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 :)
come on! 8 viewers and no comments? please left some
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.
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.
A couple of my favorites:
Gus' NPN boost (http://www.diystompboxes.com/beginner/schem.gif)
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 (http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/mtlsim.bmp)
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.
AMZ Mosfet booster - simple and gorgeous sounding :-)
Flatline Compressor - which also offers a huge boost.
Used in Pop/Rock and just about everything !
MM
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.
+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.
+1 for AMZ Mosfet Booster
One man's ceiling is another man's floor.
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!!!
Quote from: petemoore on October 16, 2010, 09:09:41 AM
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.
Quote from: R.G. on October 16, 2010, 12:59:46 PM
One man's ceiling is another man's floor.
Cryptic !!
Quote from: R.G. on October 16, 2010, 12:59:46 PM
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?
+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
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).
unidrive, no wait...rangemaster, no wait...tonesource, no wait...stratoboost, no wait...
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.
Quote from: Philippe on October 16, 2010, 06:07:50 PM
Quote from: R.G. on October 16, 2010, 12:59:46 PM
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 (http://bestfemalecelebrities.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Scarlett-Johansson-Seductive.jpg)is another man's Doris (http://cellar.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=22584&d=1237841881)
Depends on what you consider "good" but I like my rangemaster and I breadboarded a SHO, instantly had to perf it up!
Valvcaster. Just like what it does to a telecaster. Super fat and pretty clean with the gain turned down.
Electro-Harmonix LPB
Why? Because it is *transparent*.
I used an AMZ mosfet booster before, but I was unhappy for the huge amount of bass and highs I got when it was engaged (volume boost for solos). "Hey, but I've always been told the mosfet booster IS transparent!!". So here we come to the mighty question: what is transparent? Does it mean "flat frequency response"? No, it doesn't. Or at least it doesn't to me. Our ears do not have a flat frequency response to volume: the more the volume, the more the bass and highs we hear. So a volume boost must have quite strong mids, to be transparent and pleasant to our ears.
Giulio
Amen to the Sparkle Boost. I also play a Mini Booster and an SHO, each have their own merits. I like the Mini Booster at the end of my signal chain for the for some extra boost, the SHO for a clean boost and the Sparkle Boost for a little grit.
Quote from: shredgd on October 17, 2010, 05:18:16 AMSo a volume boost must have quite strong mids, to be transparent and pleasant to our ears.
That's a good thought (although it may be another man's ceiling). As a bassist, that's actually a REALLY good point. I think I know how I'm building the second booster... mid-happy and able to bust bazonkas out of shirts! Should be a nice contrast to my DS-1's mid scoop.
Guess, just from experience, my opinion would be on the LPB, but I don't think I've ever built a true LPB. I like the MPSA13, and every time I board it, I end up changing something, but it still starts off as an LPB. Almost everything else I have tried out seems to clip way too early for my tastes. I have plenty of overdrive and distortion pedals, so clean is good.
This is nice!!! very informative! Im starting planning in building AMz mosfet booster! can you recommend usig 2n7000? as replacement for bs170? shredgd > nice explanation about transparent! now i know :))
There is no BEST booster. What you need to ask is what is missing from your sound now. What do you want to add.
If you are playing metal with a solid state amp you might not add much if anything. An EQ might be a better circuit to selectively boost and/or cut frequencies to the amp.
volume pedal....with level setting pot...very cool and adjustable, wish i'd bought one years ago...
can go from backed off clean n grit to full on gain... i like it...but yep, its not really a boost..its just my
guitar volume on the floor ...but it works for me. :icon_mrgreen:
+1 I am with deadastronaught on this actualy. Mine is actualy a volume pot with a bypass switch instead of a sweep pedal. I just click it into the path and everything gets cleaner. I call mine "the underdrive".
ROG Omega with variable bias (I used a switch). Very touch responsive, goes from tubey to fuzzy with bias changes.
After extensive search and experiment, I've come to the conclusion that the best clean booster for solos (volume boost) is the MXR microamp, with a little mod: a 220p cap instead of 47p in the feedback loop of the opamp (C2 in the GGG schematic).
The microamp has the great advantage to have a volume control which doesn't affect tone, because it controls the (clean) gain of the opamp instead of being the classic volume pot at the end of the circuit (which applies a resistance in series to the signal, unless you put it at max). So your tone will be consistent throughout all the gain spectrum, i.e. at all volume levels.
My cap mod aims at giving a slight high-end (presence) roll-off because, as you probably know, the greater the volume, the more our ears perceive high and low frequencies. So this mod is to compensate for this factor and give a tone that, to our ears, is exactly the same as the lower volume starting tone.
Of course you might fine-tune this roll-off to your own taste by experimenting with slightly different values.
Giulio
My first post here after lurking for several months. :D
My vote is for the ROG Omega. The "range" control, as mentioned above, changes the input impedance so you can go from a treble boost to a warm, mild overdrive. It's fantastic in front of most overdrives I've tested. I built mine on a veroboard layout and boxed it in a 1590B.
http://www.runoffgroove.com/omega.html
I've built a lot of different boosters but for me the one that works best is the seymour duncan pickup booster. I have an original and have made a clone from the schematic that's floating about on the web and it sounds identical.
The thing is though, a booster, more than any other pedal, is really tied to what works with your guitar and amp. With my Rickenbacker 330 and 70's Hiwatt, the SDPB beats the SHO, LPB, and a number of others I've tried. Doesn't mean it's objectively 'better', just that it works really well with what I've got.
I like the valvecaster into a valve amp. Adjust guitar volume between clean and dirty. Just shoving one into a wah housing with the rocker adjusting guitar level down to a pre determined level.
What do I play? Rubbish mostly
my stupid simple overdrive.
it's tiny, there's nothing to it, and it's one of the best sounding overdrive/boosts i've built.
yep.... i did it. i voted for MINE. i've built somewhere around 200 boxes at this point, and so many boosts it's not funny.
this replaced all the other ones on my live board.
A rangemaster was my first build and only booster so far.
But i'lld hold anything else i'm doing to get started with Rory Gallagher's Hawk 2 booster.
So if anyone has a schematic....
Obvious what i'm playing i guess
Quote from: pinkjimiphoton on April 21, 2014, 10:01:53 PM
yep.... i did it. i voted for MINE.
We'll allow it just this one time. ;)
(Good choice, btw...)
+1 to OMEGA
Quote from: bluebunny on April 23, 2014, 03:10:30 AM
Quote from: pinkjimiphoton on April 21, 2014, 10:01:53 PM
yep.... i did it. i voted for MINE.
We'll allow it just this one time. ;) (Good choice, btw...)
:icon_eek: ;) :icon_mrgreen:
Quote from: JustinFun on April 21, 2014, 04:24:47 PM
The thing is though, a booster, more than any other pedal, is really tied to what works with your guitar and amp. With my Rickenbacker 330 and 70's Hiwatt, the SDPB beats the SHO, LPB, and a number of others I've tried. Doesn't mean it's objectively 'better', just that it works really well with what I've got.
+1
With different gear....it's like comparing apples and oranges.
The title for this thread should be:
Vote for the best boost pedal for use with a stock Strat and a Fender Twin.or
Best boost pedal with Humbuckers and a Marshall Plexi.
yep. i have different boosters i use for different guitars, and at different points in my signal chain even. and every one sounds and works different depending on whether you're using it as an overdrive or a boost, and like you guys said, a strat or a paul or a tele or a rick. all of 'em will sound and react differently.
Quote from: armdnrdy on April 23, 2014, 09:00:19 AM
Quote from: JustinFun on April 21, 2014, 04:24:47 PM
The thing is though, a booster, more than any other pedal, is really tied to what works with your guitar and amp. With my Rickenbacker 330 and 70's Hiwatt, the SDPB beats the SHO, LPB, and a number of others I've tried. Doesn't mean it's objectively 'better', just that it works really well with what I've got.
+1
With different gear....it's like comparing apples and oranges.
The title for this thread should be:
Vote for the best boost pedal for use with a stock Strat and a Fender Twin.
or
Best boost pedal with Humbuckers and a Marshall Plexi.
My point was to give a useful advice to anyone searching for the best "transparent" booster to use after gain pedals for a volume boost, so not a tone modifier/enhancer to put before an overdrive or a distorted amp. Therefore the guitar/pedals/amp combination used can be taken out of the equation.
In our guitar world, with so many different options and claims in terms of boost, achieving a simple volume increase from a pedal to get the *exact* tone we long struggled to obtain, but just *louder*, is more difficult than you think. A completely flat full-frequency "hi-fi" booster, which many companies or electronic books advertise as "transparent", is far from being that faithful to our tone, and will disappoint most of all those who, like me, was happy with his tone and was just searching for a simple tool to use during solos.
Mostly, all what follows after a "transparent" booster diffuses that "transparency"...
Quote from: puretube on April 23, 2014, 02:08:12 PM
Mostly, all what follows after a "transparent" booster diffuses that "transparency"...
Yes, this is true for people like me and (I presume) you who don't use a booster to push an amp or a pedal into distortion or to color a tone which is "lacking something". We just need more volume at some point during our gig.
However, when the word "booster" is used as a synonym of "tone enhancer" (quite often, I must say), then what comes after might play a dominant role in the choice.
That's why I wanted to clarify what I meant in my previous post and why I was so convinced.