What's your 'guitar solo' pedal(s)?

[stevejamsecono]

This has been a topic of some interest for me for awhile -- how do we get those killer lead sounds we love so much? Everyone's rig is different, and I'd love to hear what pedals (or combinations therein) work for you in your rig, and why!

For me, I'm generally look for a cutting sound with a bit more sustain, but still controllable. My favorite combinations so far to get that have been the following:

Into a Gainy Amp -- BD-2 in the front, GE-7 in the loop for volume boost and tone shaping. -- The BD-2 thickened it up nicely and added some nice fizz on the top, and the GE-7 shapes it perfectly and gets it over the rest of the band.

Into a Clean Amp - Clean boost after gain pedals, still trying various shaping things in front of the gain pedal. -- This is an ongoing effort, lately I'm using a Mooer Rat to do the boosting and the second channel of my Okko Diablo Dual for the volume. Seems to work, although the Rat is a little underwhelming in this role so I may swap it for a TS Mini or a Tumnus.

How 'bout ya'll?

[i love sharin foo]

Pretty much always fuzz. I'll often run a booster as a more normal 'clean' sound (that really isn't clean). Ideally the booster is downstream from the fuzz then there's a healthy volume increase when the fuzz is turned on. That's my standard mode of operation. I did recently get a Plumes though, so I've been experimenting with that instead of boosters here and there.

[Fac 50]

Live I have 3 approaches at the moment, used for different songs:

1) Gain Changer is always on. Stack with Analogman Tubescreamer in front of it for smoother, sustainy solos. The TS is very friendly for this application and various settings all sound great. Generally gain quite low and output quite high.

2) Duke of Tone into Gain Changer - for spiky, more cutting leads.

3. Gain Changer into DMM with the level control above unity for a touch more gain and volume. Delay to suit.

[MechaBulletBill]

fuzz and/or turn the guitar volume knob up

[fuzzjunkie]

I have 2 methods:

1. Pretty simple: A fuzz, usually something Tonebender, on its own or with a tape echo style slap-back. That works well with a Telecaster or Jazzmaster into a Vox or Fender Tweed. Tonebenders don’t have Fuzz Face levels of clean up, but with the amp on the edge of breaking up, the tone is pretty dynamic with some volume changes or picking variations.

2. More complex: An overdrive, in this case a Throbak Overdrive/Boost. It’s almost an amp in a box and it comes after the fuzz pedals in my chain. Actually it’s after my Vibe and El Capistan too, because I can use it as a low gain Fuzz Face after the Vibe, or as the tape echo preamp that the Strymon lacks.

It has 3 settings so it can be an always on pedal for clean boost, a crunchy boost, or a fuzz that cleans up like a Fuzz Face. The EQ and pre/post gain settings make it very versatile. The way I have it set it gives a Klon type boost, a Marshall style crunch, and a low gain Fuzz Face.

The Klon boost setting I use on its own and can control with my volume knob. I also use it as an Echoplex type preamp boost after the El Capistan. This works great with a Fender amp, and I use it mostly with my tweed Bassman.

The Marshall crunch setting I use mostly for rhythm tones into the Vox. From there I can push it with a fuzz. It stacks well with any Tonebender or Muff style pedal. Or with a foot switch I can change it to the Klon boost setting for leads.

The Fuzz setting is basically a low gain Fuzz Face that can be either silicon transistors or a combination of silicon and germanium. The silicon alone has more bite and volume. Into a tweed amp it sounds like Neil Young’s Rust Never Sleeps ripped speakers tone. Into the Vox it’s more of a Mick Ronson into a Marshall with a Tonebender, especially when I break out the Gibson. That’s the closest I’ve ever come to that Ziggy or Rebel, Rebel sound.

I’m more likely to run digital delays and reverbs using the Klon setting for spacey leads. Sometimes I will add a fuzz for a psychedelic experience, or I can change the settings to make it more like a Rangemaster. It does a really nice Rangemaster impersonation.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Hmmm.
I have some approaches.

Generally my Sound contains a lot of Fuzz - but goes into a rather clean Fender Head (Bassman (voiced Supersonic) or Bansmaster).

1) I like to tame Fuzz with the volume knob (+Treble Bleed) - and go back to Full for „Lead“ - or

2) a JPTR FX Jive (Reel Saturation) as something like a Gain (and maybe minimal volume) Boost/a bit much of added compression.

3) Sometimes I also like to add my Echo Dream 2, which is last in chain (somewhere in the 150-180ms area) with very mild (almost no) modulation. It thickens stuff up and also works as a boost (with a Fuzz Control even).

4) last option: EQD Tentacle in Front of the Fuzzes which is less of a boost - just added crazyness.

[marqueemoon]

Clean boost/clean mid boost for me.

I will stack with my Archer or Rat and/or switch pickups depending on how dirty I need to be.

One side of my Suhr Kokoboost just shit the bed at a show. I had been thinking about making a change anyway because my board is a little too crowded.

The replacement will probably be something I already have.

For recording I sometimes use a treble booster, but it’s a bit too wooly and unpredictable live.

[JVG]

Your list is missing a Treble Booster!

Fuzz into treble booster (as per Sun Lion) is a magical sound.

Treble booster into a Rat is a magical sound.

Treble booster into a cranked amp is a magical sound.

I could go on….

[CS]

Most of my overdrives have a boost side. I like my solo tone louder and bassier than the not solo tone. I like a
fuzz or booster sometimes.

[marqueemoon]

Your list is missing a Treble Booster!

Fuzz into treble booster (as per Sun Lion) is a magical sound.

Treble booster into a Rat is a magical sound.

Treble booster into a cranked amp is a magical sound.

I could go on….

For melting faces it’s hard to find a better circuit than a treble booster.

Earthquaker Bows into White Atom is a favorite of mine. There’s tons of clarity, but it sounds like something is about to explode.

[OffYourFace]

My old Boss OD-1 that I recently got from Jay. I modified it to have the capacitor values of the early version. The 14-pin chip is overated, it's about the cap values. Anyway, I use that to push a Ramshead BM I made with one of Jay's PCBs and it's crazy how tight and harmonically rich it makes the BM. It almost sounds like Van Halen if you want it to haha. It also works great pushing my BD-2.

[i love sharin foo]

I have 2 methods:


2. More complex: An overdrive, in this case a Throbak Overdrive/Boost.

You have mentioned that pedal many times over the years and I’ve always been intrigued by it. I have to get caught up on a couple other purchases first, then I think I’ll give one a try.

[fuzzjunkie]

I have 2 methods:


2. More complex: An overdrive, in this case a Throbak Overdrive/Boost.

You have mentioned that pedal many times over the years and I’ve always been intrigued by it. I have to get caught up on a couple other purchases first, then I think I’ll give one a try.

This is the thread that got me interested. It’s from 2008 and I think I discovered it in 2012 and started looking for one.

Throbak ODB

You can see people mentioning using it in place of a Beano Boost, a Klon, a Fuzz Face, a Timmy, and getting Neil Young tones out of it. Anything from a transparent clean boost to slightly dirty, to full on fuzz. It replaced a big box Rat and a Super Duper 2-1 on my board.

Later in the thread a couple people mentioned getting a second one so they could either get more variation on the clean to dirty tones, or put one at the front of their board for the fuzzy overdrive and Fuzz Face tones, and one at the end as a clean boost and gain stacker.

[Futuron]

Since I already have a BD-2 always-on, I boost the volume & gain with an OD-3, to switch to vanilla sounding 'solo' stuff

Although there's nothing in the poll for modulation effects, for flavour to get crazy/weird

[mynameisjonas]

I have two Boss OD-3s on my board. The first one is my basic rhythm sound, and the second is the exact same sound, just a little bit louder, for choruses and such. For leads I boost the second OD-3 with the first one, or with a fuzz (either FZ-2 or FZ-3).