MXR CAE MC-401 Boost / Line Driver

[LLL]

Custom Audio Electronics Boost / Line Driver


I've severely trimmed down my stompbox stash; getting rid of useless items for a more purer tone. In fact, most of my stomps
are utility-purpose now.

Lately I'd realized that I needed a utility stomp that solved 2 of my issues:

1) Clean boost
2) A buffer to place in front of my MXR 6-Band EQ to kill the hiss

The clean boost part is easy - there's a bazillion clean boosts out there.

But there's only a handful of boosts+buffers.

So, anyways, anyone who's used the MXR 6-Band EQ knows how damn noisy and hissy it can get; especially using
it to boost the front end of your amp.

If you know about impedance as it pertains to stompboxes, you know that in order to get a strong SnR, you
need a high input impedance and a low output impedance.

Well, slap the MC-401 in front of the 6-Band EQ, turn the knob to zero, and voila - hardly any hiss from the 6-Band...
even with the freqs jacked up for boosting.

Now to the clean boost side... fantastic. Zero coloring, just more juicy fat distortion from my Marshall. It simply gives you
more of your amp.

Highly recommended.

When I get some free time, I'll post a demo on my YouTube page.

[dave74]

Re: MXR CAE MC-401 Boost / Line Driver

Always wondered about these. Didn't even know about the hiss reducing benefit, just thought it looked like a cool simple boost.

[PFDarkside]

Re: MXR CAE MC-401 Boost / Line Driver

Interesting. I had no idea the MXR had hiss.

If I wanted a boost with switchable buffer, I'd go Wampler dB+ at this point. Dunlop/CAE stuff always stuck me as quite professional too though.

[chadd]

Re: MXR CAE MC-401 Boost / Line Driver

I love the MXR/CAE stuff, I use the wah and the 402. The boost in the 402 is the same and I get a usable fuzz when combined with my tweed channel.