (or EVO7B). If you have delay, use it appropriately, I'm not much for 'verb in metal songs, but in less serious stuff, it works wonders.

I found a cool trick to end a song: Record the song normally, then overdub a direct signal for the last note/chord. Then play with tons of effects until the last note sounds like a 50 ton dinosaur.


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## abyssalservant (May 25, 2006)

Doing something more purely "melodic" may involve a medium boost to the mids over my normal scooped tones. My melodies normally wander into shredding, though, so that doesn't happen often.


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## All_¥our_Bass (May 31, 2006)

bostjan said:


> ... play with tons of effects until the last note sounds like a 50 ton dinosaur.


 
But how do you know what a 50 ton dinosaur sounds like in the first place?


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## noodles (May 31, 2006)

All_¥our_Bass said:


> But how do you know what a 50 ton dinosaur sounds like in the first place?



Just tune into Oprah's show today to find out.


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## The Dark Wolf (May 31, 2006)

noodles said:


> Just tune into Oprah's show today to find out.


Ohh! Man, that was _seriously_


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## Robotechnology (Jun 1, 2006)

When I use my TriAxis/Xpression/2:90 rig I have 4 different lead tones. 2 are completely dry and 2 are wet. The 2 wet ones have delay, a little EQ, and some VERY slight chorus.


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