How to thicken up my solo's

[jgcable]

I have lots of amps. The one I prefer to play live is my Marshall DSL100. It just sounds really good in every respect EXCEPT for soloing. I would like to get more sustain and "thickness" in the note structure without having to add too much delay. I tried a compressor but I don't like the way it squashes the high end a little. What do you guys use? The solo's I am playing are typical metal solo's by Reb Beach, Snake Sabo, Slash, Wylde, Sambora, Mars, Demartini, Collens, etc......

[Axewielder]

I had the same issue with my DSL100 for a few years and tried everything, eventually I sold it.

[markD]

I used to put a BOSS Hyper Fuzz in front of my amp for a boost. It has 3 modes - fuzz 1, fuzz 2, and clean - and a 2 band EQ. I would set it to clean, slightly increase the gain and adjust the low EQ to add some weight to my leads. It worked great. Eventually I stopped using it because I just didn't really care anymore, but that fixed the problem for the 12 or so years I did it!!

I used that pedal in front of Marshall and Rivera amps.

[Grandturk]

Tubescreamer always works for adding some thick midrange

[jgcable]

Tubescreamer always works for adding some thick midrange

I tried a Tubescreamer in front but I don't like the way the amp loses its girth when engaged. Sure.. I get more gain and more midrange but the bottom end girth drops out. I had better results using a Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive but even that pedal seems to "neuter" the DSL.

[markD]

If you can find a Hyper Fuzz, try it out. Having that 2 band EQ really helps put a good, usable girth from the low control.

[jgcable]

I used to put a BOSS Hyper Fuzz in front of my amp for a boost. It has 3 modes - fuzz 1, fuzz 2, and clean - and a 2 band EQ. I would set it to clean, slightly increase the gain and adjust the low EQ to add some weight to my leads. It worked great. Eventually I stopped using it because I just didn't really care anymore, but that fixed the problem for the 12 or so years I did it!!

I used that pedal in front of Marshall and Rivera amps.

Hey Mark, I have been A/Bing the DSL and the Rivera Suprema that I have. I have a few shows coming up in the next few weeks and it would be a lot more convenient to use the Rivera especially because it fits in my new car and the Marshall 4 x 12 cab doesn't!!!
I had pretty good luck using a Boss SD1 out in front to kick up the gain but again.. the amp loses its bottom end when its engaged. There is just too much of a difference between engaged and not engaged. I play ALOT of fills during the songs we do in addition to all the solo's so my heavy rhythm tone and my lead tone need to be similar. I was thinking that an overdrive pedal that has a bass control would work because I could dial the bottom end back up on the pedal. Unfortunately.. I don't have one. I am experimenting with my Boss GT10 using the 4 cable method so that I can use its stomp box overdrive out in front of the amp and the time based effects and the volume pedal in the loop for solo boost and effects. I wish I could just keep everything simple but being in an 80's metal band is turning out to be a real pain in the ass with all the effects and crap I need to pull off these songs.

The bottom line for me.. and my ears.. is ALL of my tube amps sound better with less crap connected to them. The best tone is guitar, cord, amp, speaker. As soon as I plug something into my effects loop on ANY of my amps it changes the tone of the amp. Some are more affected than others but they all are negatively affected.

[markD]

I feel you. I had the mega rack at one point, but ended up stripping all of it away in the name of better tone. Over the last couple of years I went back to a pedal board - all MXR plugged into a cleaner toned Marshall. It gave me all the cool shit with tone to spare. LOTS of compliments from sound guys and other guitarists at how killer my tone was.

As far as an OD with a good amount of EQ, I would suggest the MXR Custom Badass OD. It is a VERY nice pedal and if you are getting most of your gain from the amp it gives you a lot of options BOSS doesn't.

[pianoguyy]

WAH.
Whether you just activate it or if you wiggle it, a Wah pedal always seemed to be the one thing I could always count on for a solo.

[markD]

For me, a wah has always been good for adding some cut in a dense mix, but it certainly has NEVER helped me thicken my sound in clear way. If I kept the pedal fixed in the lower 3rd or 4th or the sweep, it could thicken the tone, but at a loss of clarity and definition.

[jgcable]

WAH.
Whether you just activate it or if you wiggle it, a Wah pedal always seemed to be the one thing I could always count on for a solo.

We only do one song that requires me to have a wah. I play all the guitar solo's note for note so if there isn't a wah being used in a solo I am not putting one in.

[mrhiwatt]

THe 80's thickener a chorus pedal. That is not really set to chorus. Some rackmount chorus units called it detune. Keep speed low and start depth low and slowly turn it up until you here it start acting like a chorus then back off a smidge. Been doing since the early 80's. Also read old article from Michael Wilton in the late 80's of how they got thick tone and he mentioned doing it with pedal then doing with detune in rack chorus. He also mentioned it in a more current article I read that said they still do it. On my clean tone you can barley tell its on. I also do the Criss oliva style of echo 300ms 3 to 5 repeats always on as is the chorus he also used the chorus as his thickener always on.

MrHiwatt

[Nightbat]

JG

Never bothered experimenting with a simple EQ?
I mean, using TS or SD as boost, that's something that can be done with something as a Boss EQ with the added benefit, you can mix in/out those frequencies which you lack/hate

[Texas Crude]

I always liked a little detuning. I only use a TC HOF reverb these days as my only effect, and I think I'm hearing a little detuning on my favorite settings. I couldn't live without it. Note: I'm strictly a home player, never going the band or live route, so I don't know how useful reverb would be for that. It sure sounds good in my big old house though!

[txrob779]

I play a DSL100 as well. I am sold on the bad assness of the Fultone OCD. Holy shit that will get the job done and it is insanely versitile and TRUE BYPASS. The older ones are better imo