Clean boost or overdrive pedal?

[IbanezFreak]

I'm looking to get both these two pedals in the future...its just which i'll get this year and which next year. The clean boost seems to add more gain (it just drives a tube amp harder, thus giving more grit?) when its clicked on, which is also what an overdrive does?

Actually my problem is, i'm not sure whether i should even bother getting the clean boost. I won't be playing live and won't need a pedal to kick in solos or anything...so in terms of importance, i should get the OD pedal instead?

Oh and has anyone tried the wampler clean buffer, tesla pickup booster? Anyone gotten any Joyo pedals before? Any opinions?

Thanks!

 

[EugeneSmasher]

An OD pedal can act as a boost pedal, too, though of course it boosts the gain far more than a clean boost does.

 

[subversion]

be mindful that gain does not equal distortion/ drive. a clean boost adds gain, not drive/ distortion.

 

[IbanezFreak]

and gain is volume/ signal right?

 

[wck]

get an overdrive that can do clean boost? like the flexdrive by rockett pedals. it can do anything from fuzz to med gain distortion to od to clean boost.

 

[Jumpin'Jellybean]

and gain is volume/ signal right?

Check out Lizard Leg's Flying Dragon pedal. That is what a clean boost does.

 

[IbanezFreak]

yeah...so it boosts an already overdriven signal or a clean signal...

So if i stack a clean boost with a distortion pedal, it only boosts the already distorted signal...

And if i stack an OD to the distortion, it only adds more grit the the signal... am i right?

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

be it adding grit or clean boosting, it is still boosting.

Adding any gain pedal before another and activating both pedal, you will be using the output of the first gain pedal as the input signal to the 2nd gain pedal.

What the 2nd gain pedal is receiving, is already a signal thats already been processed with added gain(from first pedal).

Only thing different will be the output, aka the quality of sound, according to the amount of gain, from the 1st pedal, to the 2nd one.

Some wanna clean boost, coz dont want to change much of the sound they already have. They just want to make it louder, more presence etc.

With overdrive pedal to boost, other then the gain, will have to take into consideration, the voicing(tonestack/eq), inherent characteristic of the pedal itself. One example is using a tube screamer as boost. Some dont like it, coz by itself, it already has that mid heavy characteristic, if the 2nd pedal or amp by itself, also have similar voicing in the same frequency region(as the tube screamer), it will sound too honky or muddy for some.

 

[IbanezFreak]

do any of you guys out there have all 3 clean boost, OD and distortion?

 

[subversion]

we can use any pedal as a stand-alone unit or acting as a booster function, regardless of the nature of the pedal- it's a matter of what we want it to work as. more often than not, we see the milder drive/ distortion pedal acting as a booster unit because it is common embrace to employ a mild unit to add just that little bit more kick to achieve a desired saturation. this is why Ibanez's Tubescreamer (drive) & BOSS' DS-1 (disotrtion) are proverbial standards in this light.

i own the Marshall Bluesbreaker II pedal for its versatility in view of its offering as a clean booster (absolutely no distortion involved) or a distortion-based pedal which isn't too intense, just right for an add-on function.

 

[zesn]

then the Xotic AC booster or BB preamp is indirectly a clean boost? Or a boost that colours some of the original tone.

 

[theblueark]

All circuits have a peak where it cannot take in any more signal and what comes out will be distortion.

Clean boosts attempt to make the signal louder without hitting the limit.

Overdrives attempt to hit the limit in a nice way, so the peaks of the signals are clipped off:

Distortions attempt to push way past the limit.


So in the end it's all about how much you are pushing the limit. There are times where you can reduce the gain on an overdrive effect so much that it doesn't push much pass the limit and comes off as a clean boost.

Stacking guitar -> clean boost -> overdrive -> amp
means you'll be pushing more signal into the overdrive. If you have set the overdrive to hit the limit already, then activating the clean boost will push it further past the limit.

Stacking guitar -> overdrive -> clean boost -> amp
means you'll be boosting the overdrive signal. The already clipped signal is just boosted without hitting the clean boost effect's limit. Thus achieving just a volume boost.


You can also see the amp as an overdrive circuit. And this is where the magic starts.
Stacking guitar -> clean boost -> overdriven tube amp
means you be pushing the overdriven tube amp further. And magic happens.

 

[mightyboy88]

You can consider the pedaltank G2 distortion pedal. Gain set at zero is has an almost clean like boost with alot of volume boost on tap. Using it as a booster raises the presense n the sustain of the pedal it is stacking without changing the original sound much. It can also be used as an overdrive pedal and of course a marshall sounding distortion pedal.

I personally prefer running a tubescreamer copy into this pedal with gain set to zero as it helps to make the sound fatter, i also have a clean boost at e start of my chain in which i just add about 2 to 4db of clean boost for a buffer pedal application i.e. to reduce the impedance of the signal from the guitar to preserve the tone loss through pedals and wires.

 

[subversion]

You can also see the amp as an overdrive circuit. And this is where the magic starts.

this is what many people failed to see even when one is dealing with a clean channel. either people are playing at very low volume hence couldn't take advantage of what's going on at the upper volume stages or they are not versed in this at all.

 

[killbil]

I think like what previous post have been trying to say, it really depends on application.

In terms of applying the boost or od effect in your pedal chain, if you wanna boost your sound with alil bit of dirt, then get an OD which has that option where u can add some drive/distortion. If you want just a increase involume without and change in tone for solos or to standout more in a live band setting, then get a clean boost.

However, you may even want to consider getting both as it'll give u a wider range of tone shaping options.
For eg:

a) guitar --> od --> distortion = will give your overall tone a more driven sound and an increase in volume as well

b) guitar --> distortion --> cleanboost = will maintain the overall tone but make it louder

c) guitar --> od --> distortion --> cleanboost = will give you an option of either have the tone in (a) or (b), or you can have an over all heavily distorted tone with an option to boost the volume of that tone for a solo.

So, simply put, it's really what you are looking for and what you wanna use it for. If you're using it infront of a solid state amp or running it through the effects loop or a tube-head or if you just wanna boost the tubes infront of a tube amp, and also what tonal characteristics you wish to achieve after application. If you'd really wanna boil your creative juices, you might even want to use an equalizer pedal for a boost and tone shaping.

In my personal opinion, you might want to get just one pedal which can give u an option of having purely a clean boost/add alil bit of dirt to the tone or none at all/ some eq adjustment options. That way this one pedal may be able to cater to ur needs for a particular song or genre that you decide to play at that time.

eg: Fulltone Fat Boost, Xotic RC booster, Xotic AC booster.

Either that or u can get the individual pedals which do serve these functions each; clean boost/overdrive/eq to be able to give u an even wider range of tonal and functional options when stacking your effects.

All in all you should give all the available pedals that you're interested in a try on an amp similar to what you use live/studio/home and with your own guitar to see whether it suits to what you're looking for. Cause, my perception of what an od or cleanboost is used for or the tone that it produces might be different from how you want it to be.

So Experiment dude! And you'll find what you're looking for.

All The Best!!

 

[pujangga]

My apologies TS, for hijacking your thread to ask a relevant question. Will engaging an OD or a clean boost help in achieving a more consistent artificial harmonics in my playing? Forgive me for the noob question.

 

[subversion]

any amount of heigtened drive would trigger such harmonics quite easily.

 

[Ratboy]

get a Line6 M13 ... and you can play with all the boost, od , dist etc and the order of stacking
not "boutique" quality ... but definately fun