Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel

Originally Posted by: jimlufcI'm playing most of the lead stuff.

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I currently have an overdrive pedal but I'm wanting to know what I can use to up my sound for the solos. Does a boost pedal do the trick or would I need a second overdrive pedal? Currently using a Boss ds-1.

What kind of amp & guitar do you have? Also, the Boss DS-1 is a distortion pedal, which is a type of overdrive, but slightly different than pure overdrive or boost. Typically distortion pedals have a little harsher tone (or clipping of the signal) than an overdrive pedal.

The easiest way to do this is to use the equipment you have. Set your pedal so the distortion (gain) is at the amount you desire for your lead tone. Then set the level (volume) to unity gain. This means that your guitar is at the same volume with the pedal off & on. Then start to dial the level up a little bit until you get the extra amount of volume that you need. You might want to experiment with it on your own, but you should absolutely do this in the context of playing with the full band so you know you've got the settings right.

Also, overdriven tones tend to get washed out in the full band mix. So you might want to adjust the EQ on your amp, or use the tone on the pedal to make sure your guitar cuts through the mix.

You could buy a clean boost pedal. You could buy a separate overdrive pedal & keep everything plugged in, engaging just enough extra "oomph" from the boost or an extra overdrive when you need to get the solo level up. Especially if you need the distortion to play a rhythm part. Sometimes that's the best route.

You can also do quite a bit with the volume knob on your guitar. That's worth exploring if you haven't yet. Often you can get a great rhythm guitar tone with the overdrive pedal on, but the guitar volume down on like 4-5. Then when you need to play a solo turn the guitar up to 10. Back down to 4-5 for the next verse.

Overall, I find the less pedals & gear I have to tweak the more I focus on playing the right notes. :)

You can also get an amp that has channel switching, so you don't need any pedals! You can just preset 2 channels as rhythm & lead tone & have a footswitch to go between them.

Lots of options! Hope that helps!

Brilliant. That's a lot for me to go on. I currently play a fender jag or a Gibson 335. Quite different guitars I know. I've been looking at the multi effects units such as the helix 6 but not sure how easy they are to use with the patches etc plus they are quite expensive over here. I did have a Line 6 amolifi FX100 for a while but couldn't get my head round it. I do get quite impatient with these types of things though. I found it quite noisy in the sense that between songs any touch of the strings etc created a lot of hisses etc. Probably just me not taking time to work it properly. Amp wise I'm currently on the look out for a new one!!