Breadboarded athe Mini Booster - it ODed on me... is that OK

[Phorhas]

?

does it suppose to sound like that?

I tested it with 2N5457 JFETs and all of the other parts were exactly as in the schematic... it had LOTS of gain and even on a low clean setting on a SS amp it made an OD.
(BTW- I tested it with a 1k res. between the lower JFET drain and the upper Jfet's source - as in R.G's SSRP article with no audiable effect...)

- oh one thing more - when I took out the 1k resistor from the LOWER JFET's source it didn'r work at all - why is that?

[Jered]

Well if OD means overdrive, then yes, that is what the mini booster does. Its a mild to medium overdrive/distortion/booster.
Jered

[Phorhas]

Alrighty then...

Hmm... if I'll double the supply and give it more head room, and maybe increase the lower fet's source resistor - do you think it'll make it more subtle ?

[Doug H]

The minibooster is not a "transparent" kind of booster. It does "color" the sound (in a good way). From my experience and modeling it in Pspice, it doesn't necessarily have a lot of headroom either.

It's a good sounding booster, though. But if you are looking for transparency and headroom along with a lot of gain to push your amp, I would suggest trying one of the BS170 based MOSFET boosters instead.

Doug

[Phorhas]

Thanx for the reply doug...

well, I'm working on a booster that will incorporate modern technology and classic tone... a sort of highly modernized Ge booster... I don't think that I'm the first to do this but it's kinda nice working from my own design... if it will prove worthy then I'll post a schematic