Clean Boost

[Ankhanu]

So, I'm wanting some light overdrive for my '66 Classic Jaguar (and my others too, but mostly the Jag), and I want to maintain the clarity and chime of the guitar, particularly when chording. Right now I'm using a Fulltone DP-1 with the distortion all the way down and volume up, but power chords get a little muddier than I want... I've been thinking a simple transparent boost is the way to go to give a little dirt to my '72 Twin Reverb.

What does SS.org suggest for a good, reasonably priced transparent boost?

[ohyeahfuzzbear]

Saltbooster or EHX LPB-1

[Ankhanu]

The price of the LPB-1 is really attractive, I came across it yesterday... is it transparent, or does it colour the tone at all? Most of the other EHX pedals boosted treble, bass, or other frequency range more than the rest...

I'll look into Saltbooster.

[cobascis]

Saltbooster or EHX LPB-1

I wouldn't recommend the LPB-1. It really muddies up your tone.

Though pricey, the best boost I've heard is the zvex super hard on.

[ohyeahfuzzbear]

Saltbooster or EHX LPB-1

I wouldn't recommend the LPB-1. It really muddies up your tone.

Yeah go for a saltbooster... It's £30 and awesome from what I've heard

[the isaac eaton]

the lpb1 is not a clean booster at all, i have a clone of one in one of my dirt boxes, its great for overdrives and such.

But, I have a MXR micro amp clone at the end of my chain, and it is the perfect clean booster, it only gets distorted at about 75% up, and it adds a lot of volume. its a great pedal. get the micro amp!

EDIT, I also have a zvex SHO, I use it to add more gain on top of overdrive pedals, but it can get pretty clean too.

[Haze]

lpb-1 adds a lot of bass and isn't all that clean, mikes saltbooster seems to be much more transparent however. The SHO is nice and glassy but boosts will react differently between different amps
I'd recommend a light overdrive like a Timmy or an rc booster. Good eq options, nice transparent gain.

[taylornutt]

You can't go wrong with the Salbooster. I have a Saltbooster/Saltbreaker combo and love it. Gives your sound extra edge when you need it.

[Thom]

I've got both a Saltbooster and a Zvex SHO, both great boost pedals. The Saltbooster seems to give a fatter sound whilst the SHO more glassy and chimey.

[johnnyseven]

I'm not dissing the Saltbooster, as it is an awesome pedal, but it does fatten up the sound. If you want something transparent I use the MXR/Custom Audio Electronics Boost/Line Driver and I think it's great. The MXR Micro Amp is pretty decent too.

[timhulio]

The micro amp is my favorite clean boost. The chili picoso/amz mosfet boost is pretty good too, but not as clean.

[kim]

i love my saltbooster, actually..it's on all the time, i never thought of boosters, but then i got this behringer bass synth pedal and needed to boost the signal especially when i put voals through my board so pedals pick up enough volume.

but now it's just on all the time.

[goldengurls]

for a clean boost I used to use a BBE free fuzz, it's cheap and effective, if you want a cooler nice clean boost use an mxr micro amp. Right now I don't use a line boost as I am not playing leads over any of my songs at present but of course, the dinosaur jr heritage makes me want to solo all the time when I am drunk.

[Ankhanu]

Great replies so far, thanks a lot for the opinions/experiences/info so far.

But I'm looking for something that won't fatten things up at all. The fattening is the problem I'm having with my DP-1... Basically I just want more signal hitting the front of the Twin to give it a tiny bit of grit.

I'm not a lead player, so I'm not looking for any kind of solo power, just a nice gentle bit of tube breakup.


The Saltbooster seems like a good choice, and I may just have to get one even though it fattens things a bit... Hey Mike, if you look in, how much would shipping be to Canada?

[kim]

i think that would be a good choice, i mean, i don't know crap about boosters, i never liked them, but then i got saltbooster and i NEED it now, it's just enver off, go figure.

[Dingus]

I have a BYOC Triboost I built, and I love the damn thing (haven't tried a Saltbooster):

The circuit and rotary switch get you a Rangemaster germanium type treble booster, LPB-1, and a MOSFET boost (I think like the Jack Orman/AMZ one) in one box.

There is also a switch to go between Treble and "Full" modes.

If you are just looking for a clean boost with no fattening I really dig the MOSFET boost on there, but this would give you more options than just that.

[sp3k]

When i had an lpb1 the amp got really loud before starting to overdrive! but it's probably an amp thing?! It's a nice pedal btw, it ads a bit of "presence" to the sound, i liked it. I'm now using a dwarfcraft plane ticket plus, it's really nice for overdrive, but just has a clean boost it ads a little to much bass. The boost on my behringer super fuzz is probably my favorite one, because you can control the amount of bass and treble. A reutz rat with the filter all the way down and almost no drive sounds really good to, but that's probably more of an overdrive type of sound.

[Ankhanu]

I feel dirty, but, I set up a myspace to post some examples of sound http://www.myspace.com/ankhanu
I recorded some quick bits of a couple cover tunes, once clean, once with my DP-1 so you can hear where I am now...
Settings - Jag lead circuit, both pickups, full vol/tone; '72 Twin Reverb, vibrato channel, Bright on, Vol 8, Treble 8.5, Mid 5, Bass 8, Reverb 4, Master ~3
Clean - Direct into the amp
Dirty - Vol 1:30, Distortion - full down, Resonance 9:30, Voicing full on, Highs full on, Saturation 11:30
Recorded using the USB mic from Guitar Hero

While I like the sound of the DP-1, it's more drive than I'm looking to get. Looking for something more subtle... I know the amp can deliver some nice subtle breakup dirt; the bridge humbucker in my Godin Exit 22 is capable of getting a little drive from it with the amp volume around 6, but the Jaguar has MUCH lower output than my other guitars, hence thinking that some boost would get me where I want to be.

[dots]

the moollon clean boost is pretty nice, too, if a bit spendy.

[serfx]

i hardly ever use a clean boost, but when i did i was rocking a Dr. Scientist "Cleanness"
http://www.drscientist.ca/pedals/clean

good eq/boost pedal
now just kinda sits on my shelf though..