Your favorite boost?

[aflynt]

I still maintain that an optimal booster will always have some means to cut the treble being fed to the amp, so that whatever amp overdrive that results will not be overly harsh.  Treble cut is a property of the old DOD BiFet preamp, the Klon centaur, and the more recent VS True-Tone, and a great many others.

In theory, I agree. That's why I find it so odd that I love the way my RangeMaster sounds. I don't know if it's because the RangeMaster's germanium transistor is so inefficient, or if it's because of the way tube guitar preamps work when overloaded, but the high end just liquefies instead of getting harsh when I use it.

Here's a clip of my Strat through the RangeMaster into my Deluxe Reverb Reissue:

http://www.aaronflynt.com/MyMP3s/CrossroadsSolo.wav

Of course, it's also quite possible that my hearing is completely shot... 

[Mark Hammer]

Well, there's treble and there's treble.  On those rangemasters I've put together, I would have described them as upper midrange boosters, rather than treble boosters.

[petemoore]

  I should say I don't really even have 1 that is globally preferred over all the others, at least not in front of the amplifier...lately it's been the 12ax7 in the [new type] Vox 15w [I finally got working right with extensive upgrades].
  I didn't try replacing the input stage with Jfet or Cmos or Mosfet, but I have confidence that they would make excellent choices for an alternative device'd 1rst stage.
  Try the Sparkle boost, a great design earned many "keeper booster" reports very soon after it was released.
  As did the Minibooster, and Mosfet booster, and...
  Simply mentioning an alternative makes me think the reader will interpret that as a preferred alternative.
  Dark amp ? Bright booster would make it...brighter.
  Bright amp ? Bright booster might take heads off.
  Once into pre-amp or Small signal distortions all bets are on the speaker/amp as probably being much more picky about which one since we're now speaking of generating harmonics which will later be either cleanly reproduced or 'multiplied' by later stages...huge differences require different approaches.
  On amps Rangemaster excellence is another amps mosquito-buzzer.

[MikeH]

Sparkle Boost is great, but my fav is the AMZ MOSFET boost.  It's SHOish, but much better.

[CynicalMan]

Just to clarify about the rangemaster, it doesn't sound harsh because the input impedance is only around 68k. This means that if it comes right after a passive pickup, the inductance of the pickup will make a lowpass filter with the input impedance and make, like Mark said, an upper midrange booster.

Personally, I think boosters are not the kind of thing you need to look for a special design for. If you want a booster to use for clean sounds, make an opamp booster with a high input impedance. If you want a booster to overdrive your amp, make one with a lower input impedance, some treble cut, and maybe some bass cut as well. If you want to overdrive the booster and the amp, make a simple booster with the active component if your choice (JFET, germanium BJT, etc.) and throw in some treble cut and maybe some bass cut.

[23]

not meaning to hi jack but I felt it didnt deserve its own thread but I want to add some treble and boost into my jcm 800, right now IM using an OCD, lovepedal eternity clone, or dragonflys VMF (very thick) and I dig the way all of them sound, but i want more sizzling treble added into the sound.

been looking at the Sparkle boost and the Omega............which would do the job or would you choose/recommend......... Ive tried rangemasters in the past and there not to my liking (clones and a HBE germania 44)


thanks sands

[23]

one other one also............ stage 3 booster MPF102 based.

[jmclaren]

I just built an Electro Harmonix LPB2 clean boost clone.  It adds a little sparkle and fullness to my tone, and also provides more volume boost than I'll ever need.  Here's a link to a build post I did at another forum:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/burnt-fingers-diy-effects/257175-scratch-build-lpb-2-a.html

[Der Groovemeister]

The Fat Bastard/Boostered. It has treble and bass knobs. Works great to dial in a good solo tone.

[petemoore]

  They fall into ballparks on different days, some hot days...some warm ones.
  Colors sizes, potentials...batters can be sized up quite well by simple observation...just have to know what to look for:
  Big guy might not run so fast, tall guy...has high center of gravity.
  It's like this with booster schematics and reviews.
  They come in various forms, but only so much variance, because they encourage everything down the line to follow their suit, the 'hand' [amp guitar etc] they fall into matters a lot whether they're a dark or light card...how powerful etc.
  Anyway, lots of review and schematic reading [building, understandng the various functions C/R's and other parts what's in the magic reveals...what's in the magic.

[Der Groovemeister]

That's right. Read and build and learn. I built a lot of boosters and every one of them is good in a specific setup.

[23]

Ive built my share, lpb-2, 3 rangemasters, rangepig (tkyd), creampie, "various TS", ummm bazz fuss set up as a booster. think thats it.... owned HBE germania 44 and other one and sometime use my keeley compressor as a booster. just looking for something different thinking of the omega but those other ones stuck out to.

in the magic


oh yeah I dont have any more of these booster except the compressor and one ts type (lovepedal eternity burst)

[petemoore]

  Getting the bass just right, or trebly enough:
  Tricky, seems like once it's 'loose' it doesn't tighten up so good 'later', each stage needs X amount, less but no more for those who prefer the lows to sound ~ 'intact'.
  high/mid highs sometimes I like letting them grow some more, then they're easy enough to double pole or otherwise just adjust using treble-pot [if not let go completely outta hand early-middle-late in circuit.
  Different tastes for Mick, Eric and Keith of course, they all use 'em. Mick being the holdout for treble-boost-tone though.
  Jimi had used all of them I believe, Dist+ Tonebender...who knows...sounds like all of 'em though to me.
  The other Jimi used a FF if I understand it correctly, and Plexi-boost...lol !
  They're nice to have around, that Vox ice pick is brutal when it's like sharpened, dark amps like the sharp tone of RM.
  Dist+ w/tone is almost more OD250 though, this works just fine, and sounds like a distortion boxed> amp. Haven't found another that does exactly that.
  Ross [Dyna-ish, has some LP left in it] compressor..pretty full rangey, minus high-highs, other than gained-up-no-play hiss [not bad though] it's very easy to run into amps and other amps.
  Fetzer type thing. Takes some "pick of Jfet" [I built the rig], worth it IME, can be basically any boost you want. perhaps start with the larger values of Sparkleboost Vs. Fetzer, then piggyback resistors on resistors to make the smaller R values, splice caps in wire to reduce C for more HP voicing or whatever other frequency shaping...
  CMOS...about to order one of these anyway, those worked very nicely for me, but only for a little while, the Title: Tube Sound Fuzz works [except the 'fuzz', sounded more like some of the smooth tube amp characteristics to me], worked good with other items as it were at the time.
  Mosfet, Opamp are clean and easy, OA got called 'sterile', Mosfet 'hard' [once]. As it depends on what it depends on [and that changes things dramatically], we'll never know how any of the comments continue to be relevant.
  You'll just have to board-build them all, or try reading about them more so as to be more selective.
 
 
 

[askwho69]

Personal taste!! Try all in bread board

[darron]

the boost can be almost as important as the thing your driving with it... just not as hard to make... so go at it (:

[askwho69]

How about your booster Darron its one of the best i've heard! really creamy!

[petemoore]

  A boost stage can do what a boost stage can do:
  Full freq, or freq selective, gain or cut anything/anywhere.
  Introduce some waveform imperfections, or even more waveform imperfection.
  What the boost plugs into has as much to do with all sound as whether it even works.

[darron]

How about your booster Darron its one of the best i've heard! really creamy!

best compliment ever. thanks

anyone is welcome to build it... email me for a schematic: thornbury@gmail.com

the mid setting is pretty neutral i suppose..... there are videos on youtube if you lookup "class a germanium amplifier"... it sounds like it was designed EXACTLY  for what you have in mind, but doesn't entirely match the description as a pure linear boost.

[askwho69]

Yeah i'd build it like love it a lot! sounds like slash to me

[merlinb]

I want to use one to drive the front of a tube amp and give it more "oomph." Your suggestions?

I designed a boost specifically for that purpose. Despite running off only 9V it can develop a peak-to-peak output swing of between 11V to 15V, depending on the opamp used. That's about twice the drive that a regular pedal can do, absolutely brutal for a valve input    Also serves as a clean buffer in bypass mode (uses electronic switching).


I'm now working on a version with a built-in LED VU meter.