Solo boost?

guitarcookie1

Playing live for the first time ever in two weeks time & I'm having a bit of a problem being heard when it comes to solo time.

The song we're doing is Paranoid.

We've got a good rhythm sound going from the college's Peavey Studios (no choice but to use these).

I've tried rolling the volume back on the guitar and then up for solo but the others in the group say I'm still quiet in the mix.

Going to take my Boss Booster along next time to see if that helps, anything else I should be doing please?

octatonic

If you want a proper boost then you need to put something in the FX loop.

Either a clean boost or an EQ pedal.

If you put it on the front end of a distorted amp then it will just make it more distorted.

Deijavoo

Get a ZVEX Super Hard On. Or a clone if you fancy saving a few quid, I use a clone and it's class. 

Gassage

For very little the MXR/CAE 401 boost is superb.

Cirrus

I solo boost by putting my foot on the monitor and pulling a silly face. Seriously though, if you're going through a dirty channel on the amp a clean boost in the effects loop is pretty much the only way, short of asking the soundman to turn you up during the solo.

ESBlonde

A cleaner sound will punch through rather than your best bedroom distortion. You could always get the band to turn down a little!

steamabacus

I always think the simplest option is a volume pedal in the fx loop. Make sure your amps have a bit more volume than you need and then control it with the volume pedal, irrespective of what clean/drive/etc settings you're on. Any tone at any volume.

monquixote

If you are going to stick something in the front then make it something mid humped like a Tube Screamer etc then it will cut through more. 

Another option is to use less gain on your rhythm sound then you will get more boost as the amp won't be fully saturated. 

Bellycaster

If you have a distortion pedal, you could use that instead of the amps distortion, then put a boost pedal after the distortion pedal, this way you get a volume boost.

Like others have said, boost before distortion = more gain/saturation.

This is a very informative page in this link

http://www.guitartoneoverload.com/2010/04/02/tone-tips-boosting-the-volume-of-your-solos/

note the paragraph "Boost at the end of your chain"

guitarcookie1

ESBlonde;229453" said:

A cleaner sound will punch through rather than your best bedroom distortion. You could always get the band to turn down a little!

Always fine until the drummer turns up...

guitarcookie1

monquixote;229473" said:

If you are going to stick something in the front then make it something mid humped like a Tube Screamer etc then it will cut through more. 

Another option is to use less gain on your rhythm sound then you will get more boost as the amp won't be fully saturated. 

Will try the mid hump setting on my booster this week.

GavRichList

Our stuff has the occasional tapping part, and I use an MXR Micro Amp to compensate for volume drop. Mr. Black do a Boost Tiger which looks pretty great too.

mike_l

Maybe a Boss sd-1 or a Bad Monkey upfront for a bit of a gain and volume boost.

Works best if you have a lowish gain setting on the amp though, otherwise it'll just compress more.

Although, given a choice I'd take an MXR microamp in the F/X loop as my own boost-of-choice.

EricTheWeary

Tony Iommi's sound isn't as distorted as you might think, playing the riff part with as clean a sound as you can and it still sounding right will give you somewhere to go in the solo when you start boosting it. I do think Tony does do it from the guitar though rather than with pedals so it might be worth a further experiment about how far down you can take your volume knob.

Using two pedals as described ( or something with a built in boost like a BOR)into the clean channel probably gives you more control; an overdrive into the distortion channel of an SS amp might not produce the desired result - just make everything very squishy.

I'd be slightly wary of a TS style pedal, that mid hump into a small combo can sound very boxy, although I'm sure it will cut through.

IIRC @ICBM is an occasional Peavey Studio user so he might have an idea of how they get on with boost/ OD pedals.

Danny1969

Cheapest way is an attenuator in the loop, which is basically a 10k pot in a box bypassable with a footswitch. Your solo sound is with the 10k pot bypassed, so set the pot to get the required contrast between rhythm and lead volume.  

guitarcookie1

The answer, it would appear, is to let your tutor setup your amp...

Post gain on max, pre gain on 3-4, bass/treble at 5 & (surprisingly) mids on 3.

Guitar volume on 7 for rhythm & 10 for lead; cuts through nicely

JackGriffiths

You could try and find an inexpensive EQ. Try it in front of the amp with an upper-mid hump and level boost. If that doesn't work for you, try it in the loop and it'll give you a pure volume boost. As mentioned above, try not to set the amp too dirty. 

guitarcookie1

I think that's where we got to tonight, up the volume & back off the gain...

John_BlackWolf

Danny1969 said:

Cheapest way is an attenuator in the loop, which is basically a 10k pot in a box bypassable with a footswitch. Your solo sound is with the 10k pot bypassed, so set the pot to get the required contrast between rhythm and lead volume.  

+1 Volume CUT in the loop!

ElectroDan

I've said this in another thread here. But i'm amazed more amp companies don't fit a switchable 2nd master volume. No messing about, whatever volume hike you need is instantly available on a pot.

Perfect solution!

John_BlackWolf

ElectroDan said:

I've said this in another thread here. But i'm amazed more amp companies don't fit a switchable 2nd master volume. No messing about, whatever volume hike you need is instantly available on a pot.

Perfect solution!

I agree, ENGL amps are great in this regard! Orange have a footswitchable 'attenuator' (rhythm cut) on their Thunderverb and dual dark. It's such a basic feature that makes a huge difference to gigging lead guitar players who don't have their own tech/sound man at shows.