Not sure what I'm looking for?

[misplacedsanity]

I'm running my guitar through my pedal board into two tech 21 power engines. I've got my distortion
well covered but my clean sound is lacking. I want something that would liven my clean sound up a
bit, I'm not after chorus or reverb or any kind of "effect". I've tried a number of preamp pedals but they
all seem to be designed to add gain or a volume boost, which isn't what I'm after.
Does anyone know of anything that could help? 

 

[jackthehack]

TUBES!

 

[misplacedsanity]

Although I know what you're saying is right, it's kind of the expensive right answer.
I have thought of buying another amp, but I play in stereo, so that would be two
other amps, which is going to add up to a pretty expensive fix.
Plus I'm really gassing on getting a soloist built.
I'm starting to think I should just abandon this thread and start another one
begging for money.

 

[Kostas]

What guitar(s) you have and what is the clean sound you are looking for? Strat, tele, P90 or something different?

Some guitarists are using a w-d-w system. You can have a tube combo in the middle for dry sounds and the two power engines on the left & right for wet sounds.
If you have tried most preamps/pedals and you don't like the cleans, a tube amp is the only thing I can think also.

An extreme solution would be to sell the two power engines and buy two tube combos!