Boosting an overdrive pedal

chrishill901

So basically I have a tone I absolutely love, I just want a bit more. I'm currently playing though a Marshall SL-5 on the overdrive channel set to light crunch, with a Boss BD-2 boosting it, level 2/3rds, gain 1/3rd. Its a great classic rock tone, that kind of tone that just makes you wanna play for days. With my strat it gives me a killer blues tone that I can control with the volume pot on the guitar. I don't want to change any setting I currently have because i love these tones!

I fancy just a bit more gain and saturation, for solos and heavier stuff. I don't want a volume boost, I simply want my exact sound and with more gain. I have obviously turned the gain up on the BD2 but I don't like what it does to the sound, I don't think the gain is that good on the pedal. I have turned the gain up on the amp and it sounds great but I want to be able to switch it in and out; with the gain higher on the amp it doesn't clean up as well and when I'm playing blues on my strat I don't want that extra gain. I want to set and forget on my amp and use pedals to achieve different sounds.

Is there a way to achieve this? Should i be putting a boost pedal BEFORE the BD2? Presumably most will colour my tone; is there anything out there that will deliver a totally transparent boost that will just give me more than i've got? Would something like a Seymour Duncan pickup booster do the trick? Will putting a boost after the Boss work or will that change the volume of it all?

gearaddict

Well, my weapon of choice for this would either be the Danelectro Transparent Overdrive (v1 if available) or the MXR micro amp...to my ears they add more gain and fatten up the tone a bit without making it different in character.

Lots of (probably better) suggestions will no doubt follow below

Sassafras

gearaddict said:

Well, my weapon of choice for this would either be the Danelectro Transparent Overdrive (v1 if available) or the MXR micro amp...to my ears they add more gain and fatten up the tone a bit without making it different in character.

Lots of (probably better) suggestions will no doubt follow below

Usually along the lines of "you need a Helix".

not_the_dj

I use a TC Spark Mini before my ThorpyFX Gunshot. Works great for me to give me two levels of gain. I then have an EQ pedal at the end of the chain to kick in for solos. 

Maynehead

I have an EHX Soul Food boosting my Xotic SL Drive. Works really well and doesn't change the tone of the SL Drive, just makes it more gainy and heavier.

JDE

Any regular clean boost before your Blues Driver will do it. 

smudge_lad

If you don't like the increased gain on the BD-2, then I don't think you'd want to add a boost BEFORE the BD-2, as the outcome of this setup will likely give you the same tone/added gain that you don't like.

I'd suggest a transparent overdrive pedal, such as a Timmy or the Cool Cat TOD as mentioned above, and placing it after the BD-2 but before the Marshall. That way the added pedal can increase the gain and saturation of your BD-2 tone and at the same time, push the Marshall into the tone that you said you like.

A boost pedal like the full size Spark may work, as this is kinda in the same vein as the transparent OD pedals, as opposed to maybe a more standard type of boost pedal like the EP Booster or Super Hard-On from Zvex. These don't have the same options of EQ and separate gain/volume controls which would limit the amount of control you'd have over the overall tone/volume

JDE

If he just wants the same tone but with more gain, boosting the BD2 is the only way to do it. If you put an OD after it, it's going to change the tone. Boosting a drive pedal isn't the same as turning up the gain on said drive pedal. 

Sassafras

Try a compressor into the OD set to high volume, low compression.

smudge_lad

JDE said:

If he just wants the same tone but with more gain, boosting the BD2 is the only way to do it. If you put an OD after it, it's going to change the tone. Boosting a drive pedal isn't the same as turning up the gain on said drive pedal. 

Not if it's one of the transparent overdrive it's won't - they just add flat gain, don't they?

If the OP adds a boost before the BD-2, isn't that just going to be the same as turning up the gain on the BD-2, which he's already said he doesn't like the sound of?

chrishill901

smudge_lad said:

JDE said:

If he just wants the same tone but with more gain, boosting the BD2 is the only way to do it. If you put an OD after it, it's going to change the tone. Boosting a drive pedal isn't the same as turning up the gain on said drive pedal. 

Not if it's one of the transparent overdrive it's won't - they just add flat gain, don't they?

If the OP adds a boost before the BD-2, isn't that just going to be the same as turning up the gain on the BD-2, which he's already said he doesn't like the sound of?

Surely not? Surely putting it before the BD-2 simply boosts the signal that the BD-2 is working with... the BD-2's internal gain is a different beast entirely?

I will have to look into the suggestions, many thanks for all of the input. It is looking like a Spark Mini is certainly the cheapest option!

ICBM

Put an SD-1 before the BD-2. This works *really* well - you need to set the SD-1 so it gives a more dirt rather than more volume.

You don't actually want a transparent boost because that will have much the same effect as turning up the gain on the BD-2 - you want something that adds more dirt, boosts the mids a little and cuts bass and top-end, which will (counterintuitively I know) sound more like 'more of the same'… which is exactly what the SD-1 does.

If you think the SD-1 may be too 'fuzzy', try an OD-3 instead - it's a bit closer to a transparent overdrive.

smudge_lad

chrishill901 said:

smudge_lad said:

JDE said:

If he just wants the same tone but with more gain, boosting the BD2 is the only way to do it. If you put an OD after it, it's going to change the tone. Boosting a drive pedal isn't the same as turning up the gain on said drive pedal. 

Not if it's one of the transparent overdrive it's won't - they just add flat gain, don't they?

If the OP adds a boost before the BD-2, isn't that just going to be the same as turning up the gain on the BD-2, which he's already said he doesn't like the sound of?

Surely not? Surely putting it before the BD-2 simply boosts the signal that the BD-2 is working with... the BD-2's internal gain is a different beast entirely?

I will have to look into the suggestions, many thanks for all of the input. It is looking like a Spark Mini is certainly the cheapest option!

I never really thought about it working this way, although I do now see what's being suggested here.

If that's the case though, can't the same be said for the gain on the Marshall? You said that turning the Marshall gain up sounded great, so turning this back down and then sending a boosted BD-2 signal into the Marshall, will sound different again surely?

Don't get me wrong - I do totally understand the fundamental basics of why a boost/OD is put in the chain before another pedal to get more saturation without a volume boost - I've got enough bloody OD pedals lying around un-used that have accrued many wasted hours of my life, in the never ending quest for tone.

mburekenge

Cannot recommend the Xotic RC booster highly enough. It is amazing 

mike_l

I'd use a Boss SD-1, turn the gain right down, and the volume right up, so the BD is getting a bigger signal into the front of it. 

Sassafras

I've yet to find a drive pedal that can't be improved by putting a treble booster through it.

crunchman

mburekenge said:

Cannot recommend the Xotic RC booster highly enough. It is amazing 

Very good pedal.

MXT Microamp is good in front of drive pedals.  They used to be "half assed bypass" though and suck tone.  Not sure if the newer ones are like that.  I've got a clone on my board that I built myself that is bypassed properly.

TS type pedals are good in front of other drives as well.  You can pick up the Behringer clone for peanuts.

paulphoenix

"More" pedals (to me at least)  = Timmy and the good old (oft maligned) Klon/Klone/Klonish/Klonlike/Klonesque/Klonoid pedal 

My Klone works wonders pushing the OD and distortion pedals after it, as well as pushing the amp on it's own.

hubobulous

Koko boost before the OD will give you 2 options. A clean boost to add 'more', or a mid boost for solos.

Brocco

Maybe worth taking a look at this Robben Ford video on the virtues of the Vertex Clean Boost

Brocco