Creating a great lead tone

[AwakenTheSkies]

We all know how to create a great rhythm tone for chugging at this point. But how about creating a great tone for soloing and shredding?

This is me asking for advice btw, I have my own method I just don't like the results I get most of the time.

The way I do it for example I'll start with the base tone, the rhythm patch on the Helix. I'll increase the Master saturation, maybe the gain, use a different pedal in front of the amp. Then add delay and reverb. Maybe change the IR / mic position a little bit.
But this method isn't my favourite.
The best results I've had have been from using more "vintage" style amps with lots of mids instead of high gain and just trying to find the right pedal to use in front of it.
Sadly my knowledge of pedals aside from the normal tube screamer for chugging or boosting is very limited.

You know there's lead tones that don't say much, it's just like a rhythm patch with delay and reverb. But some of them feel like they sing, and make playing solos a lot more attractive. That's what I'm trying to get I guess.

What are your techniques to make some awesome lead patches?

 

[Roadsterjosh]

I definitely like compression on a lead tone, very mid forward, and something to add depth (chorus, phaser, delay, verb) and I like a more vintage amp to get these usually. I really like older Marshall or SLOs for this use, if I'm using a modeling rig. If I'm using my one remaining tube head I'll use the Blue channel on my EL34 5150iii, compressor up front and maybe a boost (SD1) and then my modulation in the loop.

 

[SalsaWood]

I use a completely different guitar and amp for my lead tones, typically with lots of mids but also rolled off max top end. All time based FX are in post because reasons.

The general rule is that if you're going to have an instrument go off on its own it better have something to chew on tonally.

 

[rokket2005]

It depends on the song/part. I'll often low pass my lead tone more than rhythm sounds and bring up the mix on delay/reverb. Sometimes the part calls for mod effects or tremolo or whatever else to make it stand out. I like light flanging lately cause it has some movement that isn't overly apparent but still doesn't sound as woody as just cranking up the mids.

 

[Emperoff]

I usually just use the lead channel of whatever amp I'm using since it's usually already tailored for that (similar voicing to the rythm, but slightly more compressed and fatter, etc). I hate when the lead tone sounds completely different to the rythm. When you switch is like "ooh, so sweet" and then the solo ends and the guitar suddendly turns into a can of bees.

I like to add a tiny bit of chorus mixed very low. This adds depth and makes the notes pop out more without having to increase the mids. Then a Gilmour-style dual delay into a modulated Reverb. Sounds fantastic.

If you're into experimenting and getting your lead tone to sound more vocal, try the Marty Friedman thing with the Maxon AF-9. It's a pretty cool sound.

 

[Briz]

We all know how to create a great rhythm tone for chugging at this point. But how about creating a great tone for soloing and shredding?

This is me asking for advice btw, I have my own method I just don't like the results I get most of the time.

The way I do it for example I'll start with the base tone, the rhythm patch on the Helix. I'll increase the Master saturation, maybe the gain, use a different pedal in front of the amp. Then add delay and reverb. Maybe change the IR / mic position a little bit.
But this method isn't my favourite.
The best results I've had have been from using more "vintage" style amps with lots of mids instead of high gain and just trying to find the right pedal to use in front of it.
Sadly my knowledge of pedals aside from the normal tube screamer for chugging or boosting is very limited.

You know there's lead tones that don't say much, it's just like a rhythm patch with delay and reverb. But some of them feel like they sing, and make playing solos a lot more attractive. That's what I'm trying to get I guess.

What are your techniques to make some awesome lead patches?

Are you using snapshot mode? Is this for live application, or practice and / or recording? When I first got my Helix years ago, I downloaded patches from the marketplace, Develop Device, and Choptones to get a feel for how others set up their signal chain and I started experimenting. That's a quick way to learn. I ask about application because my live vs recording presets sound vastly different. My recording go-to presets don't sound great on their own, but they're dialed in to cut through my mixes. It's trial and error. Have fun with it. Record a scratch track with your rhythm settings if you have the ability, and then start tweaking your settings. You can use the Helix as your audio interface and set a DI output (7 I believe) and experiment with reamping. Or you can reamp through conventional means. Hope this helps.

 

[KailM]

Same tone I use for rhythm, only a little reverb/delay activated. Neck pickup if I’m up higher on the fretboard and/or the mix isn’t too dense. Bridge pickup when the rest of the mix is super busy.

 

[USMarine75]

For anyone that is new to how lead tones work…

Mids are the key to punching through on solos, then volume. Gain doesn’t help at all. Compression from gain creates that liquidy lead tone. If you roll back gain you’ll get more of a piercing lead tone - think 70s and 80s rock leads vs modern metal leads). You’ll gain that liquidy legato tone with more gain (Satriani) but lose dynamics.

And what @KailM said regarding pickup selection. Nick Johnston is the absolute master of this.

 

[USMarine75]

I think this is the video I’m looking for where Pete Thorn talks about the importance of mids in a mix:



Also this:

 

[budda]

Helix you say?

Find a marshall variant, add a dash of plate reverb and slapback delay and enjoy.

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

Are you using snapshot mode? Is this for live application, or practice and / or recording? When I first got my Helix years ago, I downloaded patches from the marketplace, Develop Device, and Choptones to get a feel for how others set up their signal chain and I started experimenting. That's a quick way to learn. I ask about application because my live vs recording presets sound vastly different. My recording go-to presets don't sound great on their own, but they're dialed in to cut through my mixes. It's trial and error. Have fun with it. Record a scratch track with your rhythm settings if you have the ability, and then start tweaking your settings. You can use the Helix as your audio interface and set a DI output (7 I believe) and experiment with reamping. Or you can reamp through conventional means. Hope this helps.

I've done a lot of reamping like that to experiment with rhythm tones. It's mostly for playing and then I could look into making a recording patch version of that.
When I record that's when I make my lead tone a modified version of the rhythm patch, because if it sounds too different it's more processing work to make it fit the mix and I'm too lazy for that. But at the same time the results don't sound as creative.
I also like to experiment like that by placing the Helix loop block before the whole chain and then tweak as it plays. It's a way to do it without having to use the DAW and changing interfaces.

Same tone I use for rhythm, only a little reverb/delay activated. Neck pickup if I’m up higher on the fretboard and/or the mix isn’t too dense. Bridge pickup when the rest of the mix is super busy.

I do that too because I'm really lazy. I like soloing a lot more on the bridge pickup because I think it sounds more spectacular. But in a recorded song I always end up using the middle position (both pickups) because it cuts through the mix a lot easier, and I don't have to bother doing magic with the volume or EQing. But as always the results suffer.

 

[Emperoff]

I like soloing a lot more on the bridge pickup because I think it sounds more spectacular. But in a recorded song I always end up using the middle position (both pickups) because it cuts through the mix a lot easier, and I don't have to bother doing magic with the volume or EQing. But as always the results suffer.

Plenty of players use the neck pickup for leads and never bother with anything else. I also find the bridge pickup a lot more expressive. Neck pickup usually sounds too dull for me and gets lost in the mix easier.

The way I have wired my guitars I also have two more humbucking sounds that lie in between neck and bridge and I use them for a lot of applications. One position rules for shreddy stuff and the other for more low gain stuff.

 

[budda]

I remember asking Ryan Knight on the Everblack tour which pickup he uses. Said he wasnt sure.

Turns out its neck or bridge depending on the part of the solo.

You dont have to use just one, unless you only have one.

 

[jaxadam]

Mids up treble down

 

[Crungy]

I'm on old gear (AxeFx 2XL+) and love using the Mike Stringer/Spiritbox lead patch from AxeChange. It's pretty basic from what I remember, one of the FAS amps, a stock IR and maybe a reverb or a delay?

I usually start with that and play around with verbs/delays/modulations. It sits in the mix great with almost any guitar without being too pokey.

 

[Stiman]

Then add delay and reverb

i recently removed reverb from the equation after Petrucci mentioned it and it has made an improvement on my lead tone.

It felt so obvious afterwards. I always used reverb for no good reason other than "everyone else does", but I was never happy with my tone.

anyway, plenty of people use reverb on leads so. You could give it a try just to see.

 

[runbirdman]

i recently removed reverb from the equation after Petrucci mentioned it and it has made an improvement on my lead tone.

It felt so obvious afterwards. I always used reverb for no good reason other than "everyone else does", but I was never happy with my tone.

anyway, plenty of people use reverb on leads so. You could give it a try just to see.

I'm kind of in this camp as well. After using a Keeley Halo, I only use reverb with acoustics and squeaky clean tones. Anything else sounds better with stereo delays. For leads, I add a mid-focused overdrive (usually a TS or Klon style) that is only used as a boost. Klons in particular do a good job of cutting the right low frequencies to prevent muddiness.

 

[SalsaWood]

Reverb is a band-aid IME. Another poster was talking about having nuanced movement within their tone, that's what it does except not as well as delay. You're really just smearing your tone more than anything else. It just adds up to more cone movement with much, much, much less added to the actual timbre of the sounds.

Urg like it when the cone do the ugga-ugga though. There's a time and place for everything, Urg thinks.

 

[ATRguitar91]

I just use my rhythm patch with the mids/treble increased and the bass reduced, then a delay on top.

If this in a recording, I'll increase the high pass to 200-300 which seems to help it cut more since you don't need bass in a lead tone, and boost a lot in the 2.5-3khz range.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Reverb into dirt is my secret sauce for slower melodic passages. A little adds some sparkle and tasty squarewave grit. You can even get slappy, sparkly clean rhythm tones if you're gentle.

I have reverb before and after my dirt section, the ones after are for your usual ambient bullshit and the Afterneath at the front of my board is basically my lead boost. Once you start stacking dirt (RAT->Fuzz, duh) it sounds like a choir of angels wielding chainsaws. Secret ancient shoegaze magic.