I need an effect for a "bigger" sound

[Crowder]

I've almost always played in a three piece. After about a 20-year layoff from electric bands, I find myself in that situation again.

I'm getting a really good overdriven tone and I love my signal chain for drive tones. I like my clean tone, but there are times when I'd like it to take up a little more sonic space, especially on sustained chords and single-note lines.

In the 80's I used a Boss CE-3 Chorus for this purpose. I know Chorus is way out of fashion. What's the 2010 equivalent? I.e. something to present a bigger clean sound, a little modulation maybe, without being too retro-sounding.

Thanks!
Mike

 

[vhollund]

Delay ? Compression ?

 

[theGhost]

just go with a stereo rig - and it wouldn't necessarily have to cost you that much more in terms of "stuff" to bring. If you split your signal and had your sound running in stereo in one of various forms, all of the sudden your sound would be HUGE...

 

[Crowder]

just go with a stereo rig - and it wouldn't necessarily have to cost you that much more in terms of "stuff" to bring. If you split your signal and had your sound running in stereo in one of various forms, all of the sudden your sound would be HUGE...

I'm leaning that way and I recently got a /13 amp ABC+boost box. It seems a bit like overkill, but I did say I wanted a big sound.

Can anyone recommend a stereo modulation or delay effect I might use in a stereo rig?

 

[David-R]

You may want to consider an Xotic EP Booster.

 

[SteveO]

A really short delay (around 15ms) fattens it up without sounding chorus-ey, just have no repeats or it gets freaky.

 

[5150user]

Short Delay and Stereo Rig.

 

[grateful.ed]

A guy I jam with uses a BBE Sonic Stomp....says it takes the wet blanket off of his amp. His tone fills every nook & cranny.

 

[theGhost]

all of the "biggest" sounding rigs I've ever heard in person were definitely from stereo rigs - albeit sometimes they were by touring musicians who had a road crew to take their 2 x (amp + 3/4 stack) around.

I would assume that you're not willing to haul that much stuff around, but I'm sure there's a tenable solution to your problem if you do happen to want to go stereo. Even adding just another amp/cab (like a 1x12) can help a ton...

 

[teefus]

i have been using a fromel shape eq to give my hb's a some nice clean punch. really versatile. you can suck the mids for more of a single coil tone with the bass and treble boosted or bump the mids for some more meat.

 

[mhuxtable]

Electro Harmonix POG! (or POG2 now...)

I use it not only for octave down & octave ups & organ sounds, but if you dial in mostly dry signal with a little of the sub octave & upper octaves plus get the low pass filter right, it makes your guitar sound HUGE without sounding fake or 12 stringy. Check it out.

 

[nrvana8775]

i have been using a fromel shape eq to give my hb's a some nice clean punch. really versatile. you can suck the mids for more of a single coil tone with the bass and treble boosted or bump the mids for some more meat.

Pretty much. I use it to drastically thicken up the tones on my g&l legacy.

 

[oxtone]

For a fatter clean tone, try the Dr. Scientist "The Cleanness" boost pedal. It has: Volume, Gain, and Low, Mid, and High EQ knobs. You can tweak your tone with it any way you like, by boosting, or cutting certain frequencies. I use it to fatten my clean tones, as well as to goose my overdrive pedals.

Also try the Xotic EP Booster - sounds great with just one knob, and takes up very little pedal board space.

 

[VA_siCkBoy]

You may want to consider an Xotic EP Booster.

Definitely!!

 

[electrolyte]

+1 on the EP booster

You may want to consider an Xotic EP Booster.

 

[Crowder]

The EP Booster sounds cool, but I already have a ZVEX SHO, the clean boost on my /13 Switchazel, and a Barber 1/2 Gainer can also be set for a close-to-clean boost. Not sure I need another clean boost.

FWIW I'm also using a Wampler EGO Compressor.

I think I'll try running two amps, maybe using a stereo delay pedal to split the signal instead of the Switchazel.

 

[jwny72]

I run two (stock) Fender Blues Junior amps in stereo. It sounds surprisingly good, and the sound is huge. They're small, light amps too.

 

[suckamc]

Watch that Switchazel. It doesn't have isolation transformers in it, so you'll probably get ground hum if you run A/B with two different amps (remember, Fred had his own amps in mind... where you'd run one channel of the pedal to each side of the amp). I had a guy put an iso transformer in it and I've used it in a real A/B rig ever since.

I'm leaning that way and I recently got a /13 amp ABC+boost box. It seems a bit like overkill, but I did say I wanted a big sound.

Can anyone recommend a stereo modulation or delay effect I might use in a stereo rig?

 

[Lolaviola]

I don't think you'd have a problem with using a Boss delay, or even a chorus for the stereo effect. A chorus set low gets an interesting effect. Even a Boss CE-3!