Booster for a LOUD distortion

[gutsofgold]

I have a friend playing in a very fast heavy hardcore band. He will be using an Ampeg V4 into a 4x12. The V4 is a 100w monster of an amp, it's fairly clean actually but when pushed hard enough gets a very awesome distortion. He wants a pedal to give it even more drive without completely cranking it.

I was thinking something simple like a modded LPB-1 or if he needs more gain then something like a Trotsky. Any other ideas? Someone has to be into good heavy music here... think Tragedy or Cursed.

[Minion]

Maybe what he needs is a clean High Gain Booster?? something to overdrive the preamp ,Maybe a simple Opamp with adjustable gain but without any Clipping diodes....I have something simular built right into my guitar and it really gives a great Thick punchy crunchy sound with a lot of great harmonics.....


Cheers

[PerroGrande]

Well, the real trick here is if he likes the distortion because of the front end distorting or due to the finals distorting.

I would start with exactly what Minion recommended -- a good, clean boost.  Try overdriving the daylights out of the amp's front end, and see if it produces the sound you want at lower volume levels.

If not, the discussion changes to "power sponges" and other ways to get the "wide open finals" sound without "eardrum splitting levels".   

[Captainobvious99]

My "beginner project" clean boost gives a nice overdrive when maxed while I play through my Classic 30. Its a quick and easy project so I'd try that first and see what u think.

[raulgrell]

Yeah, Gus' NPN Boost is pretty damn awesome for driving amps... I seriously recommend it.

One thing I'd be interested to try: an LM386 based boost...

[The Iron Chef]

I just finished doing a perfboard ROG Omega, a high gain fetzer valve. The circuit has some color and a LOT of boost.  The Omega has something like +30 db boost.(i think)  Easy to perf with components that you prolly have. try it.

-Keith

[vortex]

Rangemaster!

[foxfire]

if he/you aren't aware of this place yet, http://www.ampegv4.com/index.php, check it out as i'm sure someone over there can offer some first hand ideas. i just got myself a V4 and love it. i play stoner rock stuff so i'm guessing your friend is looking for a tighter distortion than i but, i'm loving what it sounds like with a tone bender and or a big muff in front of it. the nature of this forum doesn't allow me to use the proper terminology.   

[petemoore]

  What may be of interest is bumping up the V+ on the final boost.
  If the sound of a pedal already boosting the amplifier is used, and a boost of that sound/volume level is desired, a booster with greater than 9v supply might be worth the try...of course it won't sound exactly like like, but may allow extra blast to the preamp before adding as much of it's own distoriton.

[svstee]

Something I've found to be invaluable for the heavy stuff might seem kinda odd, but don't knock it it till you try it.
Electra/Trosky distortion with four Si diodes (two in series) replacing the 1n34a's. Powerful, tight sound that is amazingly heavy but still quite responsive.

[sean k]

I've just had a quick look at the VT22 schematic, which is supposedly the combo version of the V4, and I'd suggest he puts his nice clean boost on the FX in/out as it's sitting right before the driver for the phase splitter. Pushing a big fat signal into the front end may be a good thing but why not make use of all that lovely tone shaping in the input channels then hit the boost.

Another option, which is a little trickier, is to allow some tweaking of the negative voltage that fixes the bias on the power tubes. I don't know how hot or cold those tubes are running at -28.5VDC but it can't hurt to find out if it really is a sweet spot. Depends on whether the tubes last a long time and run a little cold or whether they are set up hot and need to be replaced a little more often.