best clean boost?

[wiggum665]

hello everyone, im new to all this diy stuff and im in the middle of building my own amp. I also want to try building pedals, and the first one that comes to mind is a clean boost. in my setup, im going to need two of them: one to boost the signal and overdrive the amp a little more, and one to give me a signal boost after the amp (its being run sorta like an evh setup,cranked amp-dummy load-fx-amp-speakers). right now im using a sd-1, and i like the boost it gives but it does thin out the sound and color it alot. i know the pedals will color it, but ill go for whichever does it the least.

also, should the boost go before phaser/delay/flange, or after? if i put it after it might distort the effects but if i put it before would it clip the input of the pedals?

any help is greatly appreciated.

[petemoore]

*****AMZ Mosfet Boost. Clean Boost, excellent.
 Effects chain order does make a big difference, I Like to try the different ways before commiting to one order.

[RDV]

Should the boost go before phaser/delay/flange, or after? if i put it after it might distort the effects but if i put it before would it clip the input of the pedals?

My vote would be for after if you're going to boost much.

RDV

[Ben N]

Just to "amplify"  :wink: : If you are planning to just leave this "boost" on all the time, as a preamp to give you a nice strong signal and better S/N ratio and to minimize cable loading effects, then probably the best place is at the beginning of the chain, but you would only want to turn it up as high as you can without overloading the inputs of anything--and you want to build it with a premium on .  OTOH, if you are planning on using this as a lead boost, where you want a lot of dbs and maybe to overdrive your amp input, then it goes after the time-based effects.  Overloading those inputs is not pretty.
Your choice of booster may depend on how you intend to use it.  The MOSFET Boost has a very high input impedance--something that you will benefit from most when all its input sees is the guitar.  It also gives very little coloration.  LPB-1 or Rangemaster type booster variants or an AMZ Minibooster may be your cup of tea when its output sees the amp directly.

[wiggum665]

Well im going to be using two of them. the first will give me the boost i need for my rythem distortion sound, it will be off for clean and i will leave it on for lead. the second will be turned on for a lead boost, just too give me more volume. the signal chain goes sorta like this:


Guitar-Eq-Boost-Amp-Dummyload-EQ-Phaser-Flange-Delay-Boost-Poweramp-Speakers

the second one would go after so it wont distort the effects. i could probubly try out all of those, as they dont seem too complicated or expenisve to build and i could pick the one that works best for each. also, my sd-1 gives a totaly different sound in the fx loop, its realy hard to describe but its definatly not what im looking for.

[Fret Wire]

I always liked the Micro Amp. When built right, it's a nice, clean, simple booster that doesn't color your tone . If you have a Fender, the Fetzer Valve is nice too. When put through a Fender Amp....it sounds like a Fender Amp!  It's kinda like a clean boost for old tube Fenders.

[Ben N]

May I ask, what kind of amp are you doing this with?  The boost in the FX loop is kind of curious to me, is why I ask.  Again, the kind of performance you are looking for has a lot to do with the nature of the boost, as does the level of the signal at that point, the impedances of the send and return, etc.

Also, I'm a little unclear from your description what it is you expect Boost 'A' to do.  Distort?  Overdrive the preamp (tube or SS)?

[Lonestarjohnny]

I think the Boost that Aron is showing all of us Newb's how to build is one of the best I've ever used,
JD

[wiggum665]

all i want boost A to do is to boost the signal to hit the preamp harder. i dont want it to actualy distort, but to make the preamp distort more. Im building the P1 extreem from ax84, and after its built im going to switch the preamp out for a plexi styled one. i know im planning all of this in advance, but it just what i like to do. Boost B should just give me a strait clean level boost, so when i take a lead i can be heard.

as for the fx loop, that is my marshall dsl. when i try to use the sd-1 in its fx loop, it sounds sorta airy and more open, but with less bass and treble. it almost felt like there was less gain. if it helps, bass 3 mid 10 treble 5 presence 0 gain 5 , and the pedal had 0 gain 10 volume. lowering the pedal volume still made it sound the same, just less boost. adjusting the tone on the pedal made it sound harsh or dull, i had trouble finding a good setting.

that dsl is way too loud. me and my dad both play, and we got it way back when my old drummer would make my ears ring for days. now it realy doesent have much of a purpose, with the volume on 2 max.

[Ben N]

OK, so the second boost is going between a tube (=high voltage) preamp and the input of a tube (=more high voltage) power amp.  I'm pretty far out of my depth, but I think it safe to say that trying to stick a 9v (or even 15 or 18 or 30v) stompbox-type booster designed to work with low-level (or line-level) signals will not work.  It might work if you have a buffered fx loop in the amp, but seems kind of silly (not to mention noisy) to drop the signal down to low/line level just to boost it back up.

Another way you could do it is with a high-voltage level booster--i.e. a tube or power mosfet gain circuit with lots of headroom.  But that means an AC powered gizmo, and also seems like overkill.  

I think what you really need there is not a booster, but an attenuator--a switchable master volume that you can switch in for your rhythm sound and switch out for your lead tone.  This is something you can easily build into your amp.  I recently saw a thread over at Ampage about doing just this.  (Alternatively, there is a guy marketing a pot and two jacks in a box for $99 for this purpose on ebay!)

Ben

[cd]

For the B stage, you need to check out London Power's "Super Scaling" (www.londonpower.com).  Or build yourself a simple op-amp booster/preamp with a lot of voltage swing, use a NE5532 with a +/-20V supply.  Check out the "Projects for Guitarists" book by Craig Anderton for more info on designing your own preamp.