Quote:
Originally Posted by redir
I never did understand boost pedals. Is it also a compressor of sorts too? Or is it the kind of thing you might just use for a solo for example just to raise your presence a bit over the noise but yet still retain your guitar tone? (unlike OD for example)
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It takes whatever is coming in, makes it louder, and sends it on down the line. So, the effect it has changes depending on where you put it. Assuming you play into a clean amp and get your dirt from pedals, you can:
1. Put it at the front of the chain with volume up. This will drive whatever comes after it harder, and tend to smooth out dirt that follows. Good for getting a similar effect to what you get with a compressor in the same spot, though of course electronically they are totally different things. Also a way to get a bit more edge to your clean tone.
2. Put it at the end of your chain, volume up, and it will just make whatever came before louder (although to some degree it will "push" your pre-amp and power amp harder but that's not generally noticeable). This is where folks without an effects loop use it for volume boost with little/no added gain.
3. If you have an effects loop, you can also put it there, with volume up, so it comes after the pre-amp section and adds even less dirt when engaged.
For pedals (like the EP Booster) that have a circuit that adds "something" to the signal over and above volume (usually some pre-defined EQ curve), you can put it anywhere in the chain, set it to unity gain, and it'll just add whatever that "something" is. This how most folks used the Klon back in the day, I believe.
I use a J. Rockett Blue Note (set to quite low gain) basically as described in 1 above.