Not another "which boost should I build thread"...

[ACS]

'fraid so...  Have spent the last 30 mins searching for guidance, but none was forthcoming...

So...  Which boost should I build?!?

Here's the background:
1. For a mate who is a phenomenal guitarist and has a rig to match: Various Les Paul's (he  into various Marshalls, usu. a Slash Sig. JCM2000
2. His most used JCM is 'hotted up' in some way - I don't know what this means technically, but there is a lot more gain on tap than his standard ones.
3. He is most often using a 'ol big chunk of that gain
4. He's used two main solo boosts in the past - an MXR Zakk Wylde OD or a standard TS (8 I think)
5. He's mostly happy with the TS, but is wanting to try something 'a bit different' - something to make him stand out in the mix without getting too ugly, but that will play nicely with his high-gain setup
6. Beyond that we very quickly get into words like "transparent" so I eagerley await your guidance!

Thanks guys!

Aidan

[JHS]

HAO Rustbooster 1/2 is my fav. boost so far. This boost does not alter the distortion structure of a Marshall amp.

JHS

[shredgd]

I suggest the EH LPB-2.

[jacobyjd]

If he's boosting from the front end, all he'll get is more distortion unless the boost has a significant EQ change, which might help it cut better.

If he's not distorting the power tubes like crazy, and he has an FX loop, then you'll want to look at something with a more subtle EQ change, maybe just a cleanish boost to get some extra volume.

[Quackzed]

if you could get an eq pedal in front of his amp, you could let him dial in a good 'cutting through' tone and see if what he wants is a mid boost or a bass cut etc.just to get a general idea what a treble boost or mid boost or full boost etc... is going to sound like into his amp.
i'd guess an adjustable input cap type setup on any fairly clean booster will give him good control of how much 'cut'.
i'd do a muffer with a input cab blend on the front, to control bass content. but any cleanish booster with an input cap blend on it should be able to 'cut through'.

[Mark Hammer]

For an amp which breaks up easily and has a searing tone normally, he probably wants a boost that lets him trim back on the top end.  If going the commercial route, I'll put in a nod for the Visual Sound True Tone, which has lots of headroom and comes with a treble cut control for the very reason noted.  If going the DIY route, I'd suggest the Bopuitique Boost shown here: http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=69&Itemid=26  That is not to say that they are asolutely interchangeable, but they both have heaps of gain and an ability to perform the functional equivalent of turning up the volume and turning down the guitar tone knob at the same time.

[Ben N]

A Coloursound Overdriver/Powerboost (with master volume) might be fun for your friend to play with. When he's had his fill of boost w/eq he can crank up the gain and be Jeff-Beck-for-a-Day.

I'm not a big fan of graphic eqs for performance, but for sorting out what you need/want in a boost they can be a great diagnostic tool, and something like a Dano Fish'n'Chips is cheap and easy. Have your friend futz around with one in his rig to see what contour floats his boat. If it's simple, it can probably be duplicated in a simple booster.

Following Mark's suggestion, if you can find an old DOD FX-10 around, that's just plain vanilla boost with a tone control and a nicely buffered bypass (actually, the "bypass" is really the booster set for unity gain and no eq).

[petemoore]

  Having him help you decide the input cap values [2, chosen by switch] he can have the corrected values instead of luck, full range bass that distorts too early, or bass which isn't strong enough, that switch is nice to have to fill the bass in when the volume goes down, or to use with different pickups etc., try to pick 1 cap that is right for the equpment allowing testing, 1 that is just noticably bigger or smaller, depending on how trebley or bassy the test equipment, hopefully what he'll be using, and at similar settings.
  Treble control...knob, make it go ~muddier than you'd think, or try it through all the things tha'll boost treble before designing out some good amount of treble rolloff.
 
 

[ACS]

Thanks for all the advice guys, much appreciated.

Mark, I'm thinking the boutique boost could be the go.  It's nice and simple. always good for tinkering   How would you describe the sound of this?

Other option that I was thinking was the sparkle drive - TS based, so a familiar sound for him, but the blend of the clean boost (or is it just unity?) could be a welcome addition

Thanks
Aidan

[petemoore]

boutique boost
  The Mu Amp has a touch of OD tone in it !

[aron]

Way under rated. The Beginner Project. I've showed it to several pros and they love it.

[ACS]

Interesting...  Does that have it's own distinct tone, or is it 'just' a clean boost?  I'm intrigued by the concept of parallelism, and was thinking this plus something else in parallel...

[shadowmaster]

Your friend might like Timmy. Check out its videos on the internet.

[Hanglow]

klon might be a good one as well.

[aron]

Interesting...  Does that have it's own distinct tone, or is it 'just' a clean boost?  I'm intrigued by the concept of parallelism, and was thinking this plus something else in parallel...

It's clean until you start cranking it then it gets dirty. You could build it in a day and test  quickly. I've built it for myself. It's great. Better than an LPB, I think it's better than the MXR micro amp, to me, even better than the mu amp boosters (except for one which I cannot recall the circuit).