Guys,

I'm putting together a relatively high quality home practice rig. My goal is to obtain a shimmering, but punchy clean tone using my bridge humbucker. I switch between clean and distorted tones quite often, so it has to be from my humbucker.

I'm on a Mexican Strat with a DiMarzio Super Distortion humbucker in the bridge position.

My practice amp is a Fender VibroChamp XD (2 tubes, baby..).

I'm running my sound through a highly modified Boss MT-2 Metal Zone Distortion (Analogman). It doesn't appear to be affecting the tone when disengaged.

Today, I am going to pick up a Boss CH-1 Super Chorus pedal, so I can add just a tiny bit of chorus with a tiny bit of delay. I plan on using a little bit of reverb that's built into my amp.

Should I be looking to add anything else to my rig to get the clean sound right?

I'm contemplating adding a compression box and an EQ box. Am I on the right track?

For a good, clean, punchy boost I use an MXR Micro-Amp pedal. Put it after your distortion/overdrive, and it instantly adds punch, volume and "more of me" sound to my signal.

It doesn't add any distortion unless you put it before a distortion/fuzz/overdrive pedal.

For a more expensive, higher-end box, the Keeley Katana does basically the same thing. I hand a friend who has one, and we didn't notice much difference.

An EQ pedal with a volume slider can do a similar thing, put you have to adjust the EQ rather flat so it doesn't change your tone (if you're looking to keep your tone, but make it punchier).

It depends on what type of compressor you use; some will color your tone, some will emphasize your fuzz/overdrive/distortion more (making your desired "clean punch" into a "dirty punch"), and some are noisy. YMMV, of course.

I really, really dislike most chorus effects (no offense, just a personal preference), so I won't express my opinion about using that effect. They are good for adding some wobbly shimmer but when I think "punchy", I don't think "chorus"...

I really, really like my MXR Micro Amp. It gets used--and adjusted up or down--during almost every song. Give it a try, and tell us what you ended up doing.

_________________
Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

+1 Love my MXR/Dunlop boost pedal.

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Well, the reason I consider the chorus pedal to be the first option is because I plan to use it for both clean and distorted sound. It will really fill out my Metal Zone distortion, so it's a lot of bang for my buck for that purpose.


I will definitely do some research on the MXR Micro-Amp that you brought up. However, I am wondering, it seems that the "punch" in my tone is already there because of the high output pickup, so will I still be able to benefit from having this signal processor?

Oh yeah, because it gives your cleans a nice boost without adding anything or coloring your tone.

If you're looking for an effect that you can use for both clean and dirty tones, a chorus might be what you want, but if you need some boost, I think the Micro Amp (or Miami Mike's MXR Boost suggestion--it's a similar pedal) might be the way to go...

Just my not-so-humble opinion, and your mileage may vary...

_________________
Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Although, reading your initial post, I should have asked:

What do you mean by "shimmering"?

_________________
Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Good question, I wish I knew...


I guess a very lightly audible delay effect with a combination of a little bit of reverb. Thanks for making me think about this.

If you have a sound sample (of a song with this desired tone), post it here and we'll get to the bottom of this...

_________________
Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Don't forget the Icicle effect from the North Pole. Thats always a nice clean sound.
----Danny,

Here's a short clip of what I consider shimmering clean, does this sound like what you're after?

http://www.box.com/s/k8dj1l1eqoulbcdkdq0e

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Well, I added the Boss CH-1 pedal last night, and the sound is definitely getting closer to what I've been wanting to hear, now I will need to restring my guitar to get the optimal tone.

I added a very slow chorus and set the depth to be very shallow, so that the effect isn't very obvious. Getting there, but will probably need EQ as well to help make the highs "sparkle" more.

I am at work now so I will listen to those sound samples when I get home....thanks.

I picked up a Electro-Harmonix LPB-1 Nano that does the job nice, under $40 You can check them out on their website www.ehx.com

_________________

Well, for me, I turn the the low up to 10, the medium and high to 0, and the reverb to 10.

_________________
1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

Nice sound Mike, I nearly got up to dance!

_________________
'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

I've always equated "shimmering" to the warble of the rotating speaker and Leslie on Jimi's Little Wing and Hey Baby New Rising Sun respectively.Maybe an effect like the TECH21NYC Rotochoir would be more what you're looking for to create your "shimmer". Look it up here: http://www.tech21nyc.com/ it's really quite an amazing unit.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.