Need a little boost advice

[knob?]

Recently I've gone from an amp - guitar guy to getting the pedal bug. It all started with an OCD, and now an earthquaker hoof. I LOVE everything about the OCD and the hoof is also awsome but sounds it's best with the OCD boosting it. While this works great id love to get a boost to free up my OCD. The ones ive been looking into are the exotic ep and the tc spark. What are you guys using to boost your drive pedals?

[chadd]

Re: Need a little boost advice

I use a CAE 402, but I would go with the 401 for the sake of simplicity.

http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/mc401-boostline-driver

[Demanic]

Re: Need a little boost advice

Keeley Katana.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Need a little boost advice

There are sooo many great choices in boosts!
I own several.
I would advise going out and playing several because they are all different.
As you already have an OCD, the Fat Boost should be on your short list as well as the SHO.

If you want a more vintage vibe, the Catalinbread Naga Viper.

And that's barely scratching the surface! All of those boosts sound different and do different things depending on where they are in the chain.

Of course you can always go the other way and UNboost with a Heavy Electronics Descend ...

[Aceman]

Re: Need a little boost advice

Boosting drive pedals…or just get a good one to start. Or better yet, like you can't find an amp that'll do the job. Instead what you have is unsatisfactory amp fed by unsatisfactory pedal, and now seeking god-pedal to make those two things right! Pedal monkeys be funny.

MXR Micro Amp - doing the job that needs done since the 70's.


* Twilight; You need SEVERAL boosts? WTF?!?!?!?!

[Oinkus]

Re: Need a little boost advice

I have around 8 pedals on my board that all do some form of boost or O.D. The first in my chain is an Exotic SP Compressor. I don't use it for boost but it works well as one ,The Dunlop C.F.H. wah has a boost that is pretty nice. Lovepedal Kalamazoo is just fantastic adding harmonics and definition , focus to an already distorted amp. An E.Q. is a great place to get some clean boost , add it to your effects loop for actual volume increase. You can run one E.Q in the chain and one in the loop. Also a great way to tame an unruly amp like a HotRod Deville. Xotic makes several boosts and they all seem to be pretty good. I plan on buying the EP boost one of these days , there are many EP 3 boosts out now ,they are very popular. Do some research look around , go to Guitar Center and put your hands on some of them.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Need a little boost advice

* Twilight; You need SEVERAL boosts? WTF?!?!?!?!

Yep. I use different boosts in different places depending on what I'm going for.
On the album I just recorded my signal chain was typically:
Philosopher's Tone (not boosting) > J Coloccia Horus > boost > drive/distortion > boost > amp

And you don't even want to KNOW how many stages of compression are being used.

[Surgeon]

Re: Need a little boost advice

I too am a big boost afficionado...

My favorite all-arounder is Zvex' SHO, that one I couldn't live without.

Otherwise my favorites are (in no particular order):

Naga Viper
EP
micro amp (really clean)

[knob?]

Re: Need a little boost advice

thanks for the advice so far guys, forgot to mention the SHO on my short list, looks a bit pricey but id rather buy one pedal once. the guitar center in my town has the smallest FX section of any GC ive seen, the only boost they have i can put my hands on is the EP and mabye one other. im planning on going down friday and giving what ever they got a try but theres always a good chance ill have to order a boost. I know that we all have different tastes/needs but you guys are much more helpfull than musiciansfriend reviews.

[Matt42]

Re: Need a little boost advice

I'm a huge fan of stacking boosts and overdrives. I have usually 4 overdrives and a clean boost on my board. The clean boost I use is a Micro Amp clone, and I like it well enough. I also have an OCD clone and a TS type pedal that I use for boosting as well. I'll caution you that a clean boost like the EP or Micro Amp wont boost the same way that the OCD does. You might consider expanding your search to include a few overdrives, maybe a light OD like the Xotic AC Booster or TS type pedal as well.

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Need a little boost advice

I use a ZVex Double Rock and a Stone Deaf PDF-1. Good stuff.

[knob?]

Re: Need a little boost advice

Matt42, that's been on my mind about a light Od vs clean boost. I've been kicking around the idea of picking up another OCD. Mabye a full drive 2 being how it had a boost on it? Wold a soul food work for this? I didn't care for the soul food on its own but I didn't try stacking it.

[Matt42]

Re: Need a little boost advice

I like running my Soul Food as a boost or as an always on pedal depending on the amp I'm using. It does stack really well with my OCD Clone (Mooer's Hustle Drive). I've run it both before and after the OCD and it sounds good both ways.

If you like the OCD as a boost and as a stand alone drive, it makes sense to have two with different settings. A lot of people do that with Tubescreamers.

[toneseeker74]

Re: Need a little boost advice

I really like how the top boost circuit of my Catalinbread Galileo enhances the "normal" AC30 emulation of the pedal. So...I'll second the Naga Viper.

[El Supremo]

Re: Need a little boost advice

Catalinbread Belle Epoch for a slight boost and tone colouring/compression. Comes with free delay to.
Still waiting on the Micro Amp + to be available over here.