onboard circuits (buffer and boosters)

[euronymous0001]

greeting!

i saw some guys put buffers in their guitar, some put boosters.
anybody put those inside at the same time?
if somebody did, would be gracious enough to share
some info (what kind of buffer and booster, also maybe the ckt
itself eg stratoblaster, sho, etc ) here.

thanks

[R.G.]

A really good simple onboard buffer/booster is Don Tillman's single JFET circuit.

http://www.till.com/articles/GuitarPreamp/index.html

A buffer is a circuit that is designed to NOT load down whatever is driving it, and to driver whatever is on its output much harder than the signal source on its input can.
A booster is a circuit that is designed to provide a bigger output than whatever is driving its input.

A buffer may also be a booster, as "buffer" does not necessarily mean "voltage gain of one", although it often does. A booster may also be a buffer if it does not load down whatever drives it.

They are not mutually exclusive terms, nor are they necessarily synonymous.

[euronymous0001]

thanks R.G.

i actually had a simple jfet bufer (mr. jack orman's) on  my guitar so to compensate from
effects of using long and sub-par cables. im planning on putting a booster also to make my
pickups seem hotter than stock (stock humbuckers on an esp mh-50).

im not really good with the science of electronics, but can you verify if i understand it correctly
that all i need to build and install on my guitar is the one you pointed out
<http://www.till.com/articles/GuitarPreamp/index.html>

or do you think that it would be better to have two ckts which does one job only: 1 for boosting and 1 for buffering?

thanks

[R.G.]

i actually had a simple jfet bufer (mr. jack orman's) on  my guitar so to compensate from
effects of using long and sub-par cables. im planning on putting a booster also to make my
pickups seem hotter than stock (stock humbuckers on an esp mh-50).

Simple JFET buffers and boosters can have issues with humbuckers. They have such a large output voltage (as much as 1-2V peak) that JFETs can distort from the signal level. That may be good if you like the distortion, but you may not be able to turn the distortion off when playing, for instance, a clean rhythm cord line. Just something to watch for.

im not really good with the science of electronics, but can you verify if i understand it correctly
that all i need to build and install on my guitar is the one you pointed out

That's a good one, a very high value for the effort put in to build it. But is is primarily intended for single coils, and may have the issues above with humbuckers.

or do you think that it would be better to have two ckts which does one job only: 1 for boosting and 1 for buffering?

I think you have a more complicated question hidden in there.

Humbuckers are already darker sounding than single coils. They're also higher inductance, and so cable capacitance hurts more. A buffer's a good idea, if you don't want to lose more treble. However, if you don't like the treble loss, you get more treble back by using single coils. However, you lose some signal level with single coils. However single coils have more treble to lose. It gets complicated without knowing what you're trying to do.

If you need more treble, go single coil. If you just want to keep the treble you have, use a buffer. If you need more treble and insist on humbuckers, and also really do need a booster, making an onboard buffer+booster is complicated by the higher signal level of the humbuckers.

You get off into the issues of noise, hum, cable driving ability, treble preservation and other things which can further muddy the waters. So you need to clearly define for yourself where you're trying to get. One place you may be trying to get to is simply experimenting, dinking aorund to see if you like X. That's a valid goal, but the answer about "what's best" in that case is "whatever sounds best to you."

Not the answer you wanted to hear, but realistic, I think. What are you wanting to achieve?

[Minion]

Ive also got an ESP MH50 and I have a Buffer/Booster in my guitar and it sounds great , Before I put in the booster the Pickups sounded dull and lifeless but now it screams , really help overdrive the preamp tubes in my amp and adds a nice crunch ...... Highly recomended ....

[euronymous0001]

Not the answer you wanted to hear, but realistic, I think.

not maybe the "direct" answer:icon_lol: well iknow that it is really hard for anybody
to answer question involving so many factors, but your answer is better i think or you
are not just giving me fish 

What are you wanting to achieve?

i really just to have more out of the stock pickups of the guitar, this is my metal guitar btw
i would be expected that this one would alkmost always be distorted (maybe just 98%  )

i might try the stratoblaster>simple jfet buffer setup, and try other boosters i have here, all of which are
unboxed. also, i am adamant with this one cause dscwhartz and fellow forum members are
warning of boosting the front of the DB, maybe i might just stick to the buffer and nothing else

(jack orman's simple jfet gave something with my sound, i think is what you said about the treble
content that is retained. )

thanks for the info nonetheless, i've learned more

[euronymous0001]

Ive also got an ESP MH50 and I have a Buffer/Booster in my guitar and it sounds great , Before I put in the booster the Pickups sounded dull and lifeless but now it screams , really help overdrive the preamp tubes in my amp and adds a nice crunch ...... Highly recomended ....

hey minion, could share the buffer/booster you used? 

thanks

[Minion]

Hi , sure thing , i have actually posted it here a few times ... it is a very simple Single opamp Circuit with Gain , how much gain you want will depend on the Gain set resistors , Right now I have mine set at about half of what the schematic shows (10x gain)....





It doesn"t show it but you wire it the way you would any pedal circuit with a TRS jack ....


Cheers

[euronymous0001]

Hi , sure thing , i have actually posted it here a few times ... it is a very simple Single opamp Circuit with Gain , how much gain you want will depend on the Gain set resistors , Right now I have mine set at about half of what the schematic shows (10x gain)....

It doesn"t show it but you wire it the way you would any pedal circuit with a TRS jack ....

Cheers

thanks, ill try this one out,

[PRR]

> a very simple Single opamp Circuit with Gain

Tip:

Either lose the 100 ohm, or add a good cap after it. (There's a dot which suggests this plan once had such a cap.)



The opamp "needs" a low impedance supply. If the power is saggy (even 100 ohms), it may or may not be stable.

If you power with a fresh battery, you can just omit the 100 ohms.

If you sometimes have to work the battery near exhaustion, or if you use a wall-power supply, it would be best to have both the 100 ohms and the good cap. The cap bypasses the chip opamp for stability. The R and C together reduce power hum/buzz, or the roughness of a very weak battery (up to a point).

BTW: with OPA137 or the popular TL071, the "470K" could be 2.2Meg easily, giving a "better buffer action" (1Meg input) and also one less part-value to stock or mis-read.

[euronymous0001]

> a very simple Single opamp Circuit with Gain

Tip:

Either lose the 100 ohm, or add a good cap after...  ...part-value to stock or mis-read.

thanks!

[hawk900]

 Actually splitting a 4 conductor dimarz or seymor bucker into the coil of your choice will by far produce the cleanest brightest tone out of any single coil pickup out there. eg grounding out the north start and finish will set the south coil active and vise versa. Gibson and other metal covered buckers already do that internally that why they are two conductor and you can only see one row off coil magnet screws poking through.
Using the south coil on a middle humbucker is like the sweet picking spot on an acoustic guitar. Crystal clean with no caffeine I mean distortion or hum no matter how hard you push it.