EH LPB-1 for $39 at GC

[CoolJohnny]

worth it? its SMD though isn't it?

[bean]

You could build it for the same amount or less....if you want to, that is

[El Heisenberg]

Lol its not worth building unless you want noise!

[blooze_man]

I've never had noise issues with mine. Plus, it's easy to fit in a 1590a.

[Dragonfly]

Lol its not worth building unless you want noise!

In the 30 or 40 LPBs I've built for people, I've never once had a noise issue.

( Of course if it WERE noisy, things like the Big Muff would be 4 times as noisy, since it basically has 4 LPB circuits chained together....right ? )




Seriously though - if you had a noisy LPB, it was the fault of the build (or the power supply) , not the fault of the circuit.

[CoolJohnny]

i think i've built the circuit a few times but never quite got what i wanted out of it...ive been so long on a quest for a simple booster than does everything i want it to (can be used as stand a lone heavy clean boost to mildly break up my bassman or as a solo booster after a drive pedal that doesn't taint the overall sound in the end). perhaps i should take another look at it. i do think there have been some people that have had noise problems with the current EH model, but i think it really has to do with how noisy your signal is to begin with. as long as you don't hear it when you play, i can live with it...eliminating every little bit is a fool's errand. but i suppose if i were a hi-volume metal player i'd be more concerned about it.

[Hides-His-Eyes]

I don't care for it, the low input impedance rolls off highs.

I got mine for £13 B stock.

[blooze_man]

I like to lower the input cap on mine. I usually find the stock LPB is too bassy.

[Toney]

I just breadboarded a bunch of boosters, looking for something the spank the font end of a fuzz.
I found the best for my purpose was ROGs variation on the LPB-1 type from the front of the whisker biscuit. I went with that. It's basically the same but with a few (important tweaks) I think the input impedance should be higher too.

Here's a tiny layout...





The ROG original has an optional smoothing cap (47pf) which may be useful if going into the front of a high gain pedal etc.

[jefe]

I got an LPB-1 for free once, when I bought my first new guitar. This must have been in 1985. Brian's Guitars in New Haven. Brian was quite the salesman, and would throw in little free dodads to make a sale. In 1985, I suppose these LPB-1's weren't exactly jumping off the shelves, so he was just giving them away.

I didn't understand what the hell it was for (I was 15 years old at the time). I remember thinking "OK, it makes me louder... big deal. I can just turn my amp up if I want to be louder, and I don't have to waste a 9 volt battery to do it.".  I must have thrown it out, because I haven't seen it in a loooong time. Shame. It was one of the original plug-in types, went straight in to your guitar, and hung there like a rectangular wart, which was just so weird to me at the time. It might have helped if I had understood the whole "overdrive" concept at the time, and had a tube amp that could be overdriven. When I was 15, I just wanted to sound like Eddie Van Halen and Judas Priest, and the old LPB-1 was no help in that department, lol..

[CoolJohnny]

bro, i think we all have stories like that we don't want to admit to...mine involves turning down a pretty-looking jazz box guitar when i was like sixteen becaue i wanted a strat. i think it was a kay or something.

there is a picture my mother has of a relative playing it; very fuzzy old polaroid looks nice enough and there was some kind of smallish amp in the background that i can't make out; probably some late 60s solid state piece of crap...at least thats what helps me sleep, not like if it was a princeton or something.. it was free, but i think they sold it in the penny saver for like $50.

and not for nothing, there are plenty of dumb things i did at that age i'd love to change...sometimes i wish i could go back and kick myself in the nuts.

think im gonna pass on that GC deal. got enough irons (soldering) in the fire right now, and pedals i promised people by shortly after christmas...

[El Heisenberg]

I still don't like the LPB-1. It's just simple and easy to build. For how simple it is, it's OK. But the Super Hard On is simple too, and so is the AMZ booster. Much better boosters.

[tiges_ tendres]

I still don't like the LPB-1. It's just simple and easy to build. For how simple it is, it's OK. But the Super Hard On is simple too, and so is the AMZ booster. Much better boosters.

They are all awesome boosters.  The limitations of the LPB can be an advantage depending on what amp you use.  The sound of my LPB through my little gem or through most solid state amps is killer.  My SHO through my tube amp is also awesome. 

[petemoore]

  Cool, but I'd DIY it, that's me though.
  I can be particular about which device, and try many of them for scrap cost [next to nothing].
  Which device, it's input impedance, the bias, the input and output capacitors, power supply voltage selection/regulation, which way the plugs'll stick out, whether jacks are even needed since it could be put in with that distorter...
  "LPB or Other" is an excellent example of the kind of item a DIY-er can wring ['regular', 'light' or 'fat-free', double vanilla or any other flavor] tone/mileage out of.