How to thicken up my solo's

[xenophobe]

There are so many ways... get a BBE or Evantide! Or use your Wah, or a volume boost pedal, or an eq pedal for boost, or get a second OD or gain boost, or correctly configure a 2nd amp channel. A delay or chorus... Or.... you want pre or post? Put a EQ in the loop. That's probably my favorite way. I have a modded MXR M108 I keep in my fx loop... it is SUPER quiet.

[chrisolson]

Larger balls. Always works!

[Bert]

Yeah tube screamers have a bass cut on the input which is why they sometimes kill the girth, though that's also why they tighten up the distortion. Pedals that have a post-distortion bass boost can restore that (or a post-distortion EQ).

[Hellbat]

TC Spark Boost was my favorite OD pedal before AxeFX 2 killed my need for pedals.

[Joseywails]

Check out the seymour duncan 805 overdrive,has 3 band eq,been reading great reviews,it's my next pedal.

[xenophobe]

I got an idea... you have lots of gear. You've probably already tried most of the options at one time or another.

Take a bit of time. WRITE down every signal chain combo that you try and a word to describe it. SUCK. NOISE. GOOD. whatever... Might help you see something obvious that you haven't tried.

[Firebird V]

The only way I know is to start off with an amp that has a very dry sounding gain like a VHT Pitbull or something along those lines. The wetter the amp the thinner the lead tone will be. You can always use an eq in the loop to get a wetter sound for your leads and rhythm but it is always harder to get an amp to be dry if it isn't there tonally from the get go imo.

[horns666]

^^what he said. John you have a Boss GE 7. I have an MXR 10, same difference...boost some of the mids just a little. Or, if you amp is too scooped. Bring the the mids up a little.

Hey Chris!! that 7 string is working great for me. My son didn't take to it. So I got it back and goin' crazy with it. That's how to thicken you leads tones. 6/7 string loaded with Slinky hybrid 10s tune to Eb ..w / Bb of course...or get an 8, 9 10 strings like Xeno and Joe.

Yes, the wetter the amp the thinner it will sound. Many, like The Ammot bros use a Boss Octave..OC 2, or OC 2. Some guys named Jimi, Uli do that too.

A BBE pedal Sonic Stomp can do the trick too during solos. Many just use a stomp such as a Boss DS-1. Gain down , Level maxed. Most of the players you mentioned do exactly that as a solo boost.

[sytharnia1560]

Have you tried running a wet/dry rig?? to me its the best of both worlds, totally un-effected main tone with all your effects sitting slightly lower/behind that. I run 4 1x12 cabs in an X pattern so both tones blend a little better. It is what the "pros" tend to do to make everything BIG....yes it means more cabs and running 2 amps but you won't be disappointed with the results

[PowerTube]

You guys nailed it about distortions/overdrives thinning out the tone. I also like a really thick solo tone without having to up the bass or use the neck pickup.

Having said that, within the last year or so I tried a ton of pedals against my Marshall JVM410H and Carvin X100B Reissue. The winner:

Digitech Hardwire SC-2 Valve Distortion. No kidding. It's the most organic sounding, tube-like distortion box I've ever used, and unlike all the others I tried (even though some are really good), it doesn't cut the frequency range for the sake of tightness; rather, it gives tightness while preserving the warmth and broadness of the signal.

[SydneyPC1]

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.

I found the same thing when I bought a reissue TS-9. No Bottom end. I bought a modified TS-9 and sold the standard one. There are a few companies on ebay that do modifications now so the one expensive company has some competition. You can buy a modified (More bottom end - thats the main one) for a bit more than a standard $99 TS9 and get that thick solo sound.

[Bert]

The Voodoo Lab sparkle drive has less bass rolloff than a stock TS. Also has a nice opto-coupler based bypass circuit. It's my favorite of the TS-style pedals.