Riff vs lead tone: a small guide

Since my view of this has grow a lot recently (especially in the lead departement!), i want to share a small sum of my finding here with you.

Yes you can use a single tone of both, many do, but what if you want to spacialize and get the most of both worlds? And whay if you want to know what are the difference?

GAIN:

You dont want too much gain on your rythm but you may want more gain on your solo. Way? Rythms need to be tight and "clear" and solo may need sustain. You want the feel the attack and the stom while you strum, one side and want you note to last as long as it can to the other.

DELAY:

Same goes for the delay, Riff want no delay or a very short slap to "double" your guitar. On the opposite when doyng a solo you want athmosphere you want your fast notes melting and messing with the repeats

EQ:

Again your riff need to be thight, with a good amount of highs (but always keep away that arsh taste), while avoid the honk of a exagerated mid and you want to tame your basses so it is not too boomy or undefined.. Thats the recipe, you know. And the solo: the solo needs to stand out, so you need some more mid to cut through the mid, and your highs need more basses and more mids to get full and rounded. Check with your neck PU if you have too much basses listening to the tone of the A string between 10 and 15 frets. Yuo need that notes to be usables. Many uses the neck pickup for the higer frets but i think that you may want to tame your highs and to keep the brighe pickup usable in that zone for the sweet armonics that it makes when you it more than one string and bend!