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Clean Boost (excuse my ignorance)


steviedee
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Bit of background info.

Looking for a bit of info I have a Streamliner 900 which I don't really use. But had a wee jam with it the other day and it sounds excellent. The only thing I found annoying there is no way to switch between the overdriven high gain setting and the normal gain settings.

The guitar player in my band suggested getting a boost pedal to drive the tubes and give me a bit of overdrive when required. He uses an mxr micro amp and get's a really nice mellow distortion.

I'm just looking for something to give the bass an edge every now and again would a clean boost pedal do the job? And what are the recommendations?

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[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1360583274' post='1972557']
I reckon you might be better with a treble boost, or an EQ to boost just specific frequencies. A normal clean boost might give you too much low
[/quote]

Cheers would the treble boost cut out the lows? As long as it wasn't too extreme.

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I wouldn't get a treble boost, they rarely sound nice on bass especially with SS and hybrid heads. It'll give you quite a punk tone clicking something like that in, at least in my personal opinion.

A full range boost like the MXR Micro Amp or a fat boost like the Fulltone Fat Boost, Catalinbread Chili or Wren and Cuff Phat Phuk would be better.

I've got a Catalinbread Chili for sale at the moment if it's of any interest.

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[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1360583274' post='1972557']
I reckon you might be better with a treble boost, or an EQ to boost just specific frequencies. A normal clean boost might give you too much low
[/quote]

Good idea. Maybe a compressor would do this as well?

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I've actually got an aphex [quote name='tayste_2000' timestamp='1360586660' post='1972680']
I've got a Catalinbread Chili for sale at the moment if it's of any interest.
[/quote]

Thanks for the info and that looks quite like what I'm after.


[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1360586751' post='1972683']
Good idea. Maybe a compressor would do this as well?
[/quote]

I actually have a punch factory for sale that might do the trick.

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Just be careful on the Phat Phuk if you use Active Basses, same goes with the Tone Factor Cream Pie that's for sale at the moment, they can be a bit hit and miss.

If you use passive basses then the cream pie is an awesome buy as it will do clean boost, dirty boost, overdrive and treble boost.

The Juju boost also for sale is a good clean boost/overdrive

I know this because I use to own all of these and it's my old ones that are for sale, apparently I have a boost fetish.

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[quote name='tayste_2000' timestamp='1360587541' post='1972717']
If you use passive basses then the cream pie is an awesome buy as it will do clean boost, dirty boost, overdrive and treble boost.
[/quote]

Hey Tayste thanks for the info it's really helpful, I reckon it would be used primarily with an active bass so I'll have to factor that in.

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I know quite a few people do it, but my thinking was that boosting the full range ouldn't give you an alternative to a channel switch, which is what it sounds like OP is after. It would give you a big low end boost, on top of distortion, as opposed to just dirtying up the signal while maintaining a constant level.

Having said all that, I've just checked out the Streamliner 900 and it looks like the control you're talking about is just a gain control, so I'm wrong, you do just want a boost. Alternatively it's just a push switch so it'd be fairly easy to wire that up to a jack on the back you're not using, and plug a footswitch in to that.

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[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1360754522' post='1975796']
Having said all that, I've just checked out the Streamliner 900 and it looks like the control you're talking about is just a gain control, so I'm wrong, you do just want a boost. Alternatively it's just a push switch so it'd be fairly easy to wire that up to a jack on the back you're not using, and plug a footswitch in to that.
[/quote]

Cheers Tom I've bought Tayste's boost pedal I'm going to give that a go. I reckon messing with the wiring is a bit beyond my ken unfortunately. And sorry for not explaining myself properly in the first instance mate, I was confusing myself there!

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[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1360862868' post='1977619']
One of these [url="http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/BEQ700.aspx"]http://www.behringer...cts/BEQ700.aspx[/url] or one of these [url="http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/PB100.aspx"]http://www.behringer...ucts/PB100.aspx[/url] should do the trick. Got one of each and clean boost is what you'll get and pretty cheap too.
[/quote]
I can recommend the PB100. Cheap but great quality - quiet, totally transparent and enough juice to drive a power amp if you want to. You get volume, bass and treble thrown in. Why pay more?

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These line boosts are only going to jump your volume up too, I know that is kind of the idea, but the volume knob needs to go down when the gain goes up. You have the right idea, but it woukd be a lot simpler to juat get a OD pedal, and even if you don't dig it that much, low gain settings with te volume up high will act like a signal boost anyway.

The volume increase thy you'll get from the line boost will give sou d guys headaches.

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[quote name='musicman1982' timestamp='1360610146' post='1973370']
I'm not sure if it's designed for guitar/bass or either, but I've got an Electro-Harmonix LPB-1 (Linear Power Boost). I'm no purist but it seems to do the job really well, has tons of boost without distorting, and is pretty cheap brand new, let alone second-hand.
[/quote]

+1 You saved me from posting the same thing. I use mine to simply boost the signal into my Clone Theory before the amp. Works great!

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  • 10 months later...

[quote name='Bret' timestamp='1361925588' post='1993321'] +1 You saved me from posting the same thing. I use mine to simply boost the signal into my Clone Theory before the amp. Works great! [/quote]

Was thinking of getting this exact combination as well. Do you find boosting the signal with the LPB1 first does anything to reduce the noise/hiss from the clone theory? Also do you notice any tone change when using the LPB1?
Thinking of either this or a MXR micro amp but the EHX is so much cheaper

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The micro amp will give you boost with no alteration to your tone. It is just about the best clean boost around. The LPB will fatten out your sound a bit.

They are both worth owning for the great jobs they do. They are also very simple circuits if you are handy with a soldering iron.

Or there are lots of boutique clean boosts which are basically micro amps, LPB-1s or miniboosters with added snake oil.

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I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be overdriving the tubes in a hybrid head......although there are tubes in the preamp, it's a whole different ball game boosting a full tube amp to overdrive!
I would get a low to mid overdrive pedal rather than a clean boost. The Phat Phuk is the slight exception as its a germanium boost, so easier to get some hair out of the pedal alone.
Look at the:
Xotic BB Pre
Fuzzrocious Dark Driving
COG Knightfall
Catalinbread SFT
Mad Professor Blueberry Overdrive

Si

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