Viola volume boost

[Chris S]

I'm looking to build a simple volume boost for the viola player in my band. She plays with a bridge pickup.

A simple passive volume control makes the viola sound muddy. My LPB2 booster makes the violin sound tinny. She has an LR Baggs Para DI which has a volume control in it and that sounds fine http://www.lrbaggs.com/paradi.htm ... Only problem is she is not too keen on me re housing her perfectly good super expensive DI box and putting in a simple foot switch between two volume pots. Any suggestions on what to build or a link to the LR Baggs Para DI schematic would be greatly appreciated.

[ayayay!]

Why don't you just build a simple bypass pedal (very tiny) with a volume pot in it, and put a small value cap (.0047uF) across the input lug and wiper.  You could even reverse the LED to make it look "on" when it's actually off.  So she sets her level with the volume knob, and when the kicks the effect "off" it's actually just completely bypassed.  She'll have to run the DI a little hotter than normal, then you just attenuate with the volume control.  I dunno, sounds like you kinda already tried this approach...  But I think with a bridge pickup this could be done with 500k pots. 

It's worked wonders for Fulltone.  

Or here's another thought from the bottom of this page, just add the cap(s):  http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages/Switches/  

[PRR]

> plays with a bridge pickup.

What KIND of pickup? Acoustic? Dynamic? Electret? Mechanical magnetic? Piezo? Active?

Which Para DI output?

The Para DI has an effects loop. You could put a volume control int here. As Jono says, set it for some loss "normal" and bypass it for "boost".

Since the signal is already buffered, you can probably use a small-value pot and simple SPDT switching.


Or you could put a U-pad in the balanced output, again bypassable. Be sure you know how Phantom gets through.