Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

[Demanic]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

I give another recommendation for the Katana.

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

Thanks for the recommendations, dudes. I'm really liking what I'm hearing of the Spark, but I'll look into the others. The EP boost got me interested, as well as the new MXR Echoplex.

How about the Koko boost? Any of you guys have any experience with that one? It seems pricey. Is it that much better than the Spark?

[lucaspaço]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

MXR Micro Amp works fine for me!

[Shooter.556]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

The Wampler Paisley is pretty good, it's pretty much just a hot clean boost with a little grit.

[the toad]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

on my radar...
-MXR 10 band eq (maximum adjustability)
-TC spark (3 band eq)
-Xotic EP booster (tiny size, 1 knob)

[IM4Tone]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

Use an AB switch to route A guitar to amp, B guitar to EHX Black Finger > EQ pedal to your amp. One stomp gets both the EHX and EQ if left "on".

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

Thanks for the replies, dudes!

I do have an EHX Black Finger that gives me the exact amount of compression, boost, and grit that I want from a lead boost, it's just I can't really shape the EQ curve of the boost to make it middy enough. I ADORE that compressor. It DESTROYED my old MXR Custom Comp for any application I could think of, except for the fact that's inconveniently humongous. I wonder if there is some sort of compression+EQ pedal out there, then? I'd rather stomp on a single unit. Don't want to make things too overly complitcated for something that's not going to really be my "main" tone.

[Hank-]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

Any tubescreamer derived OD with a separate bass & treble control would work. Things like digitech Bad Monkey or hardwire OD, Visual Sound XO or Drivetrain, etc come to mind from your description. For just a clean boost without a mid range increase the mxr cae 401 is a cool option.

Edit: forgot to mention the ehx soul food in there

[Myaccount876]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

You might get away with an EQ pedal. You can shape it to have the EQ character of a Tube Screamer, but lower the overall gain on the pedal to keep it from adding too much dirt. Thing is, the EQ pedal probably won't add any compression. Maybe mix a compressor and an EQ pedal?

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

The old TC Electronics BLD+ is big jiggly boobies in my book but its not so easy to find and expensive these days.

Keeley makes a nice boost with the Katana. So is the analogman Bad bob boost.

but if you are looking for compression you probably dont want a straight boost. You need something to clip it a bit to get your compression. most clean boosts dont clip the signal themselves but boost it then the 1st stage in the amp clips the signal since its so large.

Why not try an actual compressor? Many do add some amount of gain to the signal.

I love my wampler ego compressor.

Also keep in mind that putting a compressor out front before the gain stages as opposed to in the loop are very different sounds. You can even put it in the middle... go TS...comp... Amp... and see what you get.

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

Thanks for the suggestions, dudes.

So the Spark does not add the hint of compression to the sound?

I don't think EQ pedals tend to add the natural compression that I'm looking for, do they? The Boss EQ is also kinda noisy, IME, and the 10-band MXR is way too humongous for my little pedalboard.

As far as what my rig is like... depending on how loud I want to be, I reach for my Peavey XXX, Krank Rev Jr., or Randall RD5. They are all relatively different, but I set them all up to sound more or less similar, and I run a TS808 in front of them pretty much all the time. The Peavey has two gain channels, so it has me covered as far as lead/rhythm tone gones, but the Krank and Randall do not, so a boost pedal that I can kick in front of everything, and imparts a mid-heavy, vocal color to the tone would be awesome.

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

What kind of amp/amps are you planning pushing? There's a few different kinds of boost pedals & some work better with some amps than others? If all you want to do is push the front end of your amp harder a Mini Spark, a Clean Boost, would do just fine, but E.Q.'s, Dark Boosts, Treble boosters, Transparent O.D.'s like Soul Food's, EXE, could fit the bill better depending what on what you play, what your pushing, & what exactly you want out of it?

Going off the info you posted so far I'd suggest a Spark or a E-H Soul Food. The Soul Food's are reasonably cheap & with the gain turned all or almost all the way down they are essentially Clean Boost pedals? They sound terrific & you'll have that gain knob there if you need/want it? It's a very versatile little pedal & personally I think its one of those stomp boxes that we all should have in our tool box....

[JeffB]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

Try any of the various echoplex pre-amp style pedals.

[PFDarkside]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

The full size spark can go from clean to slight overdrive with the gain knob.

Ah, sorry, I was thinking of the Spark Mini.

[Archer250]

Re: Recommend me a boost pedal, please.

The Spark (and all other clean boosts) are just that, flat, clean, boosts. The only clipping they create is by overloading the input of the next gain stage. (amp or pedal) If the Tube Screamer is too dirty with Gain = 0, have you tried an EQ pedal?

The full size spark can go from clean to slight overdrive with the gain knob.