A NEW transparent Booster? (With pic)

[ShredCow]

http://www.bargeconcepts.com/db1.html

The Barge Concepts DB-2 just popped in my mail today.

Yes folks, ANOTHER booster.

This one is pretty low on the bells & whistles. It promises to be a FLAT frequency response booster, basically just a volume boost.

So whats so good?

1) Its got an efx loop, with TWO boosts, 1 pre-efx loop and 1 post-efx loop.

2) It costs 99USD WITH International Shipping

3) Its very TRANSPARENT

4) Extremely well made interior!

Point (1) is very cool... you basically get to plonk your fave od/dist into the efx loop, then you can boost its gain, very transparent like upping the gain knob on the od/dist pedal, AND you can boost the volume of the od/dist pedal!

Point (2) borders on being almost ridiculous. Its like SGD150, the price of... is it close to the MXR Microamp?

Point (3) is KEY! Although its an OP-AMP design, I'm hard pressed to hear a mid-hump or a transistorish tone (prevalent on op-amp dirt pedals) WHEN used as a booster*. There is no compression I can hear, a major plus. There is a slight bass boost though, very slight. Very quiet, no hissing unless you start trying to experiment with feedback and noise when you start cranking it to its full 54dB boost potential.

*Note: If you use the DB-2 as a distortion pedal... YUCK. Sounds like some...transistor radio crackling and stuff...

Point (4), well... you gotta open up pedals lah when you get them... esp if its some booteek thing, I want my insides to look neat, clean and well soldered. This DB-2 passes with flying colours. I mean, SERIOUSLY, the insides are VERY neatly done!

In a nutshell, its just... a transparent booster thing... doesn't add compression when boosting, most excellent. Doesn't fatten up tone but does add a slight touch of bass. Pretty neat lah... if anyone is looking for a clean, flat boost, this might be it.


BAD PIC OF INSIDES

 

[strats]

*cough*clips*cough*

 

[gsonique]

Re: A NEW transparent Booster?

Point (4), well... you gotta open up pedals lah when you get them... esp if its some booteek thing, I want my insides to look neat, clean and well soldered. This DB-2 passes with flying colours. I mean, SERIOUSLY, the insides are VERY neatly done!

mmmm ...boootek ...neat ?
btw thanks for the review... i didn't know abt this one..

 

[sanXp]

*cough*pics*cough*

 

[strats]

and pics of the inside too! I'm going to experimen with my own A/B boxes soon, maybe even do a booster of sorts.

 

[ShredCow]

Clips? Well... its... a transparent clean boost, what do you expect?


Pics will have to wait... but seriously, its a beauty. Gimme tmr or so.

 

[edder]

opamp boosters also can be made clean and transparent what...

those Hifi preamps etc mostly also runs on opamps.

a decent quality opamp with a decent design WILL be transparent.

TOO MUCH MOJO about transistors and tubes... too much....

 

[ShredCow]

a decent quality opamp with a decent design WILL be transparent.

Doesn't happen with Boss pedals.

I agree with you nonetheless, and I think the DB-2 is a decent, if not better, design. Of course, only going by my ears, so a tech might discover something different.

 

[edder]

a decent quality opamp with a decent design WILL be transparent.

Doesn't happen with Boss pedals.

I agree with you nonetheless, and I think the DB-2 is a decent, if not better, design. Of course, only going by my ears, so a tech might discover something different.

hahaha... but but...

Boss pedals uses transistors for switching...

so...

transistors = transparent

boss bypass using transistors = transparent!

hahaha...

ok lah... just joking lah.... BREAK A LEG!!! :lol: :lol:

 

[ShredCow]

edder, out of curiousity, whats your take on transistors versus op-amps in terms of this transparency issue? As in, tell me more, than just "TOO MUCH MOJO about transistors and tubes"...

 

[gsonique]

depending on the Hfe of a transistor , when boosted for higher Hfe=brighter.
But opamps kinda fattens up by giving more mids i believe ...people dig that as we can see all that talk abt the green pedal a certain klon 8O
But we need both as tranny or opamp has its own purpose ya.
:idea: It will be nice having both types in one pedal :idea:
This issue has been beaten to bits at varoiuas amp forums ...do a search and read all abt it.

Boss pedals can be made transparent ...all it needs tricks baby...tricks.
spend time reading and tweaking and you got your diy boooteeek. 8)

 

[edder]

edder, out of curiousity, whats your take on transistors versus op-amps in terms of this transparency issue? As in, tell me more, than just "TOO MUCH MOJO about transistors and tubes"...

to be honest if you ask me... whats my take... my take is NO take.

I don't really care if its transistor or if its opamp. As long as it does the job and gives me the sound that I want, I'll use it.

Transistors based booster are simpler.

1 Transistor, 3 resistors, 2 caps equals one booster.

Opamps however are more complicated.

You'd need a bit more components to make the opamp work due to the +/- power rail.

There are 1001 transistors and 1001 opamps to choose from. The cook decides on the ingredients. Sri Lankan or Pulau Ubin Crabs? Argentina or Australian lobster? Sembawang or Lau Pa Sat Satay?

The key here is, whatever works for the player WORKS. Tone lies in the ears of the beholder.

And also the definition of transparent differs from player to player.
Some hear a slightly boosted upper highs and calls it transparent cos it makes his dark sounding guitar sparkly.
Some hear a slightly narrow band dipped midrange and call it transparent cos it clears up the mud from the guitar.

Thats why I keep it short and sweet... TOO MUCH MOJOOOOOOOO.....

 

[ShredCow]

Thanks for the heads up... very interesting...

Protone's March II (version 1) was a single tranny booster design... yuck.

You are right about the "Transparent" term, i better explain mine for the sake of the above review...
My "transparent" = no eq shifts whatsoever... you hear your guitar as it is thru the efx. (e.g. Blackstone) ... so i think the above DB-2 is transparent, though i think there is a slight bass boost.

 

[snuffleupagus]

so if theres a slight bass boost that means its only slightly transparent ah...so which is the most transparent of them all......superchillipiscoso?i may be interested in one soon

 

[ShredCow]

The SCP isn't transparent...
The SHO isn't transparent...
I don't expect my incoming KGB to transparent...

That Protones March II booster, its transparent but it breaks up way too early for any use as a clean boost.

The MXR Microamp has a slight fattening effect... and, if memory serves me correctly, it introduces some compression... talking about the current models.

RC booster... well.. fattens somewhat.

The DB-2, has just this slight bass boost...

I dunno what else is there... gotta go buy somemore and try.

 

[edder]

thats why there are soooo many booster in the market now. Some story telling time.

EH made a simple LPB booster which was a basic 1 silicon transistor circuit and the schematic can be obtained from transistor datasheets.

Pharoah amps remade the LPB booster and used a better transistor, prolly tweaked the circuit and it was a hit with quite a fair number of players.

Fulltone's Fat Boost was a modded version of Jack Orman's (AMZ) mu-amp Minibooster that he adapted from the datasheets and made it freely available to all the diy'ers worldwide. Its true that he did not created that circuit but he dug it out from the forgotten datasheets and modify it till it works well for guitars, published step to step details on how to build it and provided support for builders online and got ripped off in the end.

AFAIK who had build the minibooster liked it a lot.

 

[ShredCow]

That AMZ booster design seems to be very popular...

There are a lot of boosters out there, but those who claim to be transparent usually aren't, in 1 way or another, in varying levels...

 

[edder]

so if theres a slight bass boost that means its only slightly transparent ah...so which is the most transparent of them all......superchillipiscoso?i may be interested in one soon

super chili picoso uses mosfets similar to SHO and have very high input impedance.

it makes your guitar sounds HIFI.

some may argue that with this ultra high input impedance, the guitar signal does not lose treble therefore the ORIGINAL treble is intact not loss.

So if the original treble is there... then can I say that the SCP and SHO are transparent cos it just amplifies whatever that injected into the circuit without LOSS?

And those so called transparent booster are actually not so transparent cos it takes out the treble and makes it pleasing?

hahaha.... nevermind me but tone is all in the head....

 

[ShredCow]

Need to a/b the KGB once it comes in...

If its just as good as the SCP/SHO, its a steal @ just 119USD.

 

[theblueark]

Transparency depends on what is before and after the booster.

If what you mean by transparent is getting exactly the same tone, only louder.