Reaching for the Stars – Boosting Your Guitar Solo

One thing that I struggled with for a very long time was having my guitar solo at an appropriate volume compared to the rest of the band. The idea was for the guitar to still fit in tonally, but have the lift and any ambience that I required. I have experimented with many different methods over the years, and I have discovered a few that work best for me.

In this blog post I am going to discuss a variety of things you can do to effectively get your solo from your fingers to the listeners ears. 

Things You Can Do

Push the Amp Harder

Many guitar players take a well-trodden path of simply pushing the front of their amp harder with an effects pedal of some kind. Some people do not quite understand the correct way to achieve the best results with this method, so if it is something you would like to try, make sure you do some research into stacking gain pedals. 

Just be aware, distortion does not equal volume!

Using an EQ or Boost Pedal

One of my favourite methods for raising the level of my signal for a guitar solo is to run an EQ or clean boost pedal in the effects loop of an amp. Clean boost pedals are generally designed to have little to no colour in their sound, but can make the signal going into the amp significantly hotter and this could make the amp, or other pedals you are using, distort depending on how you have things set. Doing this in the effects loop (if you have one! means that the louder signal does not engage the pre-amp section of the amp, which is one of the main things that gives an amp its character.

Some EQ pedals like the Boss GE-7 have a great gain slider which serves great as a boost, but the EQ side of things allows you to shape the tone of your sound in high detail. I have actually seen people use two of them, one in front for tone shaping, one in the loop to boost.

Using Your Volume Control

One of the oldest methods, and perhaps one of the simplest, is setting your main rhythm guitar tone with the volume control turned now, so that when it comes to your solo you simply have to turn it up with your hand. One problem with this is that, like running a drive pedal in the front of your amp, you can change the tone with the hotter signal, something you might not want. 

Another problem is that many guitarists, including myself until the last couple of years, do not properly use the controls on their guitars, and do not realise that the pots are scratchy or noisy in some way. Turning up your volume to play a solo, but to be greeted with a series of crackles and pops is less than ideal.

If you have a guitar that is wired similarly to a Les Paul, in such that it has a separate volume for each pickup, it is common to play rhythm guitar on the neck pickup at a lower volume, and switch to the bridge pickup that is pre-set on full volume for a solo. I like using both pickups for rhythm and lead, so that does not really work for me. 

Amp Controls

One of the most useful ways to boost a guitar tone for a solo that I have personally spent a lot of time using, is the use of the graphic EQ included with the Mesa Boogie Mark series amps. I used the Mark 5:25 head version, and the graphic EQ was activated with the footswitch, which worked great when I boosted some of the mid-frequencies.

Before that, I had a Marshall JVM210c, a heavy combo amplifier that I used for many years for all kinds of shows. That amp had a great footswitch and two master volumes, which meant that I was able to simply activate the second master volume for solos.

What Doesn’t Work for Me

Your mileage may vary here, but there are two things that I have tried to do for boosting the guitar signal, and they do not work for me. Exactly why they do not do what I want them to I am unsure, but I think it is fair to say that I have given it a shot and each time it turns out the same – remember to try it more than once though!

Using a Volume Pedal

Using a volume pedal either in the effects loop or in various points throughout the signal chain is quite common. Where it is placed can have different function. For example, at the very end of the chain will act as a master volume, which means that even ambient effects and their tails, if any, will be adjusted depending on the position of the pedal. 

The issue I have is that I am clumsy, and I always worry about returning the volume pedal back to the specific point it was at before. I have spent most of my time here with a volume pedal in the effects loop, but before the ambient effects. Even though using this method would improve with practice, it would be tricky to manage and I always found focusing on that rather than the performance,

Just Do Nothing

Perhaps some guitar players have a very dynamic set up, and playing harder will give them enough of a boost so that they are happy and can be heard. They play along with their tone as normal, but when it comes to a solo, they just play it. 

One example of this would be the band Airbourne, whom I saw live with a friend at the prestigious Roundhouse venue in London many years ago. They sounded great, and I had zero complaints from the night. The guitarists from that band are famous for having a large selection of amplifiers that they use with no pedals, and perhaps they use their volume control, but I did not notice this. 

On the other hand, I have seen bands in small venues or bars that try the same tactic, with no luck. One such band was in a trio using a Gibson SG with a Fender Hot Rod and a wah pedal – a simple rig that sounded good for the most part, but there was just no body to the sound when he took a solo.

I try to use dynamics in my playing in general, but the increase in volume just does not work for me.

Other Info

When I use my Kemper based rig, I do not use a pedal block or something similar. I have an identical patch with the rig volume increased by up to 6dB – the actual amount depends on the amp profile and other factors. Doing this allows me to add or change ambient effects too. When I used Line 6 Helix products, I would set a footswitch or snapshot to trigger an increase in volume, either as an overall master increase or in the cabinet block – to keep everything as clean as possible.

Some points to consider moving forward:

• Do you need exactly the same kind of boost each time? How you boost might need to change,

• Would you benefit from adding or adjusting distortion parameters, changing the EQ or adding anything else?

• Do you need solo effects to be tempo synced, or can you make do with a tap tempo or just a generic, blanket sound?

Final Thoughts

Each of the methods we discussed today are entirely dependent on your personal situation, what genre you play and, of course, if you do not play solos then you should not have to worry about this at all!

The last piece of advice I can give you here is an important one, and that is always try out this boost in the context that you are using it. You may need more or less ambience than you think, and I have even been told to really push the volume up for a solo even though it was too loud from where I was standing – if you have a wireless system, try and stand further away from your amp so you are not being overpowered by your own sound (this helps for general tone shaping also!). 

Ask your friends, peers, teacher and a guitarist you happen to see at a show. You never know, you might discover the perfect method for you!