Early Seymour Duncan pedals

[Inflames626]

I got a BBE Stomp Sonic pedal between my two effect floor units, one pre Eq/ one post Eq ( both 462's ) , one 362 in the effects loop of Digitech 2112 SGS and 482 with a Hush / Rocktron Super C in the effects loops of my Crate Power Blocks .

482i rack unit in the effects loop of my amp here. Seemed to spice it up a bit. I didn't use pedals to boost the amp back then and the gain would have to be around 7 to get enough distortion, but any more than that and it would get fuzzy. I didn't know at the time that a pedal would have probably helped. I thought it would thin the amp tone out. So the BBE helped make up for the lack of boost.

 

[DankStar]

In time, the Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster is going to be considered a ground breaking pedal , due to it's unique abilities.

I think I may need one for my modeler because I’ll set up patches for one guitar then my other guitar sounds kinda weak

 

[El Dunco]

I got a BBE Stomp Sonic pedal between my two effect floor units, one pre Eq/ one post Eq ( both 462's ) , one 362 in the effects loop of Digitech 2112 SGS and 482 with a Hush / Rocktron Super C in the effects loops of my Crate Power Blocks .

The more I hear about your rig the more fascinated I am by it and really want to try it or at least hear it. I could not get running my pres into the front of my Powerblock sound good no matter how hard I tried. I go from preamp to EQ to directly into the RCA inputs on the Powerblock to completely bypass the preamp and EQ of the PB. Putting real 12AX7s (from the preamp section of my echoplex unit) running at proper voltage in between does sound amazing and leads me to believe there’s definitely something to the tube buffer route and maybe I should get a Red Iron or used valvulator or something.

I’m wondering how you gain stage and EQ everything with the front end of the PB in mind and how you get around the “always on” cab sim or if you do the bypass trick or had them modded.

 

[maug2122]

The more I hear about your rig the more fascinated I am by it and really want to try it or at least hear it. I could not get running my pres into the front of my Powerblock sound good no matter how hard I tried. I go from preamp to EQ to directly into the RCA inputs on the Powerblock to completely bypass the preamp and EQ of the PB. Putting real 12AX7s (from the preamp section of my echoplex unit) running at proper voltage in between does sound amazing and leads me to believe there’s definitely something to the tube buffer route and maybe I should get a Red Iron or used valvulator or something.

I’m wondering how you gain stage and EQ everything with the front end of the PB in mind and how you get around the “always on” cab sim or if you do the bypass trick or had them modded.

One day, I'll post a video, but right now I am going to College part time, working full time ( California High Speed Rail Construction Worker) and playing in a band ( luckily) that is dealing with time issues too.

In my rack, I use Ebtech Hum Eliminators between all rack units, use a Monster 1100 Power Bar to power everything, use a Monster 2500 Power Conditioner and ETA PD8 Power Conditioner for lower wattage rack units.
The Monster Power Conditioner has separate outlets for Digital, Power Amp and Analog devices .
And the Digitech SGS's left and right out put , that are balanced and go into my two VHT Valvulator 1's.

I emailed Fryette ( formerly VHT ) with questions, asking if placing the Valvulators from the 2112's outlets to the Valvulators and then to the CPB's would present any issues .
It took them almost 3 months to answer, I proceeced and had no issues at all.

 

[Inflames626]

I'm glad everyone seems to be getting a lot out of my thread. I didn't see it going this direction when I started it out of curiosity.

I don't care much for pedals but it seems like people who do like them are getting the information they need. Glad I could spark a good conversation.

 

[El Dunco]

One day, I'll post a video, but right now I am going to College part time, working full time ( California High Speed Rail Construction Worker) and playing in a band ( luckily) that is dealing with time issues too.

In my rack, I use Ebtech Hum Eliminators between all rack units, use a Monster 1100 Power Bar to power everything, use a Monster 2500 Power Conditioner and ETA PD8 Power Conditioner for lower wattage rack units.
The Monster Power Conditioner has separate outlets for Digital, Power Amp and Analog devices .
And the Digitech SGS's left and right out put , that are balanced and go into my two VHT Valvulator 1's.

I emailed Fryette ( formerly VHT ) with questions, asking if placing the Valvulators from the 2112's outlets to the Valvulators and then to the CPB's would present any issues .
It took them almost 3 months to answer, I proceeced and had no issues at all.

As a fellow PowerBlocker, your whole setup has been living rent free in my head for the better part of a month. I need, need, NEED to hear how it sounds!

 

[Evan Skopp]

(Pre-Fender) Jackson was using an EMG-built on-board boost circuit in one of their Dinkys and they gave SD the opportunity to compete for the business, which they eventually got. The circuit was called the Firestorm. Then, Jackson asked SD if they could do the circuit in a pedal enclosure that they would bundle in a Christmas pack. SD did the R&D on it but it eventually came in too pricey and Jackson passed. Since SD had already done all the work, they considered releasing the pedal anyway. They consulted with Musicians Friend, which really liked the idea and their pedal merchandiser suggested the name "Pickup Booster." Viola. The SFX-01 and SD's pedal line was born.

The first versions were built in Bulgaria by friends of Ilitch Chiliachki, who helped with the design. The contractor was very small and SD had to supply them with parts; and the quality and consistency was iffy at best.

 

[maug2122]

(Pre-Fender) Jackson was using an EMG-built on-board boost circuit in one of their Dinkys and they gave SD the opportunity to compete for the business, which they eventually got. The circuit was called the Firestorm. Then, Jackson asked SD if they could do the circuit in a pedal enclosure that they would bundle in a Christmas pack. SD did the R&D on it but it eventually came in too pricey and Jackson passed. Since SD had already done all the work, they considered releasing the pedal anyway. They consulted with Musicians Friend, which really liked the idea and their pedal merchandiser suggested the name "Pickup Booster." Viola. The SFX-01 and SD's pedal line was born.

The first versions were built in Bulgaria by friends of Ilitch Chiliachki, who helped with the design. The contractor was very small and SD had to supply them with parts; and the quality and consistency was iffy at best.

Wow, never knew the backstory, thanks !!!!

 

[Mincer]

Yes, very cool to hear the history of one of my fav pedals.

 

[maug2122]

Sorry to resurrect this older thread, but, are they any body that can show the differences from the original SFX-1 Pickup Booster to the later versions of the pedal .

Because, I borrowed one made in 2012 and another from just last year and seems like the newer versioned are Eq'ed differently now.
I could be wrong , but did they put in different capacitors or altered the circuit board ?
I hope some tech person could post a diagram or schematic and explain the differences that I heard.

 

[El Dunco]

Personally, I'd like to see SD try to make their own amp heads of any design/technology.

I never gelled with pedals. As a metal elitist, to me they were what teenagers used until they could afford a tube amp, but that was in the 90s. Many of the things we have on pedal boards now we didn't have back then.

I mainly didn't like pedals alone for distortion because they sounded too much like cheap solid state amps. Later, I liked pedals to boost amps. We mostly had DOD pedals in the shops here.

I loved Boss stuff for choruses and time based effects. This is where I thought pedals really stood out.

I’ve seen a Seymour Duncan amp they used to make that had “modules” like the Randall MTS and Synergy amps. I’d love to know how they sounded.

 

[El Dunco]

Sorry to resurrect this older thread, but, are they any body that can show the differences from the original SFX-1 Pickup Booster to the later versions of the pedal .

Because, I borrowed one made in 2012 and another from just last year and seems like the newer versioned are Eq'ed differently now.
I could be wrong , but did they put in different capacitors or altered the circuit board ?
I hope some tech person could post a diagram or schematic and explain the differences that I heard.

There is a slight component difference to make unity gain truly unity iirc.

 

[Artie]

One difference I know, (just from the specs), the original had a 470k input impedance, easily "fixed" with a single resistor on the input. The new one has the input Z dropped even lower to 250k. Not sure why they did that. It could affect the EQ the same way it does when we play with different pot values for our guitars. Subtle, but there.

 

[maug2122]

I tried a Klon, I was far more impressed with the Pickup Booster.... not to knock the Klon, but it did more for my setup .