I know that holdsworth and fredrik thordendal have both used breath controllers [with the SynthAxe and customized MIDI Breathcontrollers respectively] however i just want the synth-type lead tone [i can do the volume knob/pedal emulations in other ways]

So, are there any pedals out there than can get me close to this? E-H Microsynth? POG?

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Sorry I can't really help Im just impressed that someone mentioned Holdsworth and Meshuggah in the one breath!
That's great!
(sorry, I'll stop my unhelpful comments... now!)

Haha that's alright, have you heard Sol Niger Within? [Thordendal's Special Defects?]

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Holdsworth was going for a violin type lead guitar tone when he was using the SynthAxe as a lead instrument. (Holdsworth is both an accomplished violinist and a pianist).
I would look into a modern Roland midi unit for guitar, find a good violin sound and run it through some tasty distortion for that tone. Then you need to work on extended position violin prodigy runs...

Oh by the way, Holdsworth was heavily influenced by Jeff Becks 70's progressive work on guitar. I can't describe it, but there is a staple Beck/Holdsworth lick that Beck created that is a bend/hammer-on you'll need to learn to get the total Holdsworth vibe.

Those complex delay/mod delay algorithms are important too.

He has been using the UD-stomp (the pedal was designed for his needs actually!):
http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAM...tomp-large.jpg

It's discontinued btw...

the magic stomp can do all the ud stomp sounds. some of those delay are really quite amazing. i keep the stomp jsut for them

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No one has to be alright all of the time.

sweet i was planning on getting a magic stomp anyway thanks guys. Any other options that aren't MIDI or guitar synth orientated?

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That just sold me on the Magicstomp

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Double Helix

how much do they retail for?

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about $80USD if you can find them in a store (they have just recently been discontinued)

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If you're trying to get that "Devil Takes The Hindmost" tone... No.
That's a SynthAxe and I suspect he was also using the keyboard for ultimate speed capabilities (who knows. I don't think it's humanly possible to play that fast without a keyboard setup like that. I think that's where being a Guitar/Violin/Piano virtuoso may help ).

I apologize in advance for the zombie thread resurrection, but wanted to reply instead of start a new thread.

I'm a bass player, but I'm nuts about Holdsworth and his tones and concepts...and since my job quit me in 2009, I've had lots of "mad scientist" time to "spearmint" with pedal combinations, and here are my findings regarding this zombie thread.

For a Holdsworth lead tone try this: run a high-gain (anything with the word "metal" in its name) pedal into a reverb and salt to taste on both. The gain thickens up the tone and the reverb adds air and the "bloom" that I think AH was looking for when he first tried to use a guitar to emulate a wind instrument. Fire up this chain then tap some legato notes and see what you get and report back.

For a Holdsworth chord/swell/pad tone try this: chorus into a short delay. I'm having fun using a Dano Cool Cat (the old green 18 volt one, my fave fat chorus) into a Dan Echo(the purple one), then volume pedal or volume knob for the swells.

Of course, AH uses boutique/rack/discontinued/hard-to-find(trust me, it took me FOREVER to get my A/DA Stereo Tapped Delay, but I scored one on evilbaybay for $100 awhile back ) gear with specific algorithms for his sound, but I think these pedal combinations will get you within spitting distance of the ballpark. YMMV, but it's hours of fun for me! Take care guys and I hope everyone's doing well.