Vote for THE BEST BOOSTER pedal in most DIY Builders

[askwho69]

Hi all i want to make  a poll about best/beast booster pedal! any kind of booster, can be CS3, Micro amp, range master and many more.. include the WHY YOU LIKE IT and The disadvantages on it, and also what music are you playing

[askwho69]

come on! 8 viewers and no comments? please left some

[petemoore]

  Best of course is the one I'm playing/using. When choosing from what I chose to have or build:
  Jfet source follower, the high impedance input 'sucks up' the peizo output, the source drives what comes next. I don't have any other ultra-low impedance sources.
  Jfetzer valve, it distorts a little bit very nice..a bit trickier to get set up right.
  18v Jfetzer valve, it boosts, and isn't so particular about which exact Jfet/bias.
  Compressor [quick] because it compresses and boosts, keeps signal level "up but not over X", allowing a less peaky 'riding' of say output tube boosters to cause them to distort during more of the input time without over-boost.
  Sluggish comp because I can play and it's all squashed a bit until I sustain, then it's like magic gnome compensates with volume ramp up.
  TubePRe...lit up my Beta58, bringing room sound into my recorder, does cable and impedance matchings...very hot.
  Commonplace board opamp inputs, pretty good, definitely not best except maybe in the sense that they're there, they work, and didn't cost a couple of furtunes...leaving something leftover for say...anything else, very practical.
  Same thing with the recorder opamp inputs..clean and functional but not particularly or outstandingly featured or 'hot'.
  Any one of the 12a_7 inputs on my amplifiers, super...but having replaced 'stage 1' with Jfets before...also super..just a bit different.
  Fuzzface, dirty treble boost when I crank back the guitar volume set up to reduce gain [bassy LF's are the first to go, between 10 and 8 at the guitar volume]. Very handy, guitar volume ranges from dirty treble boost [Guitar volume <7] to gainier dirtier distort-o boost [guitar volume >9.2] to Fuzz [inbetween the TB and Disto marks].
  6sn7...bringing excellent boost, in business for over 40 years and still going perfectly strong.
  The wider/shorter type smaller tubes [6v6, 5881, 6__7's] seem to offer long life/excellent performance.
 

[Hides-His-Eyes]

I like the Mosfet booster for the high input impedance and pleasant clipping, but the LPB-1 can really tame a bright guitar/amp like a jazzmaster/blackface combo or the like.

I like op-amps for making things louder in pedals but not on their own as a booster particularly.

[earthtonesaudio]

A couple of my favorites:

Gus' NPN boost
Pros:
Unique DIY circuit, good range of tonal characteristics (input impedance decreases as gain increases, which helps even out the tone at high gain settings) and robust.
Cons:
The output is inverting with respect to the input... I guess that could be a disadvantage sometimes.  Could benefit from the addition of power supply polarity protection and bypassing.

Howie's Metal Simplex
Pros:
Another unique DIY circuit, can do mild treble boost up to overdrive/distortion, sounds good when driving an amp.
Cons:
Possibly too much distortion for some people's tastes; the biasing stability could be improved slightly with the addition of some emitter resistance.  Could also benefit from addition of power supply polarity protection and bypassing.

I'll play pretty much anything except blues, shred, or classic rock.

[MartyMart]

AMZ Mosfet booster - simple and gorgeous sounding :-)

Flatline Compressor - which also offers a huge boost.

Used in Pop/Rock and just about everything !

MM

[Quackzed]

I vote mini-booster. it's got a certain amount of clean compression. i don't know why or how, but it does and it sounds full and great.

[p_wats]

+1 for the AMZ Mosfet boost. The only booster I've ever built (and one of my first builds in general). I've never wanted another.

[gtudoran]

+1 for AMZ Mosfet Booster

[R.G.]

One man's ceiling is another man's floor.

[askwho69]

WOW i didnt expect this! i like all of the replies! AMZ Mosfet Booster has many users and good comments! for me I'm using CS3 as booster because of sustain good for long bending adlibs and cant explain sound. i like it as clean ALSO

I play hard rock and metal...

Disadvantages --- HISSSSS!!!! Low Output!!!

[askwho69]

  Best of course is the one I'm playing/using. When choosing from what I chose to have or build:
  Jfet source follower, the high impedance input 'sucks up' the peizo output, the source drives what comes next. I don't have any other ultra-low impedance sources.
  Jfetzer valve, it distorts a little bit very nice..a bit trickier to get set up right.
  18v Jfetzer valve, it boosts, and isn't so particular about which exact Jfet/bias.
  Compressor [quick] because it compresses and boosts, keeps signal level "up but not over X", allowing a less peaky 'riding' of say output tube boosters to cause them to distort during more of the input time without over-boost.
  Sluggish comp because I can play and it's all squashed a bit until I sustain, then it's like magic gnome compensates with volume ramp up.
  TubePRe...lit up my Beta58, bringing room sound into my recorder, does cable and impedance matchings...very hot.
  Commonplace board opamp inputs, pretty good, definitely not best except maybe in the sense that they're there, they work, and didn't cost a couple of furtunes...leaving something leftover for say...anything else, very practical.
  Same thing with the recorder opamp inputs..clean and functional but not particularly or outstandingly featured or 'hot'.

WOW my nose is bleeding while reading this very PRO!
  Any one of the 12a_7 inputs on my amplifiers, super...but having replaced 'stage 1' with Jfets before...also super..just a bit different.
  Fuzzface, dirty treble boost when I crank back the guitar volume set up to reduce gain [bassy LF's are the first to go, between 10 and 8 at the guitar volume]. Very handy, guitar volume ranges from dirty treble boost [Guitar volume <7] to gainier dirtier distort-o boost [guitar volume >9.2] to Fuzz [inbetween the TB and Disto marks].
  6sn7...bringing excellent boost, in business for over 40 years and still going perfectly strong.
  The wider/shorter type smaller tubes [6v6, 5881, 6__7's] seem to offer long life/excellent performance.
 

[Morocotopo]

One man's ceiling is another man's floor.

Cryptic !!

[Philippe]

One man's ceiling is another man's floor.

Bingo on this insight...doesn't it really depend on how much drive the front end of your amp can handle?

[mikemaddux]

+1 for the AMZ

I do however like the SHO about the same

I do also use a modded CS-3 for compressed chicken pickin'.......and a BBE Bench Press for less compressed leads and rhythm tones

[Earthscum]

So, what's the opinion on  WHY the AMZ Mosfet booster is more desirable than other boosters?

As a bassist, I don't use a booster, however I've been finding more and more the need for one to bump up to the guitars' levels when I'm  grinding stone and they are playing with buzzsaws. I decided on hitting up the Hog's Foot after the clips I've heard, but I'm gonna end up building a MPSA13-based booster as well for a totally clean boost (so far, those mean little D's have sounded the best for my bass in most circuits where it matters... them and MPF102's).

[DougH]

unidrive, no wait...rangemaster, no wait...tonesource, no wait...stratoboost, no wait...

[Toney]

Mine are in order 1,2,3

Dragonfly's Sparkleboost
Stratoblaster
Sho

Build em all! They are tiny and can be built on little boards right onto the pot.
Swap them in/out as "modules" as you please.

[phector2004]

One man's ceiling is another man's floor.

Bingo on this insight...doesn't it really depend on how much drive the front end of your amp can handle?

Or... maybe one man's Scarlett is another man's Doris

Depends on what you consider "good" but I like my rangemaster and I breadboarded a SHO, instantly had to perf it up!

[zambo]

Valvcaster. Just like what it does to a telecaster. Super fat and pretty clean with the gain turned down.