over the top lead sound.. mi audio crunch box?

[GuitarDude]

Here's the deal.

I'm the lead player in a christian worship band. I don't need to do much soloing so there isnt alot of high gain stuff in my rig. But I'm a lead guitar player you know? I want to have killer lead tone if I need it. The amp is a dr z maz jr and the drive pedals are a fulltone FD and an ibanez tubescreamer. i also have a fat boost.

I bought the fat boost thinking it would give me that extra push into lead solo tone territory, but it doesnt. But I do love what it does do. I like using it as a non solo boost, just a fattener. When I say over the top lead sound, I mean that good old marshall turned to ten with a stomp box in front of it tone. I absolutly love the sound of my z, so thats why I'm not going to go out to get a marshall stack. I just want a pedal that gets me into that tonal territory. I really dig what the fulltone and the tubescreamer do, I just want something that has a little more gain, not muddy, just clean gain if that makes sense.

the MI Audio Crunch box seems to fit the bill and I really like the sound clips on their website. The tones are quite tasty.

I've tried the OCD and I liked it, but I want to look at more options.

Any help?

-GD

[jamison162]

You need more compression and gain for solo tones, IMO, than the Crunchbox. Get a Barber Small Fry, it covers A LOT of ground with the turn of the dynamics knob. It can cover Crunchbox to Zendrive tones. I'm not crazy about Barber pedals, but the Small Fry is one of my favorite pedals period.

[Thwap]

While I love the crunchbox, I don't like it so much for leads. I'm thinking the Subdecay Blackstar may be worth a listen.

[Twin63]

A Keeley 3-Way Rat might get you there. I use it along with a Lovekraft Mojo Drive (set to "tweaked TS"). Stacked together = incredible lead tone (gain around noon - 2 o'clock on both pedals).

I'm using a G&L Legacy strat into a 6V6 amp (Gries 5), so I can't comment on how it sounds with an EL84 amp, but it's killer with my setup.

[funkycam]

did you try stacking the fd into the OCD?
I have the crunchbox & have used it for lead, but it seems to sit best in a heavy rock setting to my ear. The reason for that is it has a lot of cut in the top end (not harsh but very present) & in some situations where I needed a high gain lead tone, I've found myself wanting something smoother.
That said it's a really fun pedal, well built & not a lot of $$ for a great tone & definitely worth checking out if you think it might do it for ya!
hth
Cam

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Twin63

A Keeley 3-Way Rat might get you there. I use it along with a Lovekraft Mojo Drive (set to "tweaked TS"). Stacked together = incredible lead tone (gain around noon - 2 o'clock on both pedals).

+1 Keeley Rat. My favorite pedal for lead sounds. Fat mids and lot's of sustain.

[chemical69]

I think the CB provides a pretty damn good lead tone. Crank the gain up and you get a singing tone. It gets a little noisy with the gain around 3:00 though, so you can easily run the gain lower and boost it with your TS, Fat Boost, or even the FD2. It's a very fun pedal to play through!

[Tbone135]

I do similar music to yours and I keep a Big Muff after my FD2 for the big full solos.

[JohnLutz]

Nothing beats the fullness, dynamics, and sustain of a Landgraff DO for leads.

[musickbox]

Eternity would be my vote. Can do both light gain and higher gain. It is a lot more refined to CB or other pedals suggests. If you want distortion and not fuzz, I would check out the Brown Rabbit or some Rat variant. Big muff is cool, but for the exception of Gilmour, it never sounds like a screaming lead type pedal. I like muffs more for that Smashing Pumpkins sound or Black Keys old 70's rock style.

[PJH]

When I first got the CB I made a few clips with my Strat. If you want to hear what the thing sounds like go to my page.

There are about four clips with the CB.

Cheers,

Peter.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandID=761668

[brianf]

I now have about 35 O/D boxes including a Crunch Box which I just received last week.

I also have a Fulldrive 2 Mosfet. I have heard so many in the last year.

From what you are describing I think the new GT 500 from Fulltone may do the trick.

It has on its left side a booster which many think is the new Fulldrive Fat Boost 2. On the right side is the distortion which goes from a nice clip to over the top.

You can run either side of this pedal alone, or OD through the Boost or Boost through the OD. Do a search for GT 500 on You Tube. There are so many great examples there.

brianf

[Phil M]

Originally Posted by chemical69

I think the CB provides a pretty damn good lead tone. Crank the gain up and you get a singing tone. It gets a little noisy with the gain around 3:00 though, so you can easily run the gain lower and boost it with your TS, Fat Boost, or even the FD2. It's a very fun pedal to play through!

I agree, that pedal has a TON of over the top gain into a clean or semi-clean amp. Especially if you use humbuckers. I also found it to be a fairly quiet pedal, even at band volumes but I had the gain around 1:00-2:00, not 3:00.