Rhythm to Lead Live - What's your setup?

Earl B

Member
This post is mainly for live situations but feel free to add anything.

What is your "go-to" way for getting from rhythm to a lead sound in a live setting?

Coming from a Marshall with only a few pedals (Ibanez Tube , Delay) that I used before, I use that basic mindset for constructing my live setups.

Marshall Rhythm setup
I have the Plexi 50W Hi (great marshall sound) with 4x12 Cab (F059) going into a Mesa Boogie (50/50) Power amp to my Marshall 4x12 with C 30s. Sounds awesome.

Lead - Marshall
I have a drive pedal (T808 Mod), Delay (about 300ms but very low) and Reverb. I added the Filter block to increase volume a bit.

I setup buttons 6-8 on the MFC-101 to change scenes.
Scene 1 - Default Rhythm
Scene 2 - Default Lead
3,4,5 - more delay or any SFX.

So basically I am using scene changes to from Rhythm to Lead etc...
I'm too old school and do not want to tap dance on stage all night so this suits my purpose.

Your process or thoughts?

New to forum - what a great resource!
 
I either ride the guitar volume control for rhythm vs. lead. This works really well for me with a maxed out SLO or Marshall.

Or

Kick in a GEQ at the end of the preset to just make it louder without affecting the amp gain / distortion.

I play a lot of edge of break up and clean leads. So I need to get louder without adding distortion.
 
I always like seeing how people achieve their 'lead boost' or general boost..

There's a couple ways you can achieve this..

- I've never used a GEQ at all, but I usually use just a FILTER block with the dB increased by around 3'ish.. This works for me like a charm.

- I also use a DRIVE block before the amp if I want a little extra volume and bite

- In the same time, I've got AMP X/Y for all my amps so I can always make my Y-amp a little more gainier or louder or use a different amp altogether..

Whatever works better for you, and your ears, and your tone, and your band mates.. I don't think there's a specific right or wrong..
 
Basically you've nailed it. Use scenes to switch blocks on or off as needed, one of which turns the volume up a bit for solos. My set up turns the volume up (end of the chain) and turns on a fairly subtle 370ms delay for body. I also give the filter a little bump in the mid-high range for a touch of clarity. BTW, if you're using scenes with your AxeFXII and MFC101, you're not as old school as you may believe. :)
 
X/Y amp states (on edge of break up, I'll raise the input on the pre to get w little more bite) and scenes are one button power moves :)
 
I don't really use any blocks for this. I simply have a scene for "solo" and I boost the output volume few db on the output mixer for that scene. It uses no blocks like EQ or filter, which means a. no grid space, b. no CPU used. I can also adjust it instantly up or down with a volume up/down switch.

This is independent of any effects like a drive or delay or stuff like that.
 
I'm still experimenting with the route that suits me.
The ONE reason I don't use the MFC-101 buttons to turn FX/bocks - on/off is I'm red-green colorblind.
The green/red LED is nearly impossible to tell apart on the MFC (ex- whether block is on or off).

Selecting buttons would be more "traditional" and I will probably work a bit into my MFC moving forward.
BTW - I know you can turn off one of the LEDs to make it easier for us colorblind people. just haven't gone that far yet.

Scenes for my situation seemed to be the best solution to get up and going quickly.

Good responses!
 
I'm still experimenting with the route that suits me.
The ONE reason I don't use the MFC-101 buttons to turn FX/bocks - on/off is I'm red-green colorblind.
The green/red LED is nearly impossible to tell apart on the MFC (ex- whether block is on or off).

Selecting buttons would be more "traditional" and I will probably work a bit into my MFC moving forward.
BTW - I know you can turn off one of the LEDs to make it easier for us colorblind people. just haven't gone that far yet.

Scenes for my situation seemed to be the best solution to get up and going quickly.

Good responses!


THIS! See, in my case, I'm not color blind nor do I have any vision issues.....thankfully. However, in addition to the factory/stock configuration of Green = Effect bypassed/not active - Red = Effect engaged/active I would LOVE if there was a setting in the MFC that allowed the user to select something like this: CHOICE of green OR red = effect engaged/active and then Effect bypassed/not active = NOT LIT AT ALL. In other words, light on = effect on - light off = effect off/not active. Simple.
 
THIS! See, in my case, I'm not color blind nor do I have any vision issues.....thankfully. However, in addition to the factory/stock configuration of Green = Effect bypassed/not active - Red = Effect engaged/active I would LOVE if there was a setting in the MFC that allowed the user to select something like this: CHOICE of green OR red = effect engaged/active and then Effect bypassed/not active = NOT LIT AT ALL. In other words, light on = effect on - light off = effect off/not active. Simple.

On = green, off = no lit is already an option. Look at - 12.5.21 Axe-‐Fx Instant Access Switch LED Off State - in the manual
 
My solo boosting depends on the song, and the type of solo. It can be one (or a combination) of:
- guitar volume
- PEQ to boost by 5 or 6 dB, with a peak around 650Hz
- turning amp Boost on
- changing amp
Scenes are a great idea, but I don't use them because my patches are multi use. So solo on one song won't be the same as solo on another, even though they use the same patch.
 
I have an expression pedal routed to the input or preamp level and roll on how much extra gain I need. I also use my volume on my guitar. I have a external latching controlling a null filter with a 5db boost. On some songs I even use the boost on and the volume on the guitar rolled way back to get a very dinamic clean even from the cranked HB
 
I ride the guitar volume control to vary the dynamics constantly.

My patches are quite simple so the vol at 5 is almost clean gradually overdriving as I increase it.

To get a bigger volume boost I use a Filter Block in the patch to add 5db
 
I use scene's they work like a charm, I usually just use scene's 1 and 2, but you might try using a 2 expression pedal's to morph between to amps, check out
Chris@AxeFxTutorials
and look up blended lead's.

 
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