Loudest boost pedal that doesn't need to go in the loop?

geetarmikey

Active member
I'm back to a valve amp after years using modelers and I'm looking to kick in the classic "bit more gain and a big volume boost" using my Boogie MK4 25W head on the rhythm channel with a good amount of gain.

Not been paying attention to the most popular pedals for the job, but I've hear the TC mini Spark is a good one? Not looking for anything that needs to go in the loop at the moment and I just like the sound of a boosted pre amp section.

Thanks!

Mike
 
You might want to look at an EQ if you’re wanting to stand clear in the mix with a pedal up front. Dropping the low end and increasing higher mids will help.
 
Yeah, anything you put in front of an overdriven amp will mostly add gain and not much (if any) volume, no matter what pedal it is. You'll need to clean up the Boogie to have enough headroom to add volume before the preamp.
 
More clean headroom is a type of answer. That way you just increase volume.

Volume on a pedal will only match the amp volume but you can increase the gain with a pedal. Once an amp is volume and gain saturated it usually drowns out any distortion pedal anyway or just becomes muddy.

Clean boost adds a layer of flat EQ gain to your volume. All you can do is lower the volume or up the gain. Also tone control.
 
I mean really there are no rules and anything that sounds good is good. That said, no boost pedals go in the loop. All boost pedals go straight into the amp.

If you just want a switchable pure volume boost, a better practice is to turn your amp up to what you’d consider “boosted” volume, then put something in the loop, like a volume or EQ pedal, to turn the volume slightly down to “non boosted” levels the rest of the time.
 
what you'd need is a dual boost pedal with separate inputs/outputs. one to go in the front of the amp for that bit more gain and 2nd one goes in the loop for that volume boost.

If you cant find anything on the market, then reach out to Guillaume at Guptech and see if he can build you something custom type pedal. Great guy to deal with and prices are very fair. he built me a noise gate, boost and delay all in one pedal with all their own separate controls and Inputs/outputs for under $400 canadian.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Cheers
 
Have this pedal too. Not a crazy amount of db, but really keep the tone of the guitar untouched and natural.
Fave pedal for clean boost - in the fkn universe - mind I have the Mk.4:23Pro 48V - it's soooooooooooo awesome at what it does. Hard to explain how it does what it does, but jesus it's awesome. Yes, it's just a "clean" dB boost, but it takes "all that is good" with your tone and "amplifies" it along with the volume boost.

Seriously a magical pedal. Mine's a lifer.
 
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