Vid from the weekend jam - weedy solo?

pmbomb

from this - that's me with the shiny thing.



re solo (starts at 2:26) - why does it sound weedy? just needed more boost and drive? (I daren't have gone louder for the rhythm parts, result would have been a deafened drummer).

also open to tips. the phrase starting 2:47 is from the record, this rest is aimed to be improv. "sympathetic to the style of ..." - have been playing 18 months.

ta.

munckee

Neil young has the whizzer which mechanically turns everything to max on his amp. I think the answer may be a volume boost pedal but I don't perform live so others may have better suggestions. 

Bridgehouse

Which amp were you in?

pintspiller

If you're not standing on something going into instrumental then u need to

Roland

It’s not often that I say “not enough distortion” but @pintspiller is right. It needs the harmonics and compression which overdrive brings.

Second thing to say is that you’re driving the amp harder when playing chords, with all strings ringing, than you are when playing single notes. If you turn down the guitar for the chords then when you turn it up for the solo the amp will be driven harder, and give you some of the Overdrive you need. The amp may give you this. If you’re ever playing through an amp you don’t know, which is usually the case at a jam, then you need an Overdrive or distortion pedal to be sure of getting enough.

pmbomb

Bridgehouse said:

Which amp were you in?

the one in the corner, my right, drummer's left.

thx all, makes sense just need more push at that point.

Modellista

pintspiller said:

If you're not standing on something going into instrumental then u need to

^ It literally is as simple as that.

You were into the Palmer there, and I set it up for maximum preamp gain.  It's not a gainy amp, so whilst I think it works really well for the crunchy Neil rhythm tone, once you go from heavy strums on multiple strings to single note soloing, you're going to need a volume and gain boost.  Had I been thinking properly and noticed you didn't have any pedals I could have plugged in my little board which was just on the floor next to it which had a boost, a Tubescreamer, and a properly naughty Ibanez overdrive.

As an aside, I brought the Palmer because it's meant to be a "recording amp", and it has three different types of power tube working in Class A mode so it can simulate Fender, Vox and Marshall and even blend between all three.  But it's not obvious what all the dials do (made no easier that the labels are in German!) and it seemed to flummox everyone who came across it.  Not the most user-friendly of amps, even if the tone is as pure a tube tone as you're likely to come across.  Ironically in this context the Katana is a far better way of dialling in a particular tone, even though the Palmer is made of heavy metal and hot glass like amps should be, and the Katana is made of ones and zeros.

There were two very common items at the jam - a Pedaltrain Nano, and a Zoom MS-50G.  There were at least three or four of each brought by various people.  At the risk of sending you down the rabbit hole of pedals, it's important to have a board with a handful of stuff on it when going into a thing like this so you know you can cover a few eventualities.  Boost, overdrive, delay, some sort of modulation.  You don't have to go the full Custom Pedal Boards route to have a decent portable effects board.

As for the notes, learn a few solos you like and take it from there.  

Jonathangus

In the absence of something to stomp on, you could take advantage of your LP with twin volume controls - back off one pickup for rhythm, and flick to the other for the solo.

Edit: but from what @modellista said, sounds like you needed something on top of that.

mrkb

I had a Xotic RC boost on my nano pedalboard for my solo volume lifts (after I did exactly the same as you at my first jam - my Hard to Handle solo disappeared below the rhythm!). Also worth attacking the notes and bends more to get a volume lift and remove any hesitancy from the sounds. No one expects perfection, I think a confident solo with a few bum notes sounds better than a hesitant one.

pmbomb

modellista said:

pintspiller said:

If you're not standing on something going into instrumental then u need to

^ It literally is as simple as that.

You were into the Palmer there, and I set it up for maximum preamp gain.  It's not a gainy amp, so whilst I think it works really well for the crunchy Neil rhythm tone, once you go from heavy strums on multiple strings to single note soloing, you're going to need a volume and gain boost. 

lol I plugged into it because it was the biggest.

ok, so it's quite normal to have an amp on good gain then pile more on with a pedal or 2? I have a Zoom G1XON, I'll bring it next time.

that's good learning, thanks all.

pmbomb

mrkb said:

I had a Xotic RC boost on my nano pedalboard for my solo volume lifts (after I did exactly the same as you at my first jam - my Hard to Handle solo disappeared below the rhythm!). Also worth attacking the notes and bends more to get a volume lift and remove any hesitancy from the sounds. No one expects perfection, I think a confident solo with a few bum notes sounds better than a hesitant one.

good words.

mrkb

pmbomb said:

mrkb said:

I had a Xotic RC boost on my nano pedalboard for my solo volume lifts (after I did exactly the same as you at my first jam - my Hard to Handle solo disappeared below the rhythm!). Also worth attacking the notes and bends more to get a volume lift and remove any hesitancy from the sounds. No one expects perfection, I think a confident solo with a few bum notes sounds better than a hesitant one.

good words.

I still struggle with free form solos, if I don’t pick the strings hard enough (and at the exact timing) then slides and bends have lost their volume by the time they hit the target note, so I’ve practiced digging into the string more and bending/sliding faster and it sounds better for my playing style.

pmbomb

also, I need to learn not to stick my tongue out.

but reassuringly, "there's a warning sign ahead on the road ahead".

Modellista

pmbomb said:

ok, so it's quite normal to have an amp on good gain then pile more on with a pedal or 2? 

Depends on the amp.  Lots of amps have multiple channels so you can switch to a higher gain setting for a solo.  Some people use Tubescreamers into high gain amps for even more of a push.  But if you're using a single channel amp it's probably not going to be very high gain - crunchy at best as we had with the Palmer - so an overdrive is essential.

When the recordings come out have a listen to Boulevard - I'm using a basic clean tone for bits in the verse and then a big overdrive pedal for the heavy bits and solo.  It's the same Palmer amp but will sound very different.  Everyone has their own way of doing things but I've always been a fan of a tube amp on the verge of overdrive if you hit it hard, with a choice of boost and overdrive to add on top.  Transistor overdrives and cooking tube amps blend really nicely to give that nice, fat, harmonic-laden tone.

Bridgehouse

That Palmer confused the **** out of me being all in German

Just blame that @pmbomb

Funkfingers

• P90s for outright NY filth
• Most of the chordal part is two fingered root-fifth-octave on the three wound strings. Much of the high frequency content should come from the amp.
• Some of the wobble in NY's playing is from (intentionally) leaning slightly on the Bigsby.

Bridgehouse

pmbomb said:

also, I need to learn not to stick my tongue out.

but reassuringly, "there's a warning sign ahead on the road ahead".

I thought the tongue out was obligatory!

PolarityMan

More gain. Your drummer is also a bit polite,

mr-mac

More gain... Maybe a pedal like a tube screener ir something

slacker

I've just listened to Neil Young play it live, he plays the solo with echo and it sounds huge. 

mrkb

PolarityMan said:

More gain. Your drummer is also a bit polite,

He’s a very nice man!!