To BOOST or not to BOOST? PRS Archon 50

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For modern metal I always boost (with a keeley sd-1)

I can get cool non-metal tones with some of my other boosts too though

One of my recent favorite tones is using the blue side of my wampler dual fusion for CLEANS! It just brings some insane sparkle that is pretty addicting.

I probably own at least 15 different OD/boost pedals at this point :LOL:


Great video (as always), by the way!
 
I have chimed in on this topic on similar threads before, but I cannot express how impressed I am with the Spark Mini - the single knob version. It works so well when you have an amp with a core tone that you absolutely love and you just want that little extra ‘push’ for leads. The Spark Mini does not add any color - it doesn’t push the highs or lop off the lows like so many ‘green-style’ pedals do. (Not that I don’t love my TS for the right amp!) I bought my first Spark Mini after watching this video and I now have one on each board - the small rehearsal board and the big gig board:

 
“Boost” means different things. It’s more than “make the guitar louder,” it’s most often “cut bass before the preamp.”

Most people don’t boost 5150’s to add more gain than what the amps already have in them. They use “boost” pedals to cut bass before the preamp to tighten up the character of the gain.
 
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I just got a treble booster and I’m loving it. I’ve got a buxom boost that’s the closest to transparent that I’ve tried. It’s subtle and feels like the amp as much as a pedal can. I add and subtract a few frequencies but really try and keep the feel intact when going to leads.

The Greer moon shot definitely isn’t transparent but does that musical germanium thing real well. I set it with mostly treble side and hit a pretty gained up Marshall or similar and it sounds glorious. It adds harmonics and such without smearing everything. I wouldn’t use it for tight metal but it holds things together pretty well.

I think treble boosters get overlooked but imho they have there place even when boosting modded Marshall tones.
 
The best boost I've found has been the Boss GE-7.

I always minimize the drive control on any "overdrive" pedal I use anyway, so this just means I have a "boost" and "bass cut" pedal that lets me dial in exactly the amount of low end I want to cut out of my sound. It's kind of perfect. I can always cut bass exactly to the point that it doesn't saturate the preamp tubes and mush up the detail, but not so much that the sound thins out and loses its punch.
 
psychodave said:
It depends on what I’m looking for. I typically don’t need to boost high gain amps, but it is fun using something out front to change up the amps dynamics.

Believe it or not, my main amp these days is a 1986 Randall RG100ES. I slap a VFE Standout out front with a noise gate and it is insane. Cheap shitty amp that can keep up with amps costing 10X as much.

I own a lot of boosts/distortion pedals… likely 15+. 🤦‍♂️
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The hindsight endgame.
 
I'm currently working on the next episode with my Orange Rockerverb 50 MKIII and a baritone guitar. It's turning out to be very interesting indeed.... I'll post it here when it's done. Hopefully early next week!
 
Hey everyone! Here's a new episode! This one focuses on the Orange Rockerverb 50 MKIII and the Laney BCC Steelpark boost pedal. I used a PRS SE Mike Mushok Baritone this time. Sounds AWESOME!

 
What I find is that some banging tunes are really not as high gain as you might think they are. That not only do they not require a boost, but don't even need the gain turned up that much. A good example is some 80s Heavy Metal and even how you get away with hitting those tones on a Plexi. Some gear isn't really high gain, despite sort of having that vibe. The JCM800 is an example in action. Many people are very surprised to find that the JCM800 is not a high gain amp but is a fairly moderate amp that when dialed heavily up or cranked produces a distortion that sounds just great. That putting a boost in front gives you another tonal possibility to add to that. You can also boost a Plexi into very similar sounding high gain tones. So boosts back then were used to help push moderate amps into the high-gain territory.

High-gain amps IMO will have a channel that does not need boosting. That is my definition of a high-gain amp but it can differ for others. It doesn't mean you can't boost that channel, it just means you don't have to boost it to achieve a boosted sounding tone. What I do like about some high-gain amps is that they can have more than one channel. So you avoid boosting the high-gain channel, but you can introduce a boost to other channels with lesser gain. A good example is the blue channel on the EVH 5150. If you introduce a Maxon 808 to that channel, you can end up with a new channel of sound somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd channels. So boosts, IMO, still have their place with some high gain amps. Still, if I buy a high-gain amp I expect to be able to plug that head into a cab and off I go, no pedals needed to sound overdriven. That for me qualifies as the high-gain amp.
 
Here's a new one with the Marshall DSL50 and 2 boost pedals; the Maxon OD808 and the Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive:

 
Here's a new episode! This time with the Friedman JJ JR! It's a bit subtle this time but still substantial enough to warrant a boost imho. Check it out:

 
Hey all,

Here's a new episode with the Mesa Boogie Mini Rectifier:

 
Here's a new one with the Marshall DSL20HR and Boss SD-1. Both affordable:

 
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