Off Topic Boost/Overdrive

[musikarero]

I'm looking for a very open and transparent boost/overdrive pedal. I would like to stay away from pedals that would color my amps tone. Would the pedals below fit the bill.....thanks!

Mojo Hand Mule
Bad Bob Boost
Lovepedal Amp 50
Hao Rust Driver

 

[azazael]

i wanna try out the bb preamp and the suhr riot.

 

[wolfbone07]

Barber Launch Pad.

 

[Progdude]

Ive owned dozens of overdrive/distortions over the years and at the moment these are my favorite........


1. BB Preamp. great for any style. Not as mid heavy as the TS9. Reacts to picking very well. Lo/Hi controls for extra full sounding tones. More of a "6v6" sound than an EL34 sound.
2. Coffin Case Blood Drive- (actually made by MXR) Really nice warm full sounding overdrive/distortion. Doesnt color your tone at all! Really good for rock or metal.
3. MXR Distortion III- Nice TS copy with True Bypass and a touch more gain. Colors tone a bit. Kinda hard to really hear the Quack from the single coil in my Silo. But not bad.
4. MXR Classic Distortion- Ever so slightly lower gain than the Dist III and just a bit more scooped sounding. Very clear sounding. Doesnt color tone at all.
5. TS-9 great for lead tones.
6. Boss SD-1 bit more gain than the TS9.
7. Blackstar HT Drive. Amazing Tube driven pedal that does NOT sound like a pedal at all nor does it need a pedal to boost its sustain.
8. Blackstar HT-Dual 2 channel overdrive/distortion that totally kicks ass. I can get pretty much any sound I want out of it with minimal tweeking.
9. Marshall Blues Breaker II- Good for a clean boost. Thats about it.
10. Danelectro OD 2- smooth overdrive with Lo/Hi controls for extra full sounding tones.
11. MXR Custom Shop Overdrive- This one is actually the MXR ZW44 (Zakk Wylde Overdrive in a different housing). The only tonal difference is that there is a switch inside that cuts a bit of the mids and ups the gain ever so slightly to make it the ZW44. With the switch the other way its more organic and less gainy with a nice sustain.
12. Danelectro Transparent OD- Fuzzy sounding and un inspiring. But cheap! Like $20.00!

Maybe YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. some of the ones I mentioned and see if one strikes your interest. Good Luck!

 

[ScoobySteve]

I use a Keeley modded TS-9.

Absolutely love it.

 

[RobW]

+1 for bb preamp

 

[kimonostereo]

The best transparent boost that I leave on all of the time: Xotic EP-Boost:
EP Booster

FET boosts make just about everything sound better.

 

[dwells]

bb pre amp for sure smokes!!!

 

[guertzi]

You may want to check out this one:

RC Booster

Very clean, very transparent, very musical! I love mine!

Rock on!

 

[GoD_X]

Like said before if its a boost/overdrive Suhr koko boost, Suhr Shiba, BB Preamp, RC Booster, EP-Boost

 

[JasonL]

From you list, the Bad Bob would probably do what you want. The EP Booster has been mentioned - pretty cool pedal, but probably not totally transparent. Check out the Lizard Leg Flying Dragon as well.

 

[JMB27]

For o/d tones I like BB Preamp

For boosting, I really dig both the Flying Dragon and the Draconis from Lizard Leg Effects - your sound, just more. Great pedals. I like 'em alot. Just ask Steve @ Lizard Leg (and a buncha the fellas over at the Dr Z forum) how much I dig 'em

cheers always, eh

Joel

 

[nobozos]

Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster. It doesn't color your tone at all. It's designed to boost your pickups output only, while preserving the tone.

 

[beej]

I'd say if you want transparent you're looking more at a clean boost. A la RC Booster. The Naked OD by Tone Freak is excellent too.

If you want more colour, lots of options in the Tube Screamer camp ... Shiba, BB Preamp (it's great, but not transparent), there are a million of them. (I personally like the Tone Freak Abunai.)

azazael mentioned the Riot ... that thing is a gain channel in a pedal, probably the best pedal I've played. Not transparent, but would give your clean amp a 2nd channel (which is what I use it for).

So much depends on your amp and how it's voiced.

 

[Jonny Dubai]

I am fan of the hardwire series by digitech. Tube overdrive is my pedal of choice at the moment. TS 808 then flick the switch for a nodded TS9 type sound.


J

 

[HCB]

I like the RC Booster and the EP looks good but I have no experience with it.

Also I like the timmy .

 

[FLgearnut]

how come nobody has mentioned the Maxon OD808 as a good transparent boost?

I use one along w/ my Splawn Nitro w/ the gain set at approx. 1 o' clock. I crank the balance to 10 and have the overdrive knob at zero and with that setting I get a very saturated heavy gain tone that isnt overly gainy and has plenty of chunk and definition for modern heavy music. Ive A/B'd the pedal on and off and it doesnt color my sound at all. Just seems to add extra "oomph" underneath the tone. Subtle but def. noticeable.

 

[guitfiddle]

I like the Boost channel on my Fulltone GT-500 (I think that channel is available as a standalone pedal) for a transparent boost. I really like the RC Booster and leave it on almost all of the time to drive the amp input a bit more, but it does color the tone slightly (but in a very nice way - it improves the tone IMO).

 

[Spudmurphy]

Seymour Duncan Pick up booster?

 

[kimonostereo]

I also like my BYOC Overdrive II with the mosfet boost. I'm planning on building a BB clone as well but dunno when I'll have time to do it.