Transcendence Boost - Inside a Volume Pedal!

[andrewsrea]

I watched a video about Tom's Bukovac (Nashville studio session player / sideman), and really liked how he uses the Vertex Boost with an expression pedal as a volume / boost. So, I borrowed one from a local music store that I repair for, tried it and liked it. I could not hear any difference between using a volume pedal as an expression or boost into the pedal. I traced the circuit and noticed it was nearly identical to the PedalPCB 'Transcendence Boost" circuit, then thought to myself - 'put the boost inside the volume pedal and save pedal board space!'

I have (2) 90's Ibanez VL-10 volume pedals and used one as the platform. It worked really well, we I swapped the stock 'off-zero adjustment' for the Transcendence gain pot, allowing me to access the boost level from the side. Since the circuit goes from unity gain to full boost, I decided to forgo the true bypass switching and left it as an 'always on' feature. Thus, the blue Led is basically a power indicator, to which I substituted a 3K3 snubbing resistor for the 4K7, making it brighter to see the glow reflecting on the floor. I am going to try and move the DC jack to the front, to save even more space.

The signal flow is Guitar > Pedal jack IN > Transcendence 'In' > (Effect) > Transcendence 'Out' > Treadle Volume Pot (A250K) > Pedal Out to amp (or other effects).

Works exactly as I wanted! The boost is super transparent, no noise and has tons of boost! Output impedance is about 94K, which is still good for long cables.

Highly recommended! Pics:

 

[EisengesisFX]

Beautifully and inspiringly done! Effects in wah enclosures are definitely something I want to tackle down the line, especially a tremelo and (unless someone can pipe up from discouraging experience) the DeadEndFX T-Resonator.

 

[heymrbassman]

This is exactly what I want to try, with one feature. Wah-Pedals have a toe-down switch. Would it be possible integrate the Transcendence into an old crybaby, have the same vol/sweep adj on the side, plus an adjustable pre-set boost switchable when the treadle is toe-down? Or a boost with two switchable settings, inside a vol pedal?

 

[Nostradoomus]

This is exactly what I want to try, with one feature. Wah-Pedals have a toe-down switch. Would it be possible integrate the Transcendence into an old crybaby, have the same vol/sweep adj on the side, plus an adjustable pre-set boost switchable when the treadle is toe-down? Or a boost with two switchable settings, inside a vol pedal?

do you want the wah in there too or just using the shell?

 

[andrewsrea]

This is exactly what I want to try, with one feature. Wah-Pedals have a toe-down switch. Would it be possible integrate the Transcendence into an old crybaby, have the same vol/sweep adj on the side, plus an adjustable pre-set boost switchable when the treadle is toe-down? Or a boost with two switchable settings, inside a vol pedal?

I do not believe here is room for the Transcendence Boost PCB and the original Wha circuits inside a standard Crybaby. You could gut it and swap in a 3DPT, to have a volume pedal and a switchable boost and volume pedal. You would have to swap the 100K wah potentiometer for a 1M to 500K audio pot which not only fits in the jig, but also has the gear spline to integrate with the tooth spline which connects the treadle to the pot.

I chose to avoid complexity and have the boost always on., as it sounds as good if not better than a straight volume pedal. The knob on the side controls how loud it sounds with the treadle fully depressed. Since I use my guitar volume extremely, especially for boosting solos, I just cock it back a hair and only toe it down for situations where I am not cutting through a mix.

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[heymrbassman]

do you want the wah in there too or just using the shell?

Nah, just the boost.

I chose to avoid complexity and have the boost always on., as it sounds as good if not better than a straight volume pedal.

You're probably right. Thanks for the advice.