What is a booster?

[mattpocket]

Ok, I'm relatively new to this game...

So what is a booster, when would I use it, why would I use it, how does it work, can they be used with all amps/guitars... etc

Thanks

Matt

[petemoore]

So what is a booster,
  An Amplifier/gain stage or two.
  when would I use it,
  when your signal is too low, when you want more signal, when you want to recover signal, when you want to drive your amp into more of it's amp distortion, when you want to drive a fuzz harder, whenever else.
why would I use it, this is getting personal, probably for one of the above stated reasons.
how does it work,
By sending the signal into a transistor input, tapping the transistors amplified output. [or opamp Jfet etc.]
   can they be used with all amps/guitars...
  Plain yes or to some degree or other.
  The guitar never really sees' a booster [unless it's input impedance is low] so boosters/guitars are compatible mosltly, it's the amps...one amp might GAKK at increased voltage swings being input, when another will exhibit it's amp-tone but just more of it.
  Makes amp louder [not really, only seems so if there's headroom left to do so with], and/or more distorted, one amps boosted distortion may sound hideous, the others may sound heavenly...like a tube amp or SS amp that likes boosted inputs.

[mattpocket]

So basically, to find out if I need or want one, I need to build one and see?

At least I get to build something that might surprise me...

So, I have a lofomofo that sounds quite clean but tears the signal to pieces (as is desired), if I used a booster could this produce a more distorted/fizzy signal. Or would I use a fuzz or something in front to do this?

Thanks

Matt

[petemoore]

  Yes, you either need to speculate on whether a booster...for your amp...
  Nah...just build it, then test it, then put it in front of your other effect, and it'll drive the Dist to Fuzz, the Fuzz into more highly saturated fuzz sounds..etc.
  They're really not that hard to assemble, takes about an hour or so to populate the board and fire it up...'if' everything goes well...

[Mark Hammer]

1) Traditionally, many higher-end mixing boards would have a "solo" switch that kicked the level up a notch for....well...solos.  "Booster" pedals do a similar thing.  Many players use them to simply go between one level for rhythm and another for solos.

2) Amps are designed around a maximum and/or "normal" anticipated input signal level.  Often, the amount of headroom built into the amp is in excess of what a typical guitar can deliver.  This is also true of many rackmount or table-top effects units. Traditionally, best signal-to-noise ratios are obtained when the input signal is as hot as the input stage can comfortably handle.  In fact, the S/N ratio is always calculated based on some assumed input signal level, with the "ratio" calculated from how much further down from that input signal the residual noise is.  So, boosters can be used to maximize S/N ratios.

As an aside, that's why people often complain about compressors being noisy.  When the input signal level declines as you stop playing, the gain in the compressor gets ratcheted up and it starts to seem like ALL you hear is the residual noise.  Hotter input signals to compressors will extract the best S/N ratios out of them.

3) What gets called a booster is often a circuit intended to improve the clean signal quality in a general sense.  If it has a high input impedance, it can "buffer" against the deleterious tonal effects of long guitar cables.  Not all buffers are boosters too, but generally if a pedal is going to boost, it is also going to have a high input impedance to make sure the entire signal is being boosted, not just a poor copy of the signal.

4) Boosters can also be used to overload or push subsequent circuits.  For instance, a booster can pleasingly overload the input stage of a tube or solid-state amp, or a distortion pedal of any type, and extract even more distortion out of it than is normally obtained.  I mentioned compressors earlier, but essentially any pedal that uses a level-detecting sidechain can have that level-detection "perverted" or exaggerated by boosting the signal.

[mattpocket]

I'm so building one of these, and for my bandmates too!

THANKS!

[QSQCaito]

I'm so building one of these, and for my bandmates too!

THANKS!

You con put one inside a guitar, that's what im about to do.

Or just put it in a box, and stomp it.

[Mark Hammer]

T'wer I, I'd hold off on building one into the guitar.  I had one in my Epi Coronet for a number of years, and it was great for pushing the amp hard.  trouble is, it can create problems with a number of pedals if you have no way of easily bypassing it.

For instance, some folks want subtle compression or want an envelope-controlled filter to sweep just a tad, or have some BBD-based pedal that lacks a compander to keep input levels well-managed.  There are inumerable instances where having a default guitar output that is "too high" at full volume is a problem.  True, you can always turn down, but when you stick too much boost on-board you may find yourself having to live in the last 30 degrees of volume pot rotation a little more than you'd like.

For that, and several other reasons, I would therefore suggest that whatever you stick on-board have a maximum gain of no more than maybe x3, such that it functions as a "hot buffer".  This will provide optimum S/N ratio down the line but not necessarily be too hot an output for other devices unless you turn wayyyyy down.

In turn, a stompbox booster with a gain of maybe x10 can be useful.  Keep in mind that if blowing the face iof the input stage of your amp, or pushing a distortion pedal hard is your objective, a guitar-based gain of 3, times a pedal-based gain of 10, gives you a combined gain of x30, which ain't too shabby.

Finally, consider that any gain added from an on-board booster is always, and irrevocably, first in line.  In contrast, if you find that you like the sound of some pedal when it is distorting lightly and you just wish you could make THAT sound louder, a stompbox booster can always be positioned after it; something you can't do with an on-board booster.

A bit 'o both seems to me to be the optimum strategy to pursue.

[d95err]

I'll go for a historic explanation of boosters:

In the old days, guitar pickups were weak, and the amps didn't have enough gain to produce enough distortion. By putting a small device that raised the level of the guitar a bit before it hit the amp, you could push the amp into more distortion. Hence a signal "booster". Some boosters (by design or accident) also created a little distortion of their own, which sometimes happened to sound good.

On a tube amp that is already near its limit, a booster will not raise the volume much, just add more distortion. Think of it as turning the guitar volume knob from 0 to 10 and then continuing to 100...

Now, you've probably heard of treble boosters, like the Rangemaster or Brian May's self-built booster. The first thing that comes to mind when you hear about those is - "Why would I want to boost treble? Don't I have enough of it already?"

Here's the thing: Old guitar amps weren't designed for heavy distortion. So, when you push them hard with a booster, there will be way too much bass frequencies being distorted. This sounds "muddy" and "untight". But, if we cut away the bass frequencies, it will sound good and "tight". So, we design a booster that also cuts lots of bass and we're allright again. Then, since "bass reducer" doesn't sound too cool, and "mid and treble booster" is too long, the general term became just "treble booster".

[markm]

I think the original idea for the Treble Booster was to brighten normally darker british amps to acheive a more Fenderey type of tone.
The distortion part was actually discovered by someone "mis-using" this unit so that it clipped the amp.
That's my understanding of the "history" behind said booster.

[Mark Hammer]

Keep in mind signal level consists not only of what you're playing and what you're playing into, but also how you're playing.  No way in hell that Herman's Hermits  or the Beach Boys could strum a Fender through something like a Rangemaster into an amp and get ANY sort of distortion, or anything apart fro a nice Rickenbacker-like bite.  Once you start getting players with big moustaches using HB-equipped guitars and whacking the strings hard, THAT's when it dawned on people that something normally used to simply make the guitars cut through and be appropriately shrill, might actually add some heaviness to the sound.

[QSQCaito]

T'wer I, I'd hold off on building one into the guitar.  I had one in my Epi Coronet for a number of years, and it was great for pushing the amp hard.  trouble is, it can create problems with a number of pedals if you have no way of easily bypassing it.

For instance, some folks want subtle compression or want an envelope-controlled filter to sweep just a tad, or have some BBD-based pedal that lacks a compander to keep input levels well-managed.  There are inumerable instances where having a default guitar output that is "too high" at full volume is a problem.  True, you can always turn down, but when you stick too much boost on-board you may find yourself having to live in the last 30 degrees of volume pot rotation a little more than you'd like.

For that, and several other reasons, I would therefore suggest that whatever you stick on-board have a maximum gain of no more than maybe x3, such that it functions as a "hot buffer".  This will provide optimum S/N ratio down the line but not necessarily be too hot an output for other devices unless you turn wayyyyy down.

In turn, a stompbox booster with a gain of maybe x10 can be useful.  Keep in mind that if blowing the face iof the input stage of your amp, or pushing a distortion pedal hard is your objective, a guitar-based gain of 3, times a pedal-based gain of 10, gives you a combined gain of x30, which ain't too shabby.

Finally, consider that any gain added from an on-board booster is always, and irrevocably, first in line.  In contrast, if you find that you like the sound of some pedal when it is distorting lightly and you just wish you could make THAT sound louder, a stompbox booster can always be positioned after it; something you can't do with an on-board booster.

A bit 'o both seems to me to be the optimum strategy to pursue.

110% logical and true. That's why the booster is going to have the dpdt switch to turn it off whenever I like, as posted in GGG. Also as I'm doing some modifications, i'll be losing one tone pot, which will be the pot to vary stratoblasters gain

Thanks for the advice, i'll take it into deep account


Bye bye!

DAC

[mattpocket]

Thanks guys, great replies!

Helps a lot, I just havent got a clue which one to build. My band plays powerful melodic punk rock, it's almost always high in treble, so should I go for a treble booster or is that just a name, and they all boost treble (or cut bass) in some way?

Thanks again!

[ubersam]

...I just havent got a clue which one to build. My band plays powerful melodic punk rock, it's almost always high in treble, so should I go for a treble booster or is that just a name, and they all boost treble (or cut bass) in some way?

Thanks again!

Considering what kind of amps and guitars you guys are using might help you choose which booster to build. AFAIK, treble boosters focus on the higher frequencies, so using it with a very treble amp might not be very pleasing. Best thing I could suggest is to get a breadboard and test a few circuits to find the ones that work best for you. Three of my fave boost circuits, in no particular order, are AMZ's Mini Booster, Dragonfly's Sparkle Boost and Gus' NPN Booster (Beginner Project).

[mattpocket]

I'll be using the booster to drive my distortion pedal harder, as well as a fuzz... I thought the AMZ was a clean boost...

We all play HIGH output humbucking guitars into solid state amps...

Thanks for the advice

Matt

[brett]

Hi
the terminology gets a bit mixed up sometimes.
Clean boosters don't add distortion, but they can be used to make the amp distort more.

One of the simplest boosters is the Stratoblaster (see generalguitargadgets.com).  I like it because it adds just a *tiny* amount of sweet distortion when it is turned up a lot.  Other than that, the project booster is cool, too.
good luck

[mattpocket]

Oh right, so it can still be used to drive a distortion pedal, fuzz, or simply the distortion from the amp itself? Thats better, clarified a lot for me...

Ta!