Plexi volume boost for leads?

ledvedder

ledvedder

Well-known member
I played my Plexi for the first time last night at band rehearsal. Overall, it sounded ok. I'm still trying to get it dialed in to where I have a good overdrive tone with a good amount of cleanup when I roll back the guitar volume. It also seemed like a constant fight between too bassy and not enough bass. But my biggest issue is that leads just seemed to disappear in the mix. I've always boosted the lead volume through an effects loop, but the Plexi obviously doesn't have one. I had both a Boss SD1 with level up, gain down, and an EQ pedal set to frown with level up. I also tried using the guitar volume, but since I already have the amp dialed in with overdrive, raising the guitar volume just seemed to increase gain, not volume. Nothing seemed to really cut my leads up in the mix. Looking for some suggestions.
 
You are using an EQ does it not have a slider for volume? If you do you could dial in your lead tone then use the EQ pedal to dial in your rhythm tone with the volume slider down a bit then just turn it off when you use a lead.

This is based on you needing the EQ for your Rhythm tone. Also use the EQ in the loop
 
man wild guess... you think it could be a frequency thing, and less a level thing? what amp is your other player using.

since you have no loop, where are you running effects? (just a curious question on my part)

The Sparks are supposed to be really good clean boosts. i'm a big fan of the Mini TS (personal preference).
 
Age old problem trying to get a boost through the front end. Invest in a Fryette PS2. You'll find your master volume sweet spot through attenuation. You'll get a loop external to your amp and all your time based effects will shine. You'll have 2 channels on the Fryette so you can set one for boost. Using an EQ in the front seems to be the best approach if you must. You can use it as a cut and engage the EQ for rythem work and disengage for lead work. Jack your amp up to lead volume. It's reverse logic but works well.
 
You could look into adding a footswitchable SOLO boost like Splawn had on his early Splawn mods and Quickrods. Set the amount of extra volume you need on the added 250K audio pot and then step on the solo footswitch and bam your solo's are louder than your rhythym volume.

All you need is a single latching footswitch.
 
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JLR said:
Age old problem trying to get a boost through the front end. Invest in a Fryette PS2. You'll get a loop external to your amp and all your time based effects will shine. You'll have 2 channels on the Fryette so you can set one for boost. Using an EQ in the front seems to be the best approach if you must. You can use it as a cut and engage the EQ for rythem work and disengage for lead work. Jack your amp up to lead volume. It's reverse logic but works well.
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^Yep. The amp is near it's headroom limit so it just doesn't have much left to go. Working the volume control is important.

Fire the other guitar player if there is one. Having the rhythm guitar completely drop out when you go to lead is the best boost.:ROFLMAO:

Half-kidding here, don't fire anybody.
 
I have a Fryette PS100 that I use at home. I was trying to find another solution, besides lugging more gear around.

I tried it today with my HX Effects, running the normal 4 cable method that I run with my other amps. Except I was running the effects loop stuff through the PS100's effects loop. I was getting a horrible squeal.
 
JLR said:
There is a FX Hi/Lo return level button on the back. Did you try that?
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I was able to get rid of the squeal by using an iso box between the HX send and the amp input. Now I'm getting this issue with the Power Station effects loop.
 
I thought the PS100 had two channels that you can set two different volume levels like for rythym level and one for leads????

Looks like it has a two button footswitch for doing this very thing.......
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I think I figured it out. I started jiggling the cables, just to be certain I didn't have any bad ones. The one going into the Pyle iso box was the issue. Actually, the box itself was the issue. Cheap jacks.
 
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