SHO vs. AMZ Mosfet boost

[gutsofgold]

The SHO is a little too bright into my Princeton Reverb. Would the MOSFET Boost give me that same sheen but not be too ear piercing/biting like the SHO?

[darron]

i haven't built either pedal but have built very similar ones and have the schematics for both.

the SHO has a ridiculously high input impedance, which is why you get that really bright stabby effect. this is set by the two 10M resistors that set the DC bias voltage. lowering those to a lower value should turn the pedal into something better suited for guitar purposes. maybe try replacing them both for 500K or 1M and work from there. if it's still too bright make them lower, if it's getting too dark make them higher.

hope that helps. might be easier than starting a whole new build (but maybe that's what you wanted to do anyway )

[azrael]

I agree, try 1M resistors instead of 10M, in the SHO. It will lower the brightness a bit.

That said, Fenders are bright amps - I, personally, wouldn't run a SHO into one. >_>

[oliphaunt]

I use a bright Fender style amp and find the SHO is too bright for it.  Darron, thanks for the tip I will try that on my SHO build.

As for the AMZ Mosfet boost, it is a very even toned boost, as natural sounding as anything I have tried so far.  I highly recomend trying it.

[Ripdivot]

I use to have an AMZ Mosfet boost at the start of my pedal chain and found it to be way too noisy when I had distortions and overdrive circuits engaged after it. It had too much hiss in that situation, however it sounded good clean. Maybe it was just my build but I built 2 of them and they both had that problem.

[shredgd]

My AMZ Mosfet boost sounded bright (an bassy) too, into my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I replaced it with an MXR LPB and now I'm very happy. "Transparent" boosts (with equal gain on every frequency) are bad, in my opinion, because our ears don't have a linear response to volume: we hear more highs and lows the more we raise the volume. So what you need for a balanced boost is a slighly mid-humped boost (this is why Tubescreamers with gain on 0 and level at max sound good, too, as boosters).

Giulio

[azrael]

^You mean EHX LPB?

Personally, I still love my Rangemaster as a boost. I just change the input cap.

[fuzzo]

The LPB1 isn't "clean" like a jfet / mosfet booster can be. It adds a kind of "fat" or "dirt" to the sound, but I couldn't explain more.

The amz sounds good too, (but the 5K rev. log is useless for me, 90% of its curve is useless, I changed it for a 1Klin pot. (the zvex has the same issue) )

The best one I made is the AMZ mini booster , cleaner, brighter, punchier, cooler . I'm really happy with it (maybe more gain would be fine with that circuit)

[Toney]

Me and another guitarist did a taste test of all the boosts  I have built, this afternoon.
AMZ  Mosfet Booster Vs Stratoblaster Vs Sho Vs Sparkle Boost Vs Colorsound Overdriver (Ok not really a boost but hey) Both playing Les Paul Jnr into a clean solid state amp.

Unanimous victory to the Sparkle boost.
The Dragonfly original with the hard to find, but worth it NTE458.
I think it's 'the one' (the one you want).

[shredgd]

^You mean EHX LPB?

Personally, I still love my Rangemaster as a boost. I just change the input cap.

Yes, sorry, it is Electro-Harmonix, not MXR...!

[WGTP]

There are a number of tone controls that could be added to tame the treble.  A cap to ground at output could be all you need.   Don't forget that the input cap contols the bass.