What's Your Favorite Boost Pedal ?

[PLX]

I've tried :

MXR Distortion+
ProCo RAT
Shaffer Vega Wireless Preamp
Echoplex EP-3 Preamp
Freidman BE-OD
EH Big Muff

all in front of JCM800. My favorite (so far) is the ProCo RAT.

What's another really good one I can try to boosts the front of this amp

[harddriver]

It depends on what tones I'm going for. All of these examples are for an already overdriven Marshall type amps, Plexi Superleads, JCM800's.

Jake E Lee, Lynch, 80's tones: SRB OD808 which also has an asymmetrical clipping switch for SD-1 mode. So it's an Maxon OD808 and SD-1 in one pedal into either a plexi/superlead or JCM800. I've had the Maxon which was good as well but the SRB OD808 was better in almost every instance. You can still find them for sale on Reverb but the one man company has ceased production.

Nuno Tones: ProCo 85 Reissue Rat into a JCM800

EVH tones: EP3 EP PREAMP and MXR 6band EQ or Boss EQ pedal into a Marshall Plexi/Superlead

Modern tight Dime tones: VFE Standout, Furman PQ3 or equivalent into a modded JCM800.

The most flexible boost that can be dialed in with a traditional mid boost or a flatter EQ boost that doesn't really color the tone unless you want it to is the Seymour Duncan 805 which has a full EQ control Bass, Middle Treble controls which I can dial in very close to how my EQ's boost.

[harddriver]

Out of everything you already have I would say either a Maxon OD808 or some type of Boss SD-1.

I would keep an eye out for a Effects Pedals boutique SRB OD808 plus which give you OD808 and SD-1 plus some pedals had 25% more gain than stock and the later ones had twice the gain over stock. I have two of these with the JRC4558D chips in them and they have sent every other OD808 SD-1 pedal packing over the years...they are just well built and sound great built with the best components.

The Maxon OD808 is a very good pedal as well, it was almost as good as my SRB808 plus but since the SRB does both the Maxon I had was redundant. Even though I liked it alot:roll: That was the only reason I sold it.

The Maxon OD808 is symmetrical clipping versus the Boss SD-1 is Asymmetrical clipping. Both sound good depending on what you are looking to do but the clipping is different albeit subtle

Maybe some clone SD-1 pedal that gives to the OD808 and SD-1 clipping on a switch, that way you have a two in one pedal. I recommend the standard JRC4558D chip or the Burr Brown 4558 chip for more fidelity but he JRC4558D is my favorite.

[harddriver]

The Original Metal box Marshall Guv'nor was a cool pedal as well.

[PLX]

I really like the clone of the Clinch EP-Pre I built, especially in the FAT mode (boost mode), but it makes the overall tone too bassy, too much low-end.

I'm talking to Clinch now about a possible mod.

Looking into building a clone of a Maxon 808.

[harddriver]

I really like the clone of the Clinch EP-Pre I built, especially in the FAT mode (boost mode), but it makes the overall tone too bassy, too much low-end.

I'm talking to Clinch now about a possible mod.

Looking into building a clone of a Maxon 808.

Is Peter still around doing pedals? I haven't spoken/emailed him in quite a few years...how is he? He was having some health issues the last time we spoke and he was stepping away from doing pedals to do some retirement travel with his wife. I hope is good... he is a good dude!

What I liked about the reissue Maxon OD808 was that it didn't chop off as much low end as an Ibanez old tubescreamer. Maybe you can add an asymmetrical/symmetrical diode clipping switch so you can have a Maxon OD808 and a SD-1 mode like the SRB pedal that I have. I think that's a pretty common mod people do in the clone world. I hated the LED clipping in that OD-1 clone I had, harsh/harsh/harsh....did I say the LED's were harsh?
I went back to the standard diodes pronto, I guess the LED's was supposed to give it more clarity and headroom but I didn't dig them at all.

The SRB 808plus pedal that I have has more low end(but not too much) than a stock SD-1 but the new reissue Maxon has about the same low end as the SRB. The SRB actually has a three clipping asymmetrical/no diodes/symmetrical and it has a fat switch mostly for strats, I never use the fat switch I find it can be tubby but with a strat with single coils it probably works ok.

I describe the differences between the Maxon OD808 and the Boss SD-1 as follows:

Maxon OD808/ Ibanez tubescreamer: Lynch tones
Boss SD-1: Jake E Lee tones

[PLX]

He has a new version of the EP-Pre called the EP+

The guy I buy clone pedal circuit boards from has a clone of the Maxon 808. He showed me the mods to make it either a Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive, the Fulltone Fulldrive, SRB-808 or the Lovepedal Eternity.

I forgot that my EP-Pre is a clone, and it has some mods that the Clinch EP-Pre does not have - namely the FAT switch, which engages the boost that I mainly run the pedal with.

That is what's adding a lot of unwanted low end.

I figured it out though.. I just added the API-550 EQ into my DAW signal chain and did a little "cut & boost" and that fixed it to my satisfaction.

[harddriver]

He has a new version of the EP-Pre called the EP+

The guy I buy clone pedal circuit boards from has a clone of the Maxon 808. He showed me the mods to make it either a Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive, the Fulltone Fulldrive, SRB-808 or the Lovepedal Eternity.

I forgot that my EP-Pre is a clone, and it has some mods that the Clinch EP-Pre does not have - namely the FAT switch, which engages the boost that I mainly run the pedal with.

That is what adding a lot of low end.

I figured it out though.. I just added the API-550 EQ into my DAW signal chain and did a little "cut & boost" and that fixed it to my satisfaction.

If he has a schematic of the SRB 808plus that is the one I would recommend for sure. I love my first original one I got around 2009 or so. It has 25% more gain over stock, nice lowend but not too much, three way clipping and a fat switch. I did pick up another off of Reverb that was listed as just like mine but it ended up being the twice the gain over a stock 808 which I don't care for as it's too much so I run it accordingly and it seems to have just a smidge less low end than my original one that ordered directly from SRB. My brother bought a Doug Aldrich Rocket fuel and the SRB kicked the living shit out of it and an XTS Atomic OD.

Can't you bypass the fat mod on you EP-PRE? Is it not on a switch?

[PLX]

Can't you bypass the fat mod on you EP-PRE? Is it not on a switch?

Yes, it has two other positions, but they make it sound just like the Badgerplex AC Ep-pre - in other words, you get the tone colorization but without any boost.

I mainly use it with the boost engaged because you get the color/sparkle and the very mild transistor boost circuit.

[harddriver]

Can't you bypass the fat mod on you EP-PRE? Is it not on a switch?

Yes, it has two other positions, but they make it sound just like the Badgerplex AC Ep-pre - in other words, you get the tone colorization but without any boost.

I mainly use it with the boost engaged because you get the color/sparkle and the very mild transistor boost circuit.

I always found my EP-PRE's sounds better and more composed when either at or just barely above unity gain and then use the Boss or MXR EQ pedal to boost maybe 5/6DB with a kinda of flatter mids EQ curve while cutting the lows and some extreme highs seems to do a better Ed than 9-18DB of 800hz like you see in the tour pics.

The EP3 circuit wasn't designed to really boost alot IMHO, I always pretty much use them as if they were an actual EP3 echoplex mainly for the phase coloring of the tone. I think people got carried away with making it some kind of supreme boost pedal.

I'd like to hear that same clip set without the fat boost on. It's really emphasizing the low end and it's not really Ed like I think it's affecting the tone of the amp in a negative way even though you feel you are getting extra boost from it. I'd add an EQ pedal to the mix and see what you get. Actually that FW pickup is fat enough and the fat boost is only making things worse in the tubby zone. If you cut some lows and ran a flat mids slight boost EQ pedal in front of the amp you might find that serves you better than using the fat boost on the EP3 pedal....