# Boost suggestions please!..



## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

OK...here is the DEAL.. With my new orange combo, it has a clean and OD channel, i spend most of my time on the High-Gain channel since we mostly play metal stuff. 

NOW, what i'm looking for is a stump box that will basicaly boost the Db...NOT change my tone or add any gain. Now, please do not suggest using an overdrive with the gain all the way down..it does'nt realy work....for me at least.

SO..a nice stomp box..to raise the db a bit for leads...

Any suggestions?...


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

a clean boost is what you want then.

Danelectro Fish n' Chips EQ set flat with the level dimed?


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

Budda said:


> a clean boost is what you want then.
> 
> Danelectro Fish n' Chips EQ set flat with the level dimed?


NO EQ...i tried that. it still modifies the tone.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

BBE Sonic Maximizer?

google "clean boost", see if any strike your fancy?


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

HBE Dos Mos. 2 "channels" @ 30db boost per side, stackable.

At *MODERATE* boost, it's clean.....say, each side 1/3 up. After that, it starts to have some gain character...but I bet it would sound good with your amp (I used to have one), it sounds good with every amp I have here (AC15, Marshall JVM, Hiwatt50, Fender VibroChamp). It's very open sounding, no loss of bottom end, no ice pick highs but still crisp highs. Doesn't add compression. At higher settings, it does add gain but it's a very crunchy rock n roll sound.

1/3 up sounds like it might not be much, but that would be wrong - it's a LOUD pedal.

No tone controls on it, to me it doesn't need them. Reacts very well to both volume controls (cleans up) and tone controls on guitar - best overdrive I've ever heard with tone all the way off.

About $160, worth every penny.


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## dan_ (Feb 5, 2008)

Lizard Leg Flying Dragon Boost. Get on the mailing list to demo a pedal...yo uwon't be disappointed!!


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

dan_ said:


> Lizard Leg Flying Dragon Boost. Get on the mailing list to demo a pedal...yo uwon't be disappointed!!


Yeha..just checked that...nice idea they have....i'll check it out


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## CDWaterloo (Jul 18, 2008)

best boost I have ever had is Zvex Super Duper. The only pedal I'll never part with...
sdsre


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Try a Visual Sound Truetone. It converts 9v internally to provide a 26v supply and deliver gobs of clean headroom. There is a treble cut control to round off the sound for boosting purposes. I won't say that you *can't* overdrive it, but you'd be very hard-pressed to. Decent price too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9oE3LAEkyg


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## Samsquantch (Mar 5, 2009)

Xotic RC Booster or Lizard Leg Flying Dragon will give you exactly what you are looking for.


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## Samsquantch (Mar 5, 2009)

Budda said:


> BBE Sonic Maximizer?


Not a boost or OD pedal.


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## Doc Plus (Oct 21, 2009)

If you use your amp on high gain channel, and want only add volume, you have to put the boost after the preamp, or you will add only gain, and not volume.

The 2nd guitarist of my band has a orange RV50. He uses the xotic RC Booster and the AMZ booster. The SHO sounds good too.


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## Salokin (Nov 10, 2008)

Yeah! You have to put the boost in the effect loop after the preamp!
The left side of a ZVEX Box of rock would probably be good for you. The RC booster is a prety nice sounding tweakable booster too!


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## Overt1 (Aug 31, 2009)

analogman beano boost? the boost section of a Tim pedal can do what you want too


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I'm currently using a SolidgoldFX N.O.B. for my boosting duties and it's a pretty great pedal. I won't say I'll never replace it, but I imagine I'll hang on to it for quite some time.


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## PEImatrix (Jan 27, 2007)

I have a vintage LPB2 in the FS section. It's a great germainium booster, and was designed for guys playing NMV Marshall amps. It sounds great though an 800 and JMP. 

There was a previous poster that made a good point about the boost having to be after the preamp stage if the gain is already saturated. Hard to tell if a boost will work for you without hearing your rig, since everyones idea of high gain is different.

Good luck.


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## ne1roc (Mar 4, 2006)

I almost got this for my Carvin Legacy. The concept is great! Basically a volume pedal in the loop. Set your rythym volume on the dial and hit the pedal to bypass the attenuated volume.


Solo Booster


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## dan_ (Feb 5, 2008)

I should also put a vote in here for the Zvex Super Hard On...but it adds some richness (IMO, of course), so I don't know if that's what you're going for. There's also plenty of schematics out there for it (and derivatives) if you feel like busting out the soldering iron. It's a very simple build.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

ne1roc said:


> I almost got this for my Carvin Legacy. The concept is great! Basically a volume pedal in the loop. Set your rythym volume on the dial and hit the pedal to bypass the attenuated volume.
> 
> 
> Solo Booster


That's pretty cool. Paul Gilbert uses an EQ pedal in a similar way. He sets his amp for his crunch tone and LOWERS the gain on the eq pedal to get his clean sound.

http://www.homebrewelectronics.com/signature.html


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

There is one I built. I can't remember where I got the schematic, but it was originally designed to go inside a guitar, I modded it to a foot pedal. It has 4 controls for vol, gain, treble and bass. I posted the schematic at blueguitar.org. If you go there, navigate to Misc. effects., then to the 3rd one down (ss_preamp.gif [11k] Another ss preamp with Vol, Gain, Bass, Treble). It is a fairly easy build (I did it) and works well. You can fine tune it easily to do what you want it to do.


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## Orcslayer (Feb 2, 2009)

What's wrong with a straight volume pedal? 

I have two: a Morley that uses a 9 volt & allows you to set the amount of volume increase/decrease & a Dunlop which is passive but never craps out when you need it.

Both use a wah style footpedal, not a switch.


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## forum_crawler (Sep 25, 2008)

I would say the Visual Sound is a good option as is the MXR MC-401 Boost/Line Driver. I have the MXR (used as a line driver) but when used as a boost, it will do exactly what you want.


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## soldierscry (Jan 20, 2008)

SCP!!!!!:rockon2:


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Jim DaddyO said:


> There is one I built. I can't remember where I got the schematic, but it was originally designed to go inside a guitar, I modded it to a foot pedal. It has 4 controls for vol, gain, treble and bass. I posted the schematic at blueguitar.org. If you go there, navigate to Misc. effects., then to the 3rd one down (ss_preamp.gif [11k] Another ss preamp with Vol, Gain, Bass, Treble). It is a fairly easy build (I did it) and works well. You can fine tune it easily to do what you want it to do.


Ah, that one! I had that built into my guitar back in 1982 or so. It was a project that appeared in Guitar Player, back when on-board preamps and EQ were all the rage. If memory serves, the designer was the guy who had done the electronics for the Rex Bogue doubleneck that John McLaughlin was playing.

The circuit worked well and had low current drain. 2N5089 transistors were not _absolutely_ required for it to work as shown, but they do happen to be low-noise units. Note that the Baxandall-type tone controls are different from a Fender/Marshall tonestack and provide boost and cut.

If one is going to build this as a stompbox booster, then there needs to be a 1M to 2M2 resistor from the input to ground, and a 100k resistor from the output to ground, in order to avoid switch popping.


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## Alien8 (Jan 8, 2009)

I use an Empress ParaEQ. Before you go on because I said EQ, it actually is amazing for boosting tone both in the front end of the pre amp and right before the power amp - if your Orange does have an FX Loop that is. The EQ advantage - with the Empress at least is that it is really transparent and can eliminate any unbalanced frequencies that can sometimes occur when boosting.

Boosting the pre to get more volume can be tricky, and takes some balancing, since you are driving the pre-amp tubes harder, and not the volume producing tubes in the power amp section. Having a high end parametric EQ will do the best job in this case, since you can tweak the tone *back* to what you want.

The ParaEQ can also run at 18V to give you added headroom.

Good luck!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I'll put in a plug for my own "Crank" booster: http://gaussmarkov.net/wordpress/circuits/crank/

This provides more than enough clean gain to torture your input stage, with the option of adding just a touch of dirt. You can read more here: http://hammer.ampage.org/files/The_Crank.gif One of the nice features is that it automatically rolls back the top end as the gain is increased. Easy and cheap to build with widely available components. If it matters, some folks who built it, and were in a position to compare, told me that it compares favourably to the Klon. Not exactly the same, and definitely not as complex or elegant, but certainly in that direction. One fellow tried it with his Marshall, and said it gave him the sound he was always looking for. So, it may not be exactly what you need, but it seems to have made some folks happy. I have two. If you wanna buy one, be my guest.


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## Solid_Gold_Soundlabs (Sep 20, 2006)

hollowbody said:


> I'm currently using a SolidgoldFX N.O.B. for my boosting duties and it's a pretty great pedal. I won't say I'll never replace it, but I imagine I'll hang on to it for quite some time.


The NOB is designed to add color to your tone....i'd recommend a Nitro boost...has clean and dirty settings.

As for the LPB2 that was mentioned, its not germanium, its silicon.


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## jmb2 (May 18, 2009)

dan_ said:


> Lizard Leg Flying Dragon Boost. Get on the mailing list to demo a pedal...yo uwon't be disappointed!!


+1 on the Flying Dragon ... also take a look at Draconis, also from Lizard Leg.

RC from Xotic works nice too.

cheers always, eh

Joel


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## JonF (Sep 4, 2009)

I recently picked up a Durham Sex Drive pedal... and am loving it!


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## pattste (Dec 30, 2007)

forum_crawler said:


> the MXR MC-401 Boost/Line Driver. I have the MXR (used as a line driver) but when used as a boost, it will do exactly what you want.


+1.

The MXR/CAE MC-401 was designed by Bob Bradshaw, pedalboard builder to the stars. As good a clean boost as any other pedal for half the price of some boutique solutions.


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## corailz (May 1, 2008)

The Durham Sex Drive looks to be a really nice choice for a clean boost .

For me,it's my Xotic AC+ Booster.It's totally crazy when's pushing on my Tiny Terror's front....I can say that alot of other guitar players around me ask me for my secret weapon!!!!LOL

My next one will surely be something like the MI Audio Boost n' Buff aside of the AC+.


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## WEEZY (May 23, 2008)

I have been through several boost pedals in a quest very similar to yours - no coloring of the sound, just straight-up BOOST.

I currently like the Caitlinbread Poblano Picoso but the very best one I've tried is my new RC Booster from Xotic. It's fantastic, try it out.


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## DMac604 (Jul 8, 2007)

heres a brand new pedal Farndurks "Joe"
http://www.farndurk.com/index.php?product=joe

"Limited intro price of $125. This is for a very limited time and on this first run of Joe pedals only. After this first run, the price will settle at $140. The PCBs of this first run of Joes will have special one-time-only graffitti on the pcboard to commemorate the release of the JOE. This initial run will also include a spare IC chip. Installed on the PCB is a Burr Brown, and included is a JRC4558D. The main chip is mounted in a socket and is easily changed without any soldering."



I cant find any clips for this pedal but its supposed to be the same as the boost in this clip of a "model 9"
@ 5:33
[YOUTUBE]h0B2HKxzqp0[/YOUTUBE]


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