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Lead boost needed

guitarPJmikeguitarPJmike Posts: 12
edited April 2006 in Musicians and Gearheads
Hello all.

Question... i play a marshall jcm 800 with the gain up around 7. At that point the signal is boxed off and putting a pedal (be it ED overdrive Dist, or boost) will give me more gain (which i dont want nessisarily) but will not give me more volume for my lead. I have been puting in EQ in my effects loop and it works (because its coming after the pre amp now) but as most people will agree effects loops kill your tone so i dont want to do this.

any sudgestions on how to get a boost without using my loop. the answer is not a overdrive.. its will not work with my amp gain at 7

i would love some feedback if anyonw has any... thanks.

in the case of a band like PJ it dosent matter.. cause they have sound guys that actually know there songs!! and will turn em up in the mix... oohhhh wouldn't it be nice!
First.. 10/2/96

Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • The LurkerThe Lurker Posts: 25
    A 100-watt Marshall on 7 is already enormously loud..... An easier option might be, have everyone (you included) turn down a bit (horrors!) for the rest of the song so that marshall-at-7 sticks out more during the leads.

    Either that, or EQ things differently-- a V-shaped eq profile, with lots of mids taken out, will eat up lots of power without producing as much volume as the same level eq'd flat or with the mids boosted. I don't know what you've tried already, though, so maybe you knew this already.

    It's always easier to take out some of what you don't want to make what you do want stick out more, than it is to just cram more of what you do want in.

    If you do decide to go with a pedal, though, the MXR Micro Amp and the DOD 250 are probably good things to look at..... they're both very good at pushing a tube amp further into distortion, but they don't color the sound as much as a regular distortion pedal will. This doesn't seem to be how you want to go, though.

    edit-- actually, this reminded me of a guy I used to play with. He had two 30-watt Peavey tube amps (Twin clones), one that was on all the time, and the other he'd just kick in for when he was playing leads....doing that basically doubled his power, speaker area, and volume all at a go, but kept things at an overall manageable volume level.
  • Dirty_FrankDirty_Frank Posts: 957
    The most famous lead boost with the JCM800 is actually an od. You take the Boss SD-1 and crank the volume and put the drive at 0. Great sound, and super cheap.
  • samquigleysamquigley Posts: 220
    Only one way, really. Leave the gain where it is and turn up the master so it's as loud as you need for your lead work. Then, either buy yourself a volume pedal, or just use the guitar's volume knob. An EQ pedal would probably do the trick, too. Either way, you're gonna have to bump the master volume up.
  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 23,303
    try a seymour duncan pickup booster pedal. i play a jcm 900 halfstack and i use the pickup booster pedal to give me a little boost for solos without increasing gain. i think it will boosr up to 3 dbs. i mainly play les pauls and sgs, but i have a strat with noiseless pickups that are entirely too quiet and i use this pedal for whenever i use this strat as well. its the best $70 i ever spent and should solve your problem.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • samquigleysamquigley Posts: 220
    Sorry, just to clarify: Any kind of "boost" you apply in front of a dirty amp (pre-gain) is going to result in more distortion. The volume must be increased post-gain for it to be louder without more distortion, hence my original suggestion.
    Unfortunately, it also works the other way. Meaning: When you turn the volume down before the amp, it's going to reduce the amount of distortion. So, having the exact same amount of distortion at different volume levels presents a bit of a problem, one that can probably only be solved with some elaborate rack setup, A/Bing another JCM800 with different settings, or one of those Neil Young-style automatic amp dial turners. All of which are terrible options for non-millionaires.
  • dont_go_on_medont_go_on_me Posts: 877
    Keeley BD-2 will get the job done.
    "I'll do whatever the song dictates - if it doesn't need a real lead, then I won't do one. But if it does, then I'll fuckin' go off." - Mike

    "Japan is awesome; the fans there knew all the words to all the songs...at least phonetically." - Stone

    "I know this song so well, I can smoke a cigarette, have a drink, brush my teeth, take a shit, and mow the lawn while singing it. But I'll only be doing a couple of those things during this version." - EV
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    The Keeley Fuzz Head is actually perfect for that because that's exactly what it is a lead boost but hell there are a ton of ways you could go.

    I'd just shop around and see if you can find something at the price you want to pay that works.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • guitarPJmikeguitarPJmike Posts: 12
    I guess i should say that my pre is on 7... master is lower... prolly around 5... these are all good sudgestions.. but the problem with runing gain on 7 is that my signal is allready boxed off... has no where to go, so in this case a pedal wof any kind would give more gain... but no more volume. the only solution i have found is putting the pedal in the fx loop, because if comes after the pre amp and only increases the volume through the power amp...

    it sounds like i already know the answer ( i have to use that damn FX loop) but i am still searching for options. thanks for all your input.
    First.. 10/2/96

  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    guitarPJmike wrote:
    I guess i should say that my pre is on 7... master is lower... prolly around 5... these are all good sudgestions.. but the problem with runing gain on 7 is that my signal is allready boxed off... has no where to go, so in this case a pedal wof any kind would give more gain... but no more volume. the only solution i have found is putting the pedal in the fx loop, because if comes after the pre amp and only increases the volume through the power amp...

    it sounds like i already know the answer ( i have to use that damn FX loop) but i am still searching for options. thanks for all your input.


    any boost or gain pedal is yes going to add more gain but I'm more than certain you can get more volume out with the proper boost. You just haven't found a pedal with enough clean boost to do it. Something in the neighborhood of 26 to 33db of clean boost will definately get you a lot louder in front to cut through.

    Catlin bread Super Chili Picoso or Poblano Picoso (darker)
    Sweet SoundHabenero Booster
    Barber Launch Pad
    BJF Red Rooster or Dynamic Red.
    Keeley Time Machine
    Fulltone OCD

    and so on and so forth.

    How much do you want to spend?

    It might put you a bit more dirty but I guarentee you can find a gain pedal that will still allow you note definition and help you achive the volume you need with that amp.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • moster78moster78 Posts: 1,591
    Dirty_Frank wrote:
    The most famous lead boost with the JCM800 is actually an od. You take the Boss SD-1 and crank the volume and put the drive at 0. Great sound, and super cheap.

    At my lesson this week, to prepare for my "gig" guest stint, I brought my amp, both guitars and a bunch of my pedals. The only thing my teacher said I'll need is the way the amp is set now (with the settings jotted down) and the SD-1. And to just use the SD-1 when I need a little more, like during a solo. Glad I have so many pedals!
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