boost or cut or boost or cut???

benwalker · Post by **benwalker** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:17 pm

boss equaliser, MXR Micro Amp or LPB-1 (a.k.a the ShortScale boosta...)?

pros/cons/thoughts?

Trying to think which one would be most useful bearing in mind the massively limited space on my pedal-board (damn ehx for making pedals so f*kin huuuge..)

rah.

Johno · Post by **Johno** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:25 pm

Well if simplicity is what your after then I'd go for the MXR Micro Amp. Plus its small.

analogsystem · Post by **analogsystem** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:27 pm

depends on your amp and your overall headroom when playing normally.
If you have room to go up....then save that boost for when you need it. I like knowing that I have a ridiculous clean boost so if the drummer gets carried away, I can put him in his place

Then again, you can use the EQ for some pretty powerful effects.....have it set for a totally thin nasal section, a fat boost, etc. It's more of a one trick pony unless you want to re-set it for each song section that requires powerful shaping.

I'd say put the boost in there at the end of your chain or just after all the dirt boxes.

benwalker · Post by **benwalker** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:32 pm

It's the thing about whether to boost for solos when needed, or get a good solo sound and then EQ it back to let other things through when not noodling. Can always fleabay to try them and fleabay if they're not much use... theeeeeeeen it gets to tap dancing territory...

euan · Post by **euan** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:37 pm

Super Hard On.

Johno · Post by **Johno** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:40 pm

or do it the old fashioned way, set your volume with your band whilst your guitar volume is set at around 7, then turn it up to 10 for extra volume when needed.....

analogsystem · Post by **analogsystem** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:42 pm

That's what I mean about it depending on your amp.
With my Sunn I can have my normal "rhythm" tone that sounds killer and then click on the clean boost for solos....it gets way more overdriven but also way louder which is good.
With my Marshall, the rhythm tone is already pushing the premp hard so my clean boost doesn't really give me an appreciable volume difference, it just makes things way more overdriven...

benwalker · Post by **benwalker** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:42 pm

SHO is great, but I can't justify Â£140 for a volume booster!!!

Old fashioned is cool - need to sort out the lossy treble bleed volume thang (... you know what i mean...?), and also the first thing in my chain is (soon to be) the behringer pitch-shifter: which i've noticed does odd things if you pull the input volume back....

EDIT: amp is a 2x12 HRDeville, left on clean. Drive comes from a Boss SD-1 or MKI Guv'nor when I can get it fixed. May trade one in for a Rat 2...

euan · Post by **euan** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:48 pm

Oh. Dolphin has them back to 140. I got mine for 80 from them.

analogsystem · Post by **analogsystem** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:49 pm

Well the way I look at it is that you are using your NOT SOLO tone more often so that is the most important one. If you are boosting the volume of that same tone for solos it should at least be descent sounding.

I would set up your rig as normal and try the Clean boost for solos. For most rock applications it should work well.

benwalker · Post by **benwalker** » Wed May 07, 2008 5:08 pm

suppose it's all in the balance. Clean to drive, drive to lead... will have a play around, see what happens. Get them off ebay then try them in a band context...

aphasiac · Post by **aphasiac** » Wed May 07, 2008 7:00 pm

danelectro fish & chips is a good alternative to a Boss EQ.

Think i got mine new for Â£25 inc P&P off ebay - can boost the level and bit of extra mids so yeh makes a great clean boost.

Post by **Doog** » Wed May 07, 2008 7:31 pm

Johno wrote:or do it the old fashioned way, set your volume with your band whilst your guitar volume is set at around 7, then turn it up to 10 for extra volume when needed.....

Only works if you're play clean though, it'll just act as a distortion cut/boost if you're running the amp/pedal dirty.

Get an EQ- does the volume boost thing fine, plus gives you more tonez in the studio or live if you're that way inclined.

Will · Post by **Will** » Wed May 07, 2008 8:21 pm

The EQ would be th best, provided you don't get all obsessed and twiddly with it - there can be hours of wasted time in those little sliders.

WAIT - What am I saying - If you don't buy the SS boost yr a commie.

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Wed May 07, 2008 11:17 pm

i use the LBP-1( aka what the ss booster is based on), it is a clean booster, though seems to make the sound a little richer.

i use a fender blues deluxe, a cousin of the deville. i used the drive channel for my rythym sound, cleaning it up with my volume control, then use the lbp-1 to boost for solos, though this adds gain to your sound as well as volume.

i mainly run it like this when i cant really crank the deluxe up. when i can crank it up, i use the lbp-1 in the fx loop, which just makes my sound louder without adding gain.

the lbp-1 set to unity gain makes the sd-1 less harsh i find.

aen · Post by **aen** » Thu May 08, 2008 1:14 am

benwalker wrote:SHO is great, but I can't justify Â£140 for a volume booster!!!

Yeah dude, a SHO is an LPB, for all intents and purposes. Ok, shit, I just looked at the schematic, and the SHO has 2 diodes in it. Shit.

benwalker · Post by **benwalker** » Thu May 08, 2008 8:17 am

back gets turned for half a day...

if Mike's still taking offers on UK built SS Boosters - great. doit.

Watching a Boss EQ and MXR on ebay. EQ is the kind of thing I can see would get anally retentive quite quickly...

Will shout how things turn out though