Boost That Tightens + Grinds: Go

J

Junk Yard Dog

Well-known member
I'm not a boost/OD expert, so seeking suggestions for a transparent boost that tightens an amp, has some EQ flexibility onboard (more than a Tone control), and is pretty quiet. I like a lot of the ones I have, but always tinkering. I'm still learning the differences b/t OD and boosts.

I believe most OD's will color the tone a bit, so maybe I'm not a TS or OD type. I like a bit of grit/grind added, but retains the tone of the amp, and want the capability to tighten the amp.

I play Splawn QR/Comp and GZ Hellion. Hellion doesn't need tightening as much and I play hard rock (AIC, Tool) to some metal ala Pantera, 'Tallica, Sepultura. I usually set my gain between 10:00 - 1:00 and let the boost do it's thing. I don't love overly compressed feeling from boosts. I sometimes find they can 'mush' the tone, or maybe that's what the OD's are doing.

Current favorites are the big TC Spark Boost and new-to-me Griffin Chiron, which I love. I never tried a Klon clone until the Chrion and it's become one of my fave pedals ever. Yes, it and the TC Spark in mid-boost (toggle down) do color the tone a bit, but I can eq more treble to make up for it, at least to my ears.

I'm always looking to try new things and looking for something that:

1) has little to no tone coloration; or, you can tailor in/out the 'mid-bump' of some of the TS-style ODs.
2) keeps the tone very clear; no mush

I'll post likes/dislikes below of what I currently have and tried.

Currently Have
  • Airis Savage Drive V2: cool pedal & features. Played it again last week, but something wasn't working for me. Maybe too much TS color & was bit noisy.
  • Xotic RC Boost: Very good pedal, but didn't love it. Something was missing between the Gain & Volume interaction/options for me.
  • MXR CBMOD: Really liked it at first and still ldo, but when I compared it to my Chiron, it didn't push my amps as well and had that TS color to it I could not dial out. I found myself wanting to dial back the 'color' and add highs to make it a bit clearer.
  • SD 805: I like this one, especially with the B, M, T eq, but when I compare it to the Chiron, it's not as powerful in the way I like it hitting the front end. But the EQ is great about dialing in and out the 'color' of a TS pedal.
  • TC Spark Boost (big one:) I tend to run this one in mid-boost mode (toggle down), but back off the bass and increase the treble to add some clarity to the mid-bump 'mush/coloration'. Or, I run it in Clean boost (toggle middle), Volume at 1:00, Gain at 11:00, bass at 8:00 and treble maxed.
  • Griffin Analog Chiron: my new favorite of all. I don't know the specs, but I think this is a Klon clone (correct me if I'm wrong). It just has more 'power/beef'; it pushes the amps and sounds fuller, more 3D than all my others. I keep tinkering with the 3 knobs. It's just the right amount of clarity under higher gain with the treble knob and tightens up pretty well. I wouldn't mind some more functionality out of it, but it's a great pedal overall.
Owned Previously
  • Keely SD-1: was good, but moved it on a few years ago. Can't quite recall loving it.
  • Friedman Buxom Boost: recall really liking it, but found it a bit noisier than my other boosts, so moved it on. i would try this one again. yes, I can use my Zuul, but prefer not to.
Want to Try
  • Timmy V2 or V3
  • Wampler Tumnus Deluxe
  • SA Zio
  • Revv Tilt
Thanks for any ideas if you made it this far.
 
You brought up the Timmy which also means you need to have a good look at a pro series Blue Note. Best used in lower gain settings but fairly transparent . Equipped with gain, vol, tone, and "fat" knobs. It has an additional mini toggle (hot switch) for more aggressive gain. I like it with the amp dimed and the BN gain/vol at about 1 o clock hot switch off. A good sounding clean boost to give you that little extra sustain vs straight in. Cleans up nicely on the guitar's volume. Pretty much the only OD I've used for about 11 years or so into a Twin. I don't know if it'll tighten your amp but it doesn't loosen mine so should be alright. It stacks really well if you are looking to do that. I actually stacked two blue notes for a while when I was using a strat and big Marshall and it was a really good sound.

You mentioned liking the TC Spark boost. I can't confirm but have heard rumors that the new Laney Steelpark is a higher quality version of that pedal, and quieter. I only bring it up cause I was looking at one pretty closely since they also work with a 9v battery.
 
maxon 808x. It has a lot of output so i use it with the level at 1:00, but it colors less than most ts types imo and seems to blend with the amp more. Ifeel the same about the grind pedal, but only on rectos and now my uber.
I love boosts, but also like them to sound more like an extension of the amp. Notable mention is the mxr badass od. Its very versatile.
 
First one I thought of was the Friedman buxom boost, but I see that you’ve tried that and found it a bit noisy. It is noisier than most boost pedals that I’ve used, but I don’t find it overly noisy or else I wouldn’t use it but that’s my first pick . The MXR GTOD could really boost an amp over the top , so much that I really didn’t care for it
 
First thing I think of is the Teisco Overdrive. I took a chance on it and I hated saying it, but it was a really great "transparent" overdrive. It had a lot of range and a switch to "kick" up the gain a little more. I'm usually a Maxon OD808 guy, I always have one on me. I went through a purge to simplify my gear and got rid of all my overdrives/boosts. I think I really regret the flexibility I had with the Teisco. It worked with just about any amp and sounded great. My brain was telling me to keep the green box and my ears were telling me the Teisco. I need to pick one up again.
 
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VFE Standout.

When I used it in front of my Splawn Modded 79 2203 with a Revv G8 gate, it's super grindy/tight yet still is a tube amp I am getting Dimes tones that rival even my Randall RG100ES/Furman PQ3/ISP noise gate rig. You should be getting plenty of grind from the preamp sections in the Splawn QR or the Hellion. Using the standout to focus your midrange attack and level is what the Standout is good at, it's kind of a different pedal to set up. I think it removes selected frequencies instead of adding/boosting them. I think that's why it seems to work better in front of a high gain preamp like my Splawn.

I got rid of my Randall RG100ES and since I got the VFE standout in front of the Splawn I don't really miss the Randall as it gives me the Dime tones when I want them. The Standout even sounds better than my Furman PQ3 in front of the Splawn. I cheated I just use the settings that Psychodave used and tweaked those a little to get it where I wanted it but I didn't change them much.

Here's an explanation of how the Standout works from Peter VFE to Pschodave

https://www.rig-talk.com/forum/threads/npd-vfe-standout-holy-crap-boost.201490/page-3

Dave - The EQ controls on the Standout are different than standard boost/cut EQs. They don't have a fixed corner frequency, and they only cut - no boost.

The HPF cuts low frequencies & passes high frequencies. While it isn't a high frequency control, it is a low cut...so you can use to make the tone brighter. Same thing goes for the LPF - you can use it to boost bass by cutting highs.

The internal makeup gain trimpot just sets the amount of boost in the EQ side of the pedal. If you are using more extreme cuts and find that the clockwise side of the BLEND knob is too quiet, you can add makeup gain to help.

If you use lighter EQ cuts and find that the clockwise side of the BLEND knob is much louder than the clean/dry side, you can lower the volume of the EQ side by cutting makeup gain.

In short, it helps adjust the pedal to be better balanced & easier to use for various users.

Peter
 
I understand the VFE Dragon is like having the Standout incorporated in to a distortion/overdrive pedal but with your amps you should be getting plenty of gain and grind from the amps preamp section.

Alot of people had good things to say about the Lichtlaerm Aesahaettr boost pedal and it seems priced right.

​

 
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Another vote for the Buxom Boost, though I know you’ve already had one. The ‘tight’ control is SO useful.
 
EQ. Currently using a Source Audio EQ2.

If you need more boost than the EQ, maybe something like a Keeley Katana with an EQ pedal; or MXR EQ pedal that has both volume and gain controls.

I get my OD/Dist from the amp, and use the EQ to shape it for a different tone.

I've one of these on pre-order for months...5-band parametric EQ:




pentatone.png
 
mchn13 said:
maxon 808x. It has a lot of output so i use it with the level at 1:00, but it colors less than most ts types imo and seems to blend with the amp more. Ifeel the same about the grind pedal, but only on rectos and now my uber.
I love boosts, but also like them to sound more like an extension of the amp. Notable mention is the mxr badass od. Its very versatile.
Click to expand...
My current top3 listed here^
808x
Grind (clone)
MXR badass super duper modified custom all star Overdrive
 
rsm said:
EQ. Currently using a Source Audio EQ2.

If you need more boost than the EQ, maybe something like a Keeley Katana with an EQ pedal; or MXR EQ pedal that has both volume and gain controls.

I get my OD/Dist from the amp, and use the EQ to shape it for a different tone.

I've one of these on pre-order for months...5-band parametric EQ:




View attachment 308718
Click to expand...
Damn, that’s some serious tone shaping
 
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I'm gonna second @VonBonfire and say you should try a timmy, or even better lawrence petross makes a clone called the Dutch with a bass control, normal treble control, and a second "punch" switch which is unbelievably good

The Chiron is the best Klone i've personally tried, so I wouldn't mess around with any of the other klon types out there. The Tumnus is just a crappier version of the chiron with a ton of low end that makes it sound better to people who play tube amps at super low volumes lol

I'm not a huge fan of the VFE standout or Dragon, or the Fortin hex or grind - tbh all of these pedals make every amp sound the same to me. Kind of like A1 steak sauce. It's good, but they're all good and "meh" at the same time.

The mid hump is going to be in almost all TS style ODs, just to varying degrees. The mush is gonna be there with all full frequency boosts, just to varying degrees. I would say the best of the best are the ones where you can mitigate those flaws - so say, the koko boost, KSR ares are probably the best in class IMO
 
Junk Yard Dog said:
Griffin Analog Chiron: my new favorite of all. I don't know the specs, but I think this is a Klon clone (correct me if I'm wrong). It just has more 'power/beef'; it pushes the amps and sounds fuller, more 3D than all my others. I keep tinkering with the 3 knobs. It's just the right amount of clarity under higher gain with the treble knob and tightens up pretty well. I wouldn't mind some more functionality out of it, but it's a great pedal overall.
Click to expand...
@griff10672 did a real good job with this one! I’ve got over a couple dozen ODs and this is on the board now—I agree the Chiron is almost 3d compared to some other klone pedals I have. Of course some dirt boxes work better with some amps than others…
Timmy is a good OD, used to be a fav—sounds good in front of most amps esp Marshalls but IMO it lacks a bit of bite.

Few others worth trying:

Maxon OD820–full punchy TS style mid hump
Ibanez TS808 reissue—classic mid hump, grainier and more aggressive than the Maxon
Lovepedal OD Eleven—no/little mid hump, voiced more modern. Run real low it works well in front of an already gainy amp.
Skreddy Major—even more aggressive and modern than the Lovepedal. Bitey—think Page live Marshall tone or early VH
Thorpy Team Medic—fantastic low gain tone sculptor. Level and Gain are both tweakable and sound good but the 3 band eq is the best I’ve had in a pedal. Throw it in front of a 2203 or plexi and you can recreate a whole lotta tones
 
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