Boosting a tube amp. :P

Svs696

Svs696

New member
I own a Jet City 20 watt combo and I absolutely love it, especially at high volumes! :D
I play a lot of lead and at times my amp's natural crunch fails to satisfy my selfish needs, so I use a Boss SD-1 to boost the signal!

The level knob is at 1-2 o'clock, the tone knob is at like 11 o'clock and I have almost no drive. What I end up getting is this fat, raunchy, wild, fuzz-like sound that sounds absolutely awful at low volumes! At high volumes it sounds okay. :/

Amp Settings:
Gain: 5-6
Treble: 3.5
Bass: 5
Mids: 6
Presence: 3

Sometimes I use the reverb, but I don't go past 2.

Perhaps it's just me. I'll try to post some soundclips, but right now I'm at school. :P

Criticism and advice are welcome! :)
 
Re: Boosting a tube amp. :P

I think your level knob is too high.

ie you're boosting it too much.

Try this:
drive to zero
tone knob where it is now
level - turn it down so that when you switch your SD-1 off/on, all you hear is a tonal difference, courtesy of the tone knob.

from there, raise the level gradually until you notice an increase in gain that you like without it getting flabby.
 
Re: Boosting a tube amp. :P

^^ I think just the opposite.

I run a SD-1 with the level pegged, tone 11 o'clock, and the drive around 9 o'clock. The amp I use this setting with reponds really well because it has very little of it's own gain.

How loud do you run the master volume on the JC, Svs696? The less gain you run from the preamp on the amp, the more you could boost the level and gain on the SD. With that amp's control layout, I'd run fairly high master volumes with enough gain to crunch up on chords.
 
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Re: Boosting a tube amp. :P

I'm with convey's... I put my gain up less then 1/4 on my tube screamer and gain on my amp around 2 o'clock. everything else at 12. Try playing with the pedals tone control rather then adding gain. I find that sometimes gives me the attack i need from higher gain without the noise and feedback of cranking the gain.
 
Re: Boosting a tube amp. :P

What I do makes the amp give up the extra gain at the preamp stage. Drive on the SD is plenty at 9 o'clock, but it's the high level that makes my amp give up the goods.

Running high gain on an amp just makes a mess if the drive of an SD-1 is set too high. I've been in the habit of only running enough gain from any amp to make a decent crunch when the guitar is wide open, so I don't often run into a problem with too much.
 
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Re: Boosting a tube amp. :P

I like using two overdrives. Use one with a light transparent crunch, then another for a higher gain crunch, and when I want to play leads sometimes I'll use them together. I actually use an SD1 for a heavier OD, the tone at about 1:00, Level at noon, drive at 3:00. I first noticed Trey Anastasio doing that and I really like it. I also throw in a fuzz here and there, but I never use that with the Boss, that would be way too much.

I guess I don't think of it as boosting the tube amp, but using the pedals to layer and blend tones on top of each other.
 
Re: Boosting a tube amp. :P

In the afternoon I like to crank the master volume on my amp to 4-5. I'll use less gain on the amp and more drive on the pedal.

Thanks you guys. :)
 
Re: Boosting a tube amp. :P

I think you should give a simple clean boost a try broheem. Boosts the amp and you don't have to mess with two sets of tone controls. At least worth a try.
 
Re: Boosting a tube amp. :P

Oh... I thought this was a tube amp theft thread.

Hey I'm here all week; be sure to tip your waitress!:biglaugh:
 
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