Boost/Drive order within dual pedal ??

[steveyraff]

Hey guys,

I feel stupid today for only realising this. I've built a good few double drive pedals, one side with regular gain, the other side with hi-gain to act like a solo-boost. I guess I had been working 'visually' without actually thinking about sound - which seems obvious now, hence my feeling stupid.

So, I had for that reason always put the hi-gain on the right side, as I look down at the pedal. Now that I think about it, that means I am putting the high-gain/boost side closest to the input, and the lower volume "crunch" channel on the left footswitch. Obviously, with this set up, if I am playing rhythm with the crunch of the left channel (beside the output jack), and then I engage the high-gain channel on the right, even if the volume of the right is set higher, it actually doesn't act as a boost. Does this sound right? I mean, it makes total sense now, and now I understand why some pedals seem to be labelled the opposite way around, ie the left channel is called (2) or (B) for a boost / high gain, and the right channel is the one thats labelled (A) or (1) for lower gain/volume.

Sorry, I'm just thinking out loud here, because I am about to build a triple drive pedal: Crunch, High Gain, Boost. But I guess I should really order this:  OUTPUT - Boost - High Gain - Crunch - INPUT

Sorry, not really a question here - just looking clarification that this is a more practical way to gain stage in a dual or triple drive build?

Thanks.

[patrick398]

Yep, makes sense. If you have a circuit that is clipping the signal heavily, sending in a larger signal isn't going to be louder, just more of it will be clipped. Can be a nice effect to slam the front end of a high gain circuit but if what you want is a solo boost then you're right in thinking it'll have to come after the circuit which heavily clips the signal.

[GGBB]

It eventually comes down to personal preference - there aren't any "rules" that "must" be followed to make it sound right.

But, normally, the purpose of boost is to "push" something else from none or low clipping to higher clipping. "Boost" doesn't have to be clean though - we often take a mild overdrive pedal and crank the volume over unity to push the front end of the amp harder. It also doesn't have to be "transparent" - the classic boost is a tube screamer which "boosts" mids more than lows so that the amp clips in the mids.

So - what are you trying to push into distortion with the boost being last? Your amp or another pedal? If neither, then all your boost is doing is raising the volume. And that's fine too - as a volume boost pedal is a fine way to use a clean boost.

Another thing to keep in mind is how a boosted input affects what it's driving. A "high gain" distortion pedal also has high compression, and a "low gain" mild overdrive has lower compression. The level coming out of the pedal being driven by the booster will be raised more if it has lower gain/compression to begin with. The amount of distortion increase will also be higher. Now if that boost isn't "flat" or "transparent", then it's tonal shift (e.g. mid boost or treble boost) will also be more evident driving a lower gain pedal than a higher gain pedal, because the higher gain pedal compresses more.

As I said, it all depends on what you want to achieve - no rules.

I'm planning a triple drive pedal too, but 2 different overdrives and a clean boost. I'm putting the clean boost in the middle, and adding a toggle to swap the order of the two drives. So I can drive into either drive, clean boost into either drive, or clean boost after either drive. Or all three in two different orders. (Or any single one of the three of course.)

[mth5044]

Agreed with GGBB - what do you want to increase in distortion, amp or pedal? I've found both useful, with a boost at the beginning of the chain then another at the end, that way I can goose the input of the fuzzes and drives, or boost the already overdriven signal into the amp to either drive the front end of the amp or Just increase volume into the amp. It's pretty set up dependent IMO, neither right or wrong, but if you're putting the boost first, I'd have guessed you were planning on boosting the pedal after it.

[bluebunny]

I would say try it out before you box it, and perhaps make the order switchable if it turns out you find more than one combination useful.

[patrick398]

Here is a useful order switcher



If you want indicator LEDs  on your 'effect 1' and 'effect 2' switches you need to short bottom and middle lugs on the left column (and connect to ground) and your LED goes top left, Anode to power (through R)

[Mark Hammer]

Made myself a Madbean "Box of Rock" clone.  I put the unit, with two stompswitches, in a 125-C case, but also included an order-flipper toggle so that it can do boost->drive OR drive->boost.  A handy feature to have.

[GGBB]

Here's a pedal or loop order switcher that allows for a third pedal or loop in between:



In this case, the various jacks would be replaced by corresponding stop switches.