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Over the years, increased attention and interest has been given to "boost" pedals, especially by tube amp enthusiasts. At the cornerstone of this interest appears to be an ever increasing demand from purists and non-purists to either emulate or retain their original signal's information going from guitar to amp; or kick or "boost" their signal's response, thereby driving the amp's tubes harder (producing more of an overdriven tube sound). Some players prefer to use boost pedals for an over-the-top solo, fatten or enhance their original tone, or prevent from degrading their original signal that may occur due to guitar cord length, quality, or through a series of male to female jack connections.
The purpose of the following shootout was to compare the effectiveness of select boost pedals. Pedals were selected based upon past experience and other user reviews.
Boost vs Gain
There is a common misconception in the guitar arena regarding what a boost is. Frequently, one finds a user mentioning that they dialed in their TS9, TS808, Fulldrive 2, Klon Centaur, and other similar pedals to a boost setting. Such information is so commonplace that it has become a mainstay in guitar vernacular. This has led to a longstanding misunderstanding that some of the best tone connoisseurs and pedal makers even use. This coining or usage of the word "boost" has muddied or convoluted an already subjective area of tone. Some pedal makers have even used boost to describe a second channel of their overdrive pedal giving way to yet another usage. However, when paired with an already overdriven signal this usage of the term "boost" gives added meaning within the context of a two-channel overdrive pedal that may be difficult to describe otherwise.
Since "gain" is more fitting description of a desired amount of drive or non-clean boost added to the signal, it seems more appropriate that gain or drive should be used when discussing overdrive, distortion and fuzz-related uses or effects. Other pedal makers have correctly stated that their boost pedal is "not a distortion unit or box" or "it will fatten your tone, boost your signal and overdrive the amplifier with natural amp distortion."
Equipment Used
Guitars. PRS CE22 with Seymour Duncan Custom Shop humbucker (medium output) and Warmoth Custom Strat swamp ash body, Seymour Duncan Custom Shop stacked pickups, vintage-style tremolo bridge.
Signal Chain
PRS or Warmoth Custom strat >15' George L Vintage Red cable > boost pedals (series) > 4" - 1' of George L cable connecting each pedal > 15' George L Vintage Red cable > Bogner Shiva (EL34, without reverb) > Marshall 1975 original G12H30 Celestion equipped 4 x 12 cabinet. Power for all pedals except the Super Duper 2-in-1 (battery operated) was supplied by Voodoo Labs Pedal Power.
Pedals Tested
Nick Greer Exp. Designs/No Work Productions Sonic Boom (#83), (2) Zvex Super Duper 2 in 1 (9-24-01, S/N 034), (3) Sweet Sound Booster (11-22-01 signed by Bob Sweet), (4) Fulltone Fat-Boost (9/00, #066), (5) Prescription Electronics Germ (orange, not dated, no S/N).
Features
Nick Greer Exp. Designs/No Work Productions Sonic Boom (SB; $115) has one volume control knob and footswitch (Carling) without a LED. Power is supplied through a 9V battery or D.C. jack.
Z-Vex's Super Duper
2-in-1 (SD; $275) has two channels that are blendable and have 2 LEDs, and three control knobs. The yellow LED is controlled via the right footswitch and far right volume control knob which gives one the standard operation of a SHO ($155) pedal. The red LED is controlled by the left footswitch and far right volume control knob is connected to a master volume control knob (middle knob) which has a master volume (the middle knob). The Master control is operable when either channel 2 is engaged or both channel 1 and 2 are engaged. The two channels are cascaded. With the Master control fully CW, channel 2 is identical to channel 1, giving two identical SHO's in one unit with a master volume control. Like the SHO, its volume controls re-adjust internal bias and gain simultaneously, resulting in a slight crackling noise as the knob is turned. The SD is capable of unity to 3600x boost. The SD is a 9V battery operated unit (a power plate can be used for an added cost that works with any type of D.C. power system). The whole pedal draws a current of 3mA total with both channels fully open allowing a battery to last an extended period of time before replacement.
The Sweet Sound Booster
($125) is a transistor class "A" preamp capable of delivering up to 26db boost in signal strength. The Booster has one volume control and footswitch. Power is supplied via a 9V battery or a D.C. jack.
Fulltone's Fat-Boost
(FB; $160) is a Class A FET discrete, circuit design offering up to 20+ db of clean boost. The FB has two control knobs - one each for volume and tone, and an internal trimmer labeled "input gain". The trimmer allows one to adjust the amount of signal being seen by the front of the FB. The FB uses a Fulltone 3PDT footswitch. Fulltone's FB power is supplied via a 9V battery or a D.C. jack.
Prescription Electronics (Rx) Germ
($180) offers two footswitchable non-blendable, mutually exclusive channels in one unit with two LEDs and three control knobs. The Rx Germ was the only unit sporting the capabilities of being used separately as either a clean boost or overdrive unit. The red LED is controlled by the left footswitch and control knob labeled "growth". On the right, the green LED is controlled by the right footswitch and control knob labeled "growth" and a middle knob which serves as a master volume control for the multiply channel. Rx's Germ is powered via a 9V battery or a D.C. jack.
Footswitches
One of the first things to go out in a pedal, as many can attest to, is the footswitch - often, the weak link in the chain. This would appear to be worth some attention especially considering the prices some of these units command.
The SD, like many other pedals using the same Carling footswitches, had footswitch operation problems. Oddly enough, another Z Vex unit this user tested recently which used the same Carling switch, also had footswitch operation problems. One manufacturer stated that ever since Carling moved the production of their footswitches to Mexico (the Z Vex units had Carling Mexico-produced switches), it appeared the quality of their footswitch deteriorated. Geoffrey Teese of Real McCoy Custom wahs believes the move to Mexico was more coincidental and might have more to do with the Carling workforce knowing how to manipulate the proper manufacturing of a switch with the machinery used. When Teese was using the Carlings in his wahs (he is now currently using a switch from CIC), he reported that out of 10 wahs produced he would have 6 replaced before shipping and over time the other wahs with Carlings in them are being replaced one-by-one. Zachary Vex of Z Vex commented, "The tooling they use to make them is getting worn out. Many of us pedal-makers have complained, but it falls on deaf ears at Carlingswitch. They just don't care... They know they have the corner on the market and I've heard they refuse to improve the tooling, which is over 35 [40+] years old. I throw away about 10 per 100 as it is." Yet another pedal-maker commented, "Out of 1000 switches about 50 were dead right out of the box and another 50 failed after a short use. I sent them back and will never buy or recommend them again." This would appear to be a rather high failure rate for switches to encounter at the production stage not to mention failures that occur in the field thereafter. A rather disturbing thought and a frustrating experience when one is on stage in the middle of a performance and the footswitch decides to act up. Recently, this user auditioned a fuzz unit by an upcoming boutique pedal-maker that also used Carling footswitches with operation problems. After reporting the switch problem to the maker, he mentioned that out of 100 fuzz units produced this was the only reported problem. However, for reasons unrelated to reliability, this maker has changed footswitches to one used by many of the other pedal-makers. When contacted via email, Bill Finnegan, designer and builder of the
Klon Centaur, replied, "I can't tell you about anyone else's experience, but I can tell you that I have used the heaviest-duty Carling footswitch, the 316-PP, exclusively for approximately twelve years: four-and-a-half years of prototyping and perfecting the Centaur's circuitry (1990-1994), and seven-and-a-half years of production thus far (1994-2002). I encountered no problems, and replaced no footswitches, during
prototyping (30-some-odd prototypes, hard use by many players), and have replaced two footswitches in 3800+ production units; whatever that works out to be, I consider it a perfectly acceptable failure rate." Some of the manufacturers contacted felt that their other choices for footswitches were of lower quality than the Carling's, leaving them with nothing much else to do or still contend the Carling's are of good quality. There are at least two different lines of Carling footswitches available.
Other pedal makers have been using a Japanese-made switch that was also found to be the same switch used on the Sweet Sound Booster and Rx Germ. The same footswitch was also found to be the same one used on this user's older Fulltone's '69 and Fulldrive 2 from 1998 and 1996, respectively. Another pedal maker overseas commented on the reliability of a different model of footswitch made by the same company, "For the past two years I have been using Japanese made Knitter switches. So far only one person has reported any problems with one of these switches to me (out of about 5000 switches used and sold)." Another pedal maker using this companies switch also echoed similar reliability results using the same footswitch in the Booster and Germ pedals. This same pedal maker commented that he might end up having a footswitch custom built. Joe Gagen of Nine Volt Nirvana put it this way, "Having a special switch made is simply out of the realm of financial feasibility. The subject has been discussed at length amongst hobbyists and manufacturers. Among the makers who actually use a true bypass arrangement, there is a select group willing to spend the necessary price for a good quality switch. This translates to a tiny market in an industry where the average order to have an electronic part manufactured is in the hundreds of thousands or millions." However, a barely audible popping sound can be heard from pedals using this switch, even after pressing down several times on the footswitch to allow static discharge. The only other drawback there might be to these switches, if it can be considered one, is their ability to be turned on or off easily. The Japanese-made Knitter true bypass switches are available as SPDT, DPDT, 3PDT, and 4PDT latching or non-latching.
Unity Amp Setting
The table below shows the settings that represent the closest values for matching the amp's original tone for each boost pedal tested compared to a straight unaffected tone. All pedals' volume or level knobs fully CCW positions were identical, allowing accurate comparisons between pedals and their affects on the original signal or tone.
Pedal*
Volume Level
Tone
Input Gain (*pedal images to follow..TF)
Fulltone Fat-Boost
12'clock
Fully CW
9:30
Nick Greer Exp./ NWP
9'clock
NA
NA
Sonic Boom
Z-Vex Super Duper 2-in-1
8:45
NA
NA
Sweet Sound Electronics
Booster
10'clock
NA
NA
Prescription Electronics
Germ
10'clock
NA
NA
The Rx Germ sounded like it coordinated well with the Bogner without damping or affecting the beautiful presence of the amp, but still added a hair to thin out the notes. Upon first engaging the boost channel of the Rx Germ, it seemed to always have a delayed or almost gated response in allowing the signal to get through - this only happened on the first selection during each initial use.
The Sonic Boom (SB) had more depth and definition allowing richer harmonics to shine through. While the unity boost setting closely matched the Bogner's amp settings, the Sonic Boom did add a hint more of "fatness" across the tonal spectrum. What this user found simply amazing was how the SB pedal was able to retain the beautiful presence, sensitivity, harmonics, cabinet thump, and slight treble snap naturally inherent in the Bogner. Bogner users who are looking for a pedal that simply pushes the signal and tubes more while producing a boosted, slightly fatter tone that keeps the natural, organic, tonal qualities of their amp intact need look no further. This pedal actually produced an almost identical feel and tone of the boost feature offered in channel 2 of the Bogner - something this user thought would never run into using any pedal. The SB differed very slightly with the boost of the Bogner in that it shifted the tonal balance to add a tad more of a meaty or thicker texture. Still, the bottom end remained tight throughout. The SB pedal would seem to be preferable to users of amps that possess a higher degree of picking sensitivity and presence, such as a Bogner.
The unity of the SD to original amp tone provided exactly the same tone as the original tone. Simply amazing! Absolutely no difference in tone and the SD did not screw with the tone at all as Steve Kimock has observed.
Fulltone's Fat-Boost (FB) was the noisiest of the boost pedals of the lot tested, being slightly noisier than the SB. Harmonics were slightly affected by the FB pedal in comparison to the original guitar to amp signal using the boost unison to amp signal. Most of the tonal changes from the FB's tone knob came from 12'clock through to fully CCW positions. Before the 12'clock position, the tone shaping was found to be very subtle.
Bottom end
All pedals in the lot had a tight focused bottom end when paired with the Bogner. Using the boost unison to amp signal, none of the pedals tested muddied up the original signal's bottom end. With the SD's volume level beyond 4'clock the unit became too strong for the signal with the bottom end becoming too mushy losing its definition. With the Germ at full volume, the bottom end retained its character while the Booster pedal retained all tonal qualities intact until after the 4'clock volume position. The SB sounded like it was voiced with more depth in the bottom end than the SD. Both units kept the bottom end dead tight in their 4'clock positions and all notes kept their definition at these boost levels. Still, fully CW the Booster sounded full, thick and rich. The bottom end produced by the FB did not quite allow for as much sustain as much as the original bypassed signal. The Booster's inherent slightly darker character did not translate into a muddied signal at its highest setting.
High end
Of the units tested, the Booster pedal was the darker sounding of the lot. This pedal would seem to lend itself nicely to usage in amps with a darker character such as a Marshall - which was this user's boost pedal of choice when paired with a Marshall. The Booster smoothed and rounded out the high end making them sweet (pun intended). The SD in the 4'clock position did not smooth out or attenuate the high end nor was it thin, bright, or brittle in any way. The Germ seemed to add a little high end to the signal.
Usable Boost Levels
In the 4'clock position, the SD was noisier than the Rx Germ at full volume. However, the SD at that point also provided a more powerful boost than available with the Germ.
Sweet Sound's Booster pedal added more of a "umph" to the signal. The Booster was slightly quieter in operation than the SB, but certainly quieter than the FB. This user found Z-Vex's SD to be even quieter than the Booster pedal. The Germ boost channel was as quiet, and perhaps quieter, than the SD.
In terms of decibel readings, Bob Sweet claims the Booster is capable of producing anywhere up to 26 db's of boost. With the Booster at 12'clock position and SB in the same position, the SB provided a little more of a boost to the signal, which audibly appeared to be in the neighborhood of 2 db's. Any audible differences in db boost between the SD, SB and Booster pedals could have been due to certain tonal frequencies favored. The SD and SB db boost levels rivaled each other, with the SD edging out the SB. The SB seemed to provide an almost endless amount of sustain.
One of the nice features of the Germ is the ability to change from either boost or overdrive with the unit bypassed! An unexpected byproduct of this shootout was finding that the Germ had a surprisingly good overdrive channel for a unit that was both a boost and overdrive pedal housed in the same box. The Germ's overdrive channel was voiced very closely to its boost channel making the switch from boost to overdrive barely noticeable. Noting this, I departed from my course of keeping with the boost comparison in mind and decided to compare the overdrive channel of the Germ with a Fulldrive 2 brushed aluminum pedal with comp-cut custom modification. While the Fulldrive 2 was more open in comp-cut mode and the Germ's bottom end was more compressed or congested, the Germ was still less compressed sounding overally than the Fulldrive 2 with the comp-cut bypassed. Nonetheless, the Germ proved to be competitive in the league of overdrive units such as the Fulldrive 2.
Even with the yellow channel of the SD engaged, the master volume control set low and boost level control set fully CW the volume was substantially lower as can be expected from a true master volume designed circuit. With both channels of the SD engaged and boost levels set high things got rather noisy. The SD stayed true to its double SHO master volume design when blending the two channels together throughout.
Clean Up
How well does each unit do when backing off on the guitar's volume knob?
The results proved to be more subjective. Put simply, nothing short of a toss-up. All units seemed to do a good job of "cleaning-up" when lowering the guitar's volume. However, this user seemed to prefer the SD in this area ever so slightly over the other pedals. The Booster was also quite soft to the touch and smooth. The Germ seemed equally on par with the Booster pedal while the FB seemed to attenuate the highs a bit. The SB cleaned up well retaining the presence and sensitivity slightly better than the SD but with a thicker, warmer responsiveness to the touch.
Summary
All of the pedals tested were good and high quality ranging in price from $115 - 279. Only Rx's Germ had a second overdrive channel making it a combined boost and overdrive pedal. The Germ's overdrive channel made it a competitive overdrive unit as well as a good value for those looking to cut down on space.
Nick Greer Exp. Designs' Sonic Boom seemed to be a preferable boost to use with amps that have a heightened sensitivity to picking responsiveness and presence. Sweet Sound's Booster pedal was a likely choice amongst users of Marshall's and other darker sounding amps. Z Vex's Super Duper 2-in-1 was found to be capable of producing a remarkably identical tone to the Bogner while providing a boost to the original signal.
Two of the units used a Carling footswitch - one, experienced operational problems. Based on this user's experience and results from some pedal makers, the Carlings have shown to be questionable in terms of reliability.
Copyright June 2002 by Ken Nossardi. All
rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any
form or incorporated into any information retrieval system without
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