Which boost pedal do I need?

Rick Lee

Rick Lee

Well-known member
I will never use this for home playing, only in a band situation. I will never use it for chords or any part of a song other than face-melting solos, where I need to really stand out. I use a TC Spark now and it sounds fine when I'm playing with the band. But when I go back and look at the gig videos, it sounds too buzzy or like it adds some distortion to my tone. I want nothing more than a transparent volume boost, as if I had time to run over and turn the dial on my attenuator. I'm leaning toward the EP Booster. Any other suggestions?
 
Rick Lee said:
I will never use this for home playing, only in a band situation. I will never use it for chords or any part of a song other than face-melting solos, where I need to really stand out. I use a TC Spark now and it sounds fine when I'm playing with the band. But when I go back and look at the gig videos, it sounds too buzzy or like it adds some distortion to my tone. I want nothing more than a transparent volume boost, as if I had time to run over and turn the dial on my attenuator. I'm leaning toward the EP Booster. Any other suggestions?
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Do you have the full size Spark or mini ? For a brief time I used the Spark mini in the effects loop of my Splawn and it worked great for a transparent volume boost
 
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I’m thinking the VFE Standout. Adds in middle to cut through and has high and low pass filters to dial in the sound you need.
 
Don’t count out Soul Food . I love what it dies to my wizard and Diezels . Just bigger with no extra shit . Still actually keeps my tone like boosts say they will
 
I guess you have this pedal between guitar and amp? You´ll never be satisfied trying to boost only the volume by going into a distorted amp that way, you just end up piling on more distortion instead of level, just as you´re describing. If you have a serial loop running on pedal level signal you might try your Spark there instead.
 
Dave L said:
I guess you have this pedal between guitar and amp? You´ll never be satisfied trying to boost only the volume by going into a distorted amp that way, you just end up piling on more distortion instead of level, just as you´re describing. If you have a serial loop running on pedal level signal you might try your Spark there instead.
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All this.
 
You match an overdrive to the amp and use it as a boost by zeroing the gain dial. If the basic overdrives haven't worked then you consider a dedicated booster which you also have to match to the amp.
 
hammered said:
Do you have the full size Spark or mini ? For a brief time I used the Spark mini in the effects loop of my Splawn and it worked great for a transparent volume boost
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Yeah, the full-size spark doesn't really have that much boost on tap. I have one. With the gain set to 0 and the level cranked, you barely get over unity. Barely. And there's definitely a little breakup coming from the pedal.

For that, the TC Electronic Rush I had was better. I'm guessing the Spark Mini is closer to the Rush.
 
I literally bought the Xotic super sweet boost about 2 hours ago. been wanting something like it on the board for a while, going to give it a try. The super clean looks good too for less gain, more clean headroom
 
Can’t say enough about the single knob Spark Mini. Zero color, little to no ‘distortion.’ Just clean ‘boost’ to make leads step out ahead of the amp a notch.
 
The EP booster will boost all frequencies, including low end. I wouldn’t use it for tightening up an amp in a rock situation. I like the Buxxom Boost light years better for that purpose. But it sounds like for your situation, as others have mentioned, you would rather have a pure volume boost to stand out. I’d try an EQ in the loop as other have suggested. If you go this route, also try having the EQ set to cut the volume for rhythm and cut it off when you want to solo.
 
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