Solo Boost Question

[jgcable]

This question is for players who are in a 2 guitar metal band and that don't have a soundman that boosts their solos at the mixing board.
Do you use boost for your solo's??
If so.. what is your complete set up?
If not.. how are you heard?

[Robotechnology]

When in a 2 guitar band (or 1--doesn't matter), I use either:

a 3 or 4 channel head giving me a clean, dirty rhythm(s), and dirty lead tone. The clean and rhythm volume levels are set the same and the lead is set higher than the other two of course

or

a 3 /4 channel preamp or midi preamp set up essentially the same, with the lead tones at a significantly higher volume level.

This is the only way I've found to "take" care of the soundguy "issue" and take care of him, it does At first they think something is going on with their equipment. By the 2nd or 3rd song they figure out that I've taken them out of the loop and there's no use in them messing with my level anymore as I have the con

Stuff I normally use:

VHT Ultra-Lead head and either of my cabinets

Mesa TriAxis/Xpression/2:90 and either of my cabinets

[toddstaples]

I usually Slam the wah for Solo to cut thru the other guitarist. It works pretty well.....
Les Paul-Tuner-Wah-Overdrive (on all the time)-BBE Sonic Stomp- Jcm800

[jgcable]

I usually Slam the wah for Solo to cut thru the other guitarist. It works pretty well.....
Les Paul-Tuner-Wah-Overdrive (on all the time)-BBE Sonic Stomp- Jcm800

How is the gain set on your JCM800??? If you are getting boost from a wah I would assume you don't have the gain way up on the JCM800 and are using the Overdrive to give you a good portion of it.
Let me know.

[hippietim]

I use a boost even in my current band. I am the only guitarist but we have a keyboard player and I still want to be louder than that

[toddstaples]

How is the gain set on your JCM800??? If you are getting boost from a wah I would assume you don't have the gain way up on the JCM800 and are using the Overdrive to give you a good portion of it.
Let me know.

Correct. The Gain on the 800 is on noon-ish. The overdrive (ProTone Spitfite, www.protonepedals.com) is set with the Level at 3 Oclock and the Drive on 9 oclock. Theres not a lot of gain coming from the pedal itself either, but it pushes the 800 into metal teritory . For Leadwork, I slam the wah in front of everything and it sends the leads over everyone else.

[Monster Joe]

I have never found anything that can boost the level of an overdriven amp from the input.
Every kind of booster I've tried in front of any amp just added gain, not volume. The overdriven preamp just compresses everything.
I've tried adding boosters and EQs in the loop and that usually sounds like crap...
So I am very interested in an answer to this question as well.
I've tried multi channel amps but there's usually only one channel that I like, so that's no help either

I have to say though, when both guitars sit right in the mix, solos usually ARE audible.

[charveljunkie]

I went to a 3 head head set up years ago with a Bradshw switching system. After 2 years of searching for the perfect head or preamp I have gone back to a 3 head setup with a Sound Sculpture Headtrip. I found an amp to die for-(my taste)-Diezel Vh4 but I'am not about to pay $4k for a head. That is the only thing I have found so far. But to me nothing beats a hot rodder marshalls.
I used a Headtrip, Dmc switcherLine 6 echo pro, line 6 modulation pro, black cat univibe, swamp thang univibe-Pedals are housed in the rack, Tremonti wah and a Dmc ground control pro pedal board. I'am only using a 1981 Marshall Jcm 800 50 watt for the crunch and a 1980 Marshall Jmp 50 watt head for leads at the moment. Still looking for another Marshall for clean.

[Cleveland Metal]

EMG81>EMG PA-2 Preamp> CAE3+se Preamp> TC Electronics Parametric EQ> Intellifex> VHT2150 Power amp. Amp switching and patches are MIDI controlled by a MidiMate

I have patches for solo boost set in the Intellifex mixer merely using the direct and effected signals in the boosted about 1.5 dB. Those patches usually have a touch of delay to sweeten them a bit.

[jcm800x]

I use an MT2 into the low input of my 800, that leaves pleanty of room for boosting. I run a Boss eq after the MT2, tons of volume boost with a minimal setting.

[thenine]

If I'm not playing my Splawn I use an EQ in the loop with mids somewhat boosted. My Splawn has a footswitchable boost with a vol knob on front of amp.

[zeegler]

I've used several methods lately.

1 - Switch channels on my head. My AT-100 has 2 almost identical gain channels, so I set the independent volume on channel 1 a little higher than channel 2 (my rhythm channel), and just use my footswitch to switch channels.

2 - EQ in the loop. This actually gives me a little more control over my lead sound. I can add EQ, and volume.

3 - Nothing. Weirdly enough, after messing around with my EQ levels a little, I seem to have my amp set up so that my leads cut through without a boost.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

try an eq pedal.

[Shawn Lutz]

In the old days with 2203's I used to use a SD-1 with the output level cranked up a bit for a lead bost.

[shadowcat]

I usually use my Boss GT5 with the four-cable-method, so I just use different patches, with the lead patch being louder (and EQ'd differently, plus effects).

When I don't use the GT5, I just have one of the independent master volumes of my ENGL Fireball head set a little louder and switch to it for a solo boost.
That's actually one of the main reasons I got this amp... it's so simple (only 7 knobs I think), but those go right where it counts.

Before I got that one, I switched between the Lead and Ultra Channel on my old Peavey XXL. So actually I have always considered the ability to boost solos as absolutely essential when shopping for amp heads.