Essential pedals

[Oddkid]

I've got a gig coming up with a fairly successful local band, playing a really good venue and i need to sort out my live sound properly. Essentially at short notice i've been hired to fill the gap as they've been playing with only one guitarist for around 12 months. To introduce me as a new member they want me to play the entirety of a solo to a song they previously shared between two guitarists. This is where my problem has become apparent.

As it stands i run a Marshall JCM900 combo amp. Previously to get a volume boost, on cleans i used a compression pedal and to get a lead boost i ran a BOSS Metalcore pedal through the clean channel. This causes a lot of feedback. Running the metalcore on the distorted channel doesn't sound so good so i need to hit two pedals for solos as well.

Recently i've been advised that overdrive sounds better than distortion, i play heavy metal (at lamb of god sorts of heavy) and i would have thought overdrive wouldn't cut it for that. I've also been told about noise gates, boost pedals and EQ pedals.

I wondered what pedals you guys would say are essential for playing this sort of music live and getting an appropriate boost for solos. I don't necessarily need specific pedals though any that you consider particularly good would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Givememetalorgivemedeath]

An Ibanez tube screamer works good to boost your overdrive channel. Alone it's probably not gonna give you the distorted tone you want, but in addition to your amps overdrive it works like a charm.

 

[Oddkid]

I've heard that overdrive pedals really work well to boost the overdrive channel on my amp. I've never tried it though. Surely that would only help out for a rhythm tone? I'd worry about it getting muddy? If it didn't then a line boost would then sort out my solos i guess.

 

[Mack Addy]

JCM900's are great sounding amps as they are. My suggestions are the following:

Guitar --> MXR Wylde Overdrive --> MXR Noise Gate or ISP Noise Decimator (preferred) --> amp. If it has an effects loop (and I'm pretty sure it does), Grab either a a BBE Boosta Grande or an Electro Harmonix LPB-1 Linear Power Booster pedal. Both of these are straight clean boost pedals and work great in the effects loops of amps. Use regular channel switching with your amp.

Do you have a place where you can crank your amp up without pissing other people off? If so, go there and tweak your amp at ridiculous levels. Do not be afraid of the Gain knob; it is your friend.

 

[Oddkid]

The wylde overdrive is certainly a pedal i've considered! Thanks very much

 

[Mack Addy]

It's a pretty killer OD pedal. It gets the sustain I like without getting too flubby on the bottom end. I use it and the LPB-1 in my rack currently.

 

[Oddkid]

I bought an MXR line boost and i'm running everything through the clean channel on my amp for the immediate future. I've got a lot to think about for tweaking my sound later though, a noise gate for a start. Thanks very much everyone.

 

[Mack Addy]

That will also work for a clean boost, but put that in the effects loop though. It will work best for you there since it would be boosting the signal after your preamp stage which results in a clean boost (as opposed to front of amp which would only boost the signal itself before getting to the amp, causing a slight bit of natural overdrive).

Another thing I forgot to mention: power! You'll need to power those pedals up somehow. I've found that Voodoo Lab's Pedal Power 2 Plus works best. Each 9v power output for your pedals has an isolated transformer. This eliminates ground hum between your pedals, lowers line noise and actually results in better tone coming from them. It sounds odd but it's true.

 

[Oddkid]

i'm going to experiment with the FX loop, i've never used it before. Hmm pedal power eh...

 

[Nightmare_Heaven]

EHX make some of the best pedals out there, the Metal Muff is one of the best and most versatile distortions there is, and the Small Clone chorus and Electric Mistress flanger are both just great sounding. Old Boss stuff is also great, the majority of their current range is as dull as you can get.

 

[Oddkid]

The metal muff has come up in conversation a few times. I need to demo that thing i reckon.

I'm trying to work out if the ISP Decimator is worth the extra £40 over an MXR Noise clamp at the minute too.