Boost, what are they?

[silentrage]

pardon my noobishness once again but,

I have an amp that's lacking in gain and has a bottom end that sounds like an elephant farting while submerged in a mud/feces soup.

No exaggerations.

I thought maybe a boost pedal could help clean it up and add a bit of gain? But I'm not too sure what all the difference ones sound like and whether they'll do what I want.

Will someone explain to me please?

[warpthrone]

What's the name of your name? What brand, if its really that bad it might be worth buying a new one all together

[WezV]

boost do exactly what they say on the tin... they boost the signal going into the amp.  some do it quite cleanly without adding much colour, but most add there own flavour to the sound. 

I find boost pedals are good for pushing an amp you already like that little bit harder, i wouldnt be after one to make up for a bad sounding amp

I really like my BYOC tribooster, it actually has 5 different boosts - and the difference between the boosts is not subtle at all

http://www.buildyourownclone.com/triboost.html

[silentrage]

What's the name of your name? What brand, if its really that bad it might be worth buying a new one all together

boost do exactly what they say on the tin... they boost the signal going into the amp.  some do it quite cleanly without adding much colour, but most add there own flavour to the sound. 

I find boost pedals are good for pushing an amp you already like that little bit harder, i wouldnt be after one to make up for a bad sounding amp

I really like my BYOC tribooster, it actually has 5 different boosts - and the difference between the boosts is not subtle at all

http://www.buildyourownclone.com/triboost.html

I'll look into those.

By amplifying the input signal, you're pushing the preamp tubes harder, therefore getting a little bit of distortion out of it, right? But by how much is what I'm wondering.
Or am I thinking overdrive?

[lamp]

What amp do you have?

[silentrage]

What amp do you have?

http://www.elevation-music.com/caglx30guam.html

[opprobrium_9]

What amp do you have?

http://www.elevation-music.com/caglx30guam.html

Looks shitee to me, you might want to consider selling it and saving for a better one.

[silentrage]

What amp do you have?

http://www.elevation-music.com/caglx30guam.html

Looks shiteee to me, you might want to consider selling it and saving for a better one.

It is... I'll try, lol.

[sgmypod]

Don't boosts sound a bit wrong with a s/state amp

[warpthrone]

Yeah, even something like a peavy backstage (i own one nice distortion on it) or (dare i say it) a marshall MG would be better than that. look around at your local music store for some nice bedroom amps.

[Antag]

A level boost raises the signal level going into the amp.  With a valve amp, that means you push the gain stages harder & get more overdrive.

But using a boost into a solid state amp doesn't give you much benefit - SS amps simply arent as dynamic (i.e. sensitive to changes in level, attack etc) as valve amps & if the overdrive is lousy in the first place, you aren't going to improve it or get much more out of it with a boost.

Trust me on this - playing into a good valve amp is a totally different experience to a transistor amp, it's like a night & day difference.  Seek out a decent valve half stack at the first opportunity.

If you can't change your amp right now, the best (cheapest) option would be to get a distortion pedal rather than a level boost - set the amp to a clean sound & use the pedal like an extra channel to switch in the filth.  There are some perfectly respectable SS distortion pedals out there that will give you 100 times better sound than the cr@ppy built in one on your amp.

[silentrage]

I have the MT2 right now, and it's making my warpig sound exactly the same as my stock pups, so I'm gonna have to punish it.
Any recommendations on a good hi gain pedal that doesn't wash out your tone?

Oh yeah, I'm shopping for a valve amp right now. Looking at the line6 spider valve FTM.
(I'm poor)

[Ted 'N' Leo]

Might be worth getting a valve pedal, like one of the Blackstar ones. They do one that will do a 2 channel amp, and from what i've heard they can do a good gainy sound.

If you do like Antag said and set the SS amp to clean, then use the pedal, you might find you'll get a decent tone.

Trust me on this too, i recently upgraded to a valve amp (Orange Tiny Terror) from numerous SS amps, and the difference in sound and feel is astounding.

[silentrage]

@Antag    TedNNeo

Thanks for the sound advice. I'll be getting a tube amp for sure now, nothing too crazy since it's my first one, but I'm stoked about the difference it'll make!

Cheers

[Lew]

Go and torrent guitar rig 3!!  :lol: