Boosters and SS amps

[BuddytheReow]

Boosters. Many of you build them as stand-alone into a nearly breaking amp. And I get it. The problem is I don’t have a tube amp but only solid state. Would a booster have a similar effect on a solid state amp or am I wasting my time? I’ll probably breadboard something quick and try it out on my own, but I figured I better ask here just in case someone else ever wonders.

Also, do boosters have a major effect when in series with another pedal or is it more subtle? Some effects are very quiet so I get throwing a booster afterwards.

Thanks!

 

[DailyDovetails]

I do solid state into a mixer then monitors. I like using a boost early in the chain to bring my clean sound up to just under where it starts to fizz out on the hard notes then back off my volume some and I get a warm articulate clean voice. I have been using the arche boost or the whole hearted I made here but I built a mercurial last night and think I prefer it here. At the end I run the Unicab and adjust its gain the same way. I usually have to adjust both of these when switching guitars but everything in between I don’t.

I think hitting the solid state roof too hard sounds terrible but I vastly prefer cleans setup this way and can do decent dirt with pedals. I think a compressor and limiter will eventually become a part of my board but I’m not there yet. I had a Rane DC24 I tried using for that but it didn’t work out well.

 

[Bio77]

Using a booster in front of your favorite drive pedal is great.

 

[Coda]

The ‘ol Solid-State Stack-n-boost…

 

[Harry Klippton]

Didn't you make an Electra board? Have you not tried it?

 

[jesuscrisp]

Also, do boosters have a major effect when in series with another pedal or is it more subtle? Some effects are very quiet so I get throwing a booster afterwards.

Let me hit you with the good old "it depends".

If the boost is designed to be "clean" and "full range", they will mostly make things louder. If they are meant to impart a specific EQ curve, they will have different effects depending on where you place them in the signal chain. Some boosters like Rangemasters you definitely want as the very first in your chain as it needs to see the guitar first.

Would a booster have a similar effect on a solid state amp or am I wasting my time?

That implies there's only one way to use boost pedals. You either want to add more loudness coming from the guitar and thereby push your pedals and/or amp harder, add more loudness late in the chain (or specifically in the FX loop if you want a solo boost), impart some compression and/or EQ curve on your tone or use it as a less boring buffer (or whatever else people use them for, but these are some other than what you mentioned).

To me, most boost pedals that don't radically change the tone, are kinda boring really, which is why I don't bother building tons of them.

 

[Paradox916]

I hear a tube screamer into a rat works pretty good.

 

[Diynot]

It can be similar to stacking a boost into an OD pedal, but depends on the amp. A lot of SS seem to run pretty high headroom cleans and you’ll never get what you want out of that setup with a boost alone. If it has a decent drive channel, then yeah, it probably will. I recently started using a Quilter superblock UK and I run a Blue Steel (bd-2) into it for lead parts and it rips

 

[MBFX]

In short, it depends on the amp. If it's one that breaks up in a way you like when you push the front end, then yes! You might like a dirty boost better, so you get some more character.

With that said, the used gear market is cooling down and now is a great time to get your first tube amp! There are some Ibanez Tube Screamer amps on Reverb for about $400 right now, and those are awesome pedal platforms with a built in TS. There are also a bunch of Silverface Fenders that are going for prices I haven't seen since about 2010.

 

[BuddytheReow]

Didn't you make an Electra board? Have you not tried it?

Dude. Your memory astounds me. I completely forgot I had one! The problem is that I’ve got hard clippers on it, so I’d have to take ‘em out first if I just want boost.

Sounds like the general consensus is ‘it depends’. I’ll go experiment to see what I can find

 

[HamishR]

Yep - it depends. I mainly use a booster in front of an overdrive to add some girth and a little dirt. Or I might use a Rangemaster style booster for the tone. I rarely have use for a booster to make things louder.

 

[DeadAirMD]

He's all sold out, but I love GPCB Afterblaster and Stage 3 Boost. Almost every OD pedal I've built recently, has a tweaked Stage 3 (I use different resistors to attenuate). That way, each pedal has it's own dedicated boost, so I'm not constantly having to futz with any knobs on a boost when I'm using different drives.

Boosts have se extra magic pumping into a tube amp, but still make drives sound great through a SS

 

[BuddytheReow]

He's all sold out, but I love GPCB Afterblaster and Stage 3 Boost. Almost every OD pedal I've built recently, has a tweaked Stage 3 (I use different resistors to attenuate). That way, each pedal has it's own dedicated boost, so I'm not constantly having to futz with any knobs on a boost when I'm using different drives.

Boosts have se extra magic pumping into a tube amp, but still make drives sound great through a SS

So, a boost into a OD

 

[DeadAirMD]

I prefer OD into Boost, and that's how I've set up all of my dual drives. I like the "boost" in volume, better note definition, and clarity.

 

[Aentons]

I think of it as gain staging. It doesn't have to all be done in one stage. It gets more interesting with more stages clipping in the sweet spot

 

[Harry Klippton]

Where's the update on this? Did I miss it?

 

[Feral Feline]

So, a boost into a OD

For more colour and saturation, yes.
Not necessarily more volume, just more grit.


"Your sound" but louder = clean boost after your OD.


A clean uncoloured boost into an OD still will change the "colour" of the sound, IME, but to what extent is very dependent on what circuit you're goosing with the boost — different circuits react differently to being boosted, a Muff vs a µ-amp-based MIAB for instance.

A clean boost after whatever you've got helps take things to the next level for a solo, or in my case since I don't really solo, when the rest of the band starts hitting harder for the chorus or end of a song. Helps stay in the game without poking out of the mix like a coloured boost (at the end of the chain) would do.

That's why I like coloured boosts near the front of the chain and a buffer/clean-boost right at the end.

 

[BuddytheReow]

Where's the update on this? Did I miss it?

No you didn't miss anything. Life tends to get in the way of things.

Anyways, I killed two birds with one stone today. I tested a relay board and built a booster to try out with my amp. For the record I have a Boss Katana and is a pretty sweet SS amp if anyone cares. The booster was a simple LPB-1.

Straight into the amp on the clean channel with gain at about 11 o'clock there is a noticeable change in the signal. Putting 100n coupling caps fattens up the sound right off the bat. So, tone coloring. The second thing I noticed is that it throws some clipping into the mix. Now I finally understand the whole headroom thing on amps. I've never played through a tube amp other than in a store, so this was a big surprise to me.

Now I'm off to build me a booster to end all boosters. Or I'll just populate a PCB or striboard.

 

[Coda]

No you didn't miss anything. Life tends to get in the way of things.

Anyways, I killed two birds with one stone today. I tested a relay board and built a booster to try out with my amp. For the record I have a Boss Katana and is a pretty sweet SS amp if anyone cares. The booster was a simple LPB-1.

Straight into the amp on the clean channel with gain at about 11 o'clock there is a noticeable change in the signal. Putting 100n coupling caps fattens up the sound right off the bat. So, tone coloring. The second thing I noticed is that it throws some clipping into the mix. Now I finally understand the whole headroom thing on amps. I've never played through a tube amp other than in a store, so this was a big surprise to me.

Now I'm off to build me a booster to end all boosters. Or I'll just populate a PCB or striboard.

I’m not one for trends, nor for hype…but the Klon is the end-all booster…

 

[Fama]

No you didn't miss anything. Life tends to get in the way of things.

Anyways, I killed two birds with one stone today. I tested a relay board and built a booster to try out with my amp. For the record I have a Boss Katana and is a pretty sweet SS amp if anyone cares. The booster was a simple LPB-1.

Straight into the amp on the clean channel with gain at about 11 o'clock there is a noticeable change in the signal. Putting 100n coupling caps fattens up the sound right off the bat. So, tone coloring. The second thing I noticed is that it throws some clipping into the mix. Now I finally understand the whole headroom thing on amps. I've never played through a tube amp other than in a store, so this was a big surprise to me.

Now I'm off to build me a booster to end all boosters. Or I'll just populate a PCB or striboard.

AFAIK I'd categorize the Katana as a digital amp modeller - obviously it's also a solid state amp, but it might not act quite like regular solid state amps would.

That being said, I'm a bit surprised that it's clipping, I would have thought it could handle quite a lot of signal and emulate the saturation like an amp would. My only real experience is with the Quad Cortex I have, which is also digital, but it takes boosting (and pedals) like a champ.