Hello,
    I have a friend who plays Jzz and he was curious if I could build him a pedal that when he plays leads,
it would boost, not distort, but be subtle and just giving it a little umph...

Any suggestions?

Thanks a bunch!
Arn C.

I use jack orman mini booster for just that.

+1 on the AMZ Mini-Booster.

IMO, the mini booster is a bit dirty for that.  The AMZ Mosfet Boost however, is much cleaner.  For jazz he might want something a little fatter too though, like an LPB?

Keep in mind that if his amp doesn't have the proper amount of headroom it will distort his signal anyway.

The guitarist that played in my band plays jazz quite a bit.  He likes the R.O.G. Mr. EQ I made for him.  He uses a 335 and likes to bring out the bassiness (is that a word) of the lower thicker strings.  The notes are clean but louder.  He likes the set and forget toggle switches too for gigging.

Quote from: oldrocker on May 03, 2010, 12:27:16 PM
The guitarist that played in my band plays jazz quite a bit.  He likes the R.O.G. Mr. EQ I made for him.  He uses a 335 and likes to bring out the bassiness (is that a word) of the lower thicker strings.  The notes are clean but louder.  He likes the set and forget toggle switches too for gigging.

Good point- the ROG tonemender would work well too.

Thank you guys for your input.  I believe my friend uses a polytone amp, not sure if it is vintage or not, but it is not new.
I did do some work on it , but its been awhile.

Peace!
Arn C.

I play jazz a fair bit and have a polytone myself.  

If he likes his polytone (I'm assuming he does) he probably wants an uncolored boost, at least for now.  

Op amps have 'no mojo' but your best bet is probably an op amp boost. Totally uncolored boost.  Ideally you could use a simple TL0154 charge pump to feed it a +/-8v supply, but it may not be necessary if he just wants a few DBs of boost, you could just use a 9v supply.

a PS--as more than likely, you will build something and you'll get feedback that it affects his tone too much (unless it does so in a way he happens to like), no matter what you build.

Most guitarists--jazz in particular--are most familiar with the sound of guitar--> amp with a fair amount of loading which has a unique EQ curve that is not hi-fi or flat.

The loading jazz catd get from rolling down the tone knob and sometimes the volume knob is really a sort of EQ that they rely on to accent the fundamental of the guitars notes and dull the harmonics.  Any pedal you build will change that in some way.  An op amp, jfet, or almost any boost will certainly reduce the loading or at least change it--restoring some of the high frequencies probably, and hence making his sound less colored by pots and cables when he turns it on, if not add some distortion as well (like with a mini-booster etc).  Hence it may sound to him comparatively as if the boost is "adding highs' or 'coloring the tone' comapred to his normal sound, more than likely...moreso, it's restoring what is lost most of the time, but that base tone is probably how he wants it, just louder.

Anyhow, that may be getting ahead of the game, and there is a lot you can do to control and compensate this, but for now, try an op amp boost, it's the flattest in frequency and the cleanest boost you'll get when done properly.

Thanks Liquids, I know just the one.  I already have a few built, so maybe I will let him try a few and maybe he will find one he likes or maybe I have to tweak.

Thanks again to all.

Peace!
Arn C.

I like the purple peaker for jazz, a simple but most effective preset eq.

Quote from: liquids on May 03, 2010, 01:29:26 PM
Op amps have 'no mojo' but your best bet is probably an op amp boost. Totally uncolored boost.  ... if he just wants a few DBs of boost, you could just use a 9v supply.

These are my thoughts also.  I recently put together a boost/buff that is op amp based (see link below).  The nice thing about that is that the boost does not change the tone since the buffer is always in place.  I find this buffer to be very clean and make very little doifference in tone or feel, except to do a good job of adding back in the lost high frequencies.   If he has to a slight treble adjustment on the amp should restore things to normal.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=83783.0

A note, to my ear the way to make a boost sound unclolored is to actually reduce the low end somewhat as I believe that we don't hear low end in a linear way (think of the "loudness" button on a boom box).  My boost has this option, and it really makes the difference to my ears in the boost sounding natural.

FYI- The ROG tonemender is basically an opamp booster with a tonstack on the front

Just about any compressor can achieve a degree of boost that is suitable for solos, without overpowering everyone else.

I'm about to build a Sparkle Boost that I might use in my jazz band. The Sparkle Boost can be very clean or you can dial in just a light amount of grit. So it seems like a good fit for me for jazz. Right now I don't use a pedal at all. But a boost would give a hotter, fuller tone I think.

I use a similar pedal in my rock band. A Mojo Hand Copperhead, which I believe is essentially two Sparkle Boosts in one enclosure.

I know this is a stompbox forum, but why not forget the pedal and just use the volume knob? Every old school jazz guitarist I've ever met usually sets their amp pretty loud and open, sets the tone knobs on full, and backs the volume knob to around 3-5 for comping and then turns it up a tad for solos. Backing off the volume knob that much serves to both clean up and darken the tone.

well... that's no fun. 

  yes the EQ will help find the sweet spots which accentuate playing style, tone preference, and tend to optimize [or stay within limitations of] amplifier and speaker.
     

I think the point is that many amps, especially tube amps, can sound really sweet when the input is pushed/boosted.

Rolling your guitar's volume knob down for comping and then up for soloing certainly works. That's what I do in my jazz playing. But I think the fattest tone is found when that volume knob is maxed.

Putting a clean boost in the mix allows you to get that fatter tone even when you have the guitar's volume knob rolled back for comping. Then you can still roll the volume knob up for solos and get an even fatter tone.

Jazz guitarists tend to shy away from compressors because of the loss of dynamics.

Quote from: Mark Hammer on May 03, 2010, 04:02:57 PM
Just about any compressor can achieve a degree of boost that is suitable for solos, without overpowering everyone else.

What was I thinking?!

My vote is for an LPB-1 or a Mosfet Boost in an old volume pedal shell.