Single Guitarist... Wanting to thicken up my tone a bit live

[Mailman1971]

I thicken up my tone using a delay.
I am the only guitar player.
Playing thru two 4x12s.
The settings? Like barely cracked at 1.
Can’t tell it’s on. But shut it off you notice it.
Using a carbon copy.

 

[cardinal]

I've been thinking about this as well as I'm the lone slinger in our band. I like to keep things simple, so was looking at a second delay pedal or chorus on all the time at low settings.

For those that have used delay or chorus to achieve this, can you share your pedals and settings?

Thanks!

I have a old DM2 that works really well as an always-on pedal to just add some depth/thickness to the tone. The Chandler SDE rack unit sounds awesome for that too. Just a short delay time, moderate feedback, but relatively high level/volume. Gives you an almost immediate one or two repeats that are fairly loud. I end up really only using it for solos, and often don't bother even then but it does work well for rhythms too. Like Mailman says, when its on: you'll hardly notice it, but click it off and you'll notice that everything sounds a bit thinner.

I also have an old CE2 that I really like, but it adds more of an obvious "effect" to the tone. It does sound thick and seems to add some drive/boost in a good way (with my JMPs at least), but it certainly sounds like a chorus effect rather than just having a second guitarist/double track.

 

[PhloridaMan]

Just got the pedal in so I am going to check it out this afternoon. Unfortunately for me right now, a stereo rig is not an option. Dropping the money on another cab and head isn't exactly in the budget. Home Ownership and owning and operating a Racecar kind of suck my funds dry during the summer months lol

 

[RaceU4her]

It’s easier to just get a mimiq

 

[RaceU4her]

Just got the pedal in so I am going to check it out this afternoon. Unfortunately for me right now, a stereo rig is not an option. Dropping the money on another cab and head isn't exactly in the budget. Home Ownership and owning and operating a Racecar kind of suck my funds dry during the summer months lol

Let us know how that goes

 

[PhloridaMan]

Switch to MESA/Boogie amps. Thick and juicy tone. They're magical. They are the bar, a very high bar.

MESA Amps really aren't my Jam... I have had a Dual Rec, 50cal, DC10 and an RA100 through the years. Just never gotten along with them. My 6505+ has long suited me well for my "perfect" tone, I just need it to sound more like there are 2 of us on stage right now. Guitarists around here suck lol

 

[PhloridaMan]

Get your bassist some type of overdrive pedal (RAT, OCD, Darkglass, Muff, whatever). He can step on and off it when it makes sense to give a wall of sound behind the guitars. Probably a lot easier than trying to run a stereo rig, which IME is a real pain.

He uses a RAT but very subtly...

 

[ned911]

When I was gigging we were a 3 piece 80's cover band. I used a GSP1101 straight into the board stereo with IEM's. Huge sound. Delay and a little detune. We ran our PA stereo which helped.

The trick is stereo with detune and delay.

The post above about the Rockman Stereo Chorus is a good recommendation. You can even stop the sweep (Sweep Stop) to keep a little delay with a wide stereo spread

 

[nightflameauto]

If you have a good sound guy and a stereo PA, ask the sound guy to pop the mimiq on your mic input and then route it out to the mains in stereo. No extra costs and you get that big fat mimiq stereo sound where it counts.

If you're not using a PA for the guitar, you may be disappointed with the mimiq in mono. It gets a little mushy on the attack through just one amp.

I just popped up a clip of it in stereo for those curious.

 

[cardinal]

Get your bassist some type of overdrive pedal (RAT, OCD, Darkglass, Muff, whatever). He can step on and off it when it makes sense to give a wall of sound behind the guitars. Probably a lot easier than trying to run a stereo rig, which IME is a real pain.

He uses a RAT but very subtly...

Maybe try it with the gain cranked up to a pretty gnarly distortion. I really like what Tim Commerford and Justin Chancellor do: they play in a three-piece band and have a "clean" tone (that often is a bit overdriven) but will add a very heavy overdrive or distortion for certain riffs.

 

[rstites]

For a number of years I ran stereo using a simple little rack system. I'd just split the signal from the preamp with a short delay and then run out through a stereo power amp to separate cabs. The delay was just enough to thicken the sound up,but not enough you'd ever hear it. The bonus is because I had the stereo setup, I could run any effect-effect type sounds (flanger, chorus, ping pong delays, etc.) in stereo when I need them.

Ideally, a very light chorus will do a better job of emulating two guitar players, but I found the short delay worked better for me. Either should do it. I highly recommend this if you are willing to deal with the extra equipment. Btw, you can do the exact same thing with a standard guitar amp: just pull of the DI into a delay and then reamp through a good SS power amp into a second cab.

 

[Goat]

If you don't mind digital, the old Rocktron Intellifex was awesome for thickening your sound. Even when used as a mono device, it's quite an awesome piece.

My best digital experience thus far... Kemper w/TC2290 in the loop -> W/D/W output.

 

[Mailman1971]

I use the Mxr 10 band eq in the loop. But also run
2 cabs split. It’s not stereo. But sounds huge.
One cab left side other right. Band in the middle.

 

[Junk Yard Dog]

I use the Mxr 10 band eq in the loop. But also run
2 cabs split. It’s not stereo. But sounds huge.
One cab left side other right. Band in the middle.

Two cabs, one amp? How exactly do you do this?

Thanks!

 

[Mailman1971]

I use the Mxr 10 band eq in the loop. But also run
2 cabs split. It’s not stereo. But sounds huge.
One cab left side other right. Band in the middle.

Two cabs, one amp? How exactly do you do this?

Thanks!

I got 2 output speaker jacks in the Amps I have.
I run 2 8 ohm 4x12 cabs.
It’s a wall of tone.

 

[PhloridaMan]

Well, this thing is awesome. Absolutely love ALMOST everything about it.

Unfortunately it has one fatal flaw. No matter how I have set it, where it is in my chain etc... Any time I do a pinch harmonic, it has this horrible digital popping sound. I called TC and they tried to help me but couldn't. i went up the road to GC to try it on a different amp and it did this same thing. Even tried one GC had used in stock and it did the same. Frustrating. I picked up a Carbon Copy (my 4th ive owned now) and I guess I am sending this Mimiq back.

 

[JackBootedThug]

back when i used to play......i ran a tremoverb halfstack and a marshall zack sig halfstack in stereo. i used a boss stero chorus and digital delay somehow-can't really remember. the zakk was also boosted. the 2nd amp had a tiny bit of delay and it sounded like a wall of amps. more death than a graveyard......fo sho....

 

[311boogieman]

Well, this thing is awesome. Absolutely love ALMOST everything about it.

Unfortunately it has one fatal flaw. No matter how I have set it, where it is in my chain etc... Any time I do a pinch harmonic, it has this horrible digital popping sound. I called TC and they tried to help me but couldn't. i went up the road to GC to try it on a different amp and it did this same thing. Even tried one GC had used in stock and it did the same. Frustrating. I picked up a Carbon Copy (my 4th ive owned now) and I guess I am sending this Mimiq back.

Sorry to hear that. I have a Carbon Copy delay as well. Great pedal. I have a EHX chorus too. And an MXR ABY.

 

[311boogieman]

dupe

 

[nightlight]

I used to own a Mimiq and then bought a Strymon Deco. In my opinion, it sounds less phasey than the Mimiq, but is also a lot more expensive.

Also, there's a lot more options when it comes to setting the ADT, so if your settings get bumped around and you don't know it, you could be in for a rough night.