Looking for nice thick lead sound!

Boz5150

Boz5150

Member
Anyone got any idea's for amp..cab combinations for a good thick lead sound? I have found my ideal rhythm..clean and accoustic sounds but cant get that thick distorted lead tone! I have tried quite a few combinations but someone may know an odd pairing might do the trick! Cheers..
 
I had also been struggling to get the lead tone I wanted, running into a weird tone that sounded like too much gain, but I just tried something different and I like it.
Take the Petrucci Rig preset, scene 5, and crank the the drive and overdrive. I also turned on the boost (in the amp), used TS808 Mod, @ 9 o'clock, and turned on the Sat switch to ideal, @ 10:30.
 
Try tinkering around with this USA C++ with a boost and the fat switch engaged.
 

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Boz5150 said:
Anyone got any idea's for amp..cab combinations for a good thick lead sound? I have found my ideal rhythm..clean and accoustic sounds but cant get that thick distorted lead tone! I have tried quite a few combinations but someone may know an odd pairing might do the trick! Cheers..
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What are some examples of the kind of sound you are looking for?
 
Use a Humbucker Guitar. If you use a Single Coil Axe, boost around 700Hz with a parametric EQ in front of the Amp or input EQ and cut Lo and Hi Frequency’s to to taste.
 
The Komet and Trainwreck models are fantastic for this, especially with single coils. Use your guitar volume and tone controls for all kinds of variations. Pair with a 4x12 w/ Greenbacks.
 
The great riddle is how to get a thick lead sound without it turning to mush and mud
when you go back to playing rhythm in the lower register. And vice versa. Dial in a
tight, percussive, and cutting rhythm tone and then the lead tone higher up in the
guitar's register turns all spikey and ear-piercing.
 
pedalbuilder said:
There are presents for something like half of the songs on Ah Via Musicom. Of the top of my head, there are presets for Cliffs of Dover, High Landrons, Forty Mile Town, and East Wes, plus another one or two Eric Johnson-inspired presets.
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I went through them and cherry-picked settings and consolidated them into one preset, then started tweaking to my tastes roughly based on settings for his amps and speakers. It's definitely not a pure Eric Johnson sound, but is sufficiently reminiscent that I like it, especially the cleans. With my roasted maple neck Strat or PRS 509 the cleans chime beautifully.

Now if my playing didn't suck it'd really be something. :)
 
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+/- 8ct detune, and a smidge of chorus for the lead scene, a bit of compression and roll off the shrieky highs with a judicious application of EQ.
 
Big lead sounds are more about EQ and level than using a crap ton of gain and saturation. You want enough gain to give you good sustain, but not so much that it mushes out into a fizzy mess. Oversaturated tones will also tend to be very flat and compressed sounding too. Keeping the gain level moderate will give you a more dynamic lead tone too. Boost those mids and use a post gain level boost to stand out in the mix. A louder sound will automatically sound bigger in comparison.
 
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