Clean volume boost for solos at gigs - Eureka moment!

Voxman · September 2023

I appreciate that this could fit within the FX & maybe amps section, but as it's such a common problem for gigging players, it just seemed to make sense to put it in the guitar section where it has wider exposure.
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OK, so I gig with a Vox Tonelab LE or SE - old tech, but still sound great & really easy to use live. At last weeks gig I had a problem that I couldn't resolve with just the Tonelab and that was how to GLOBALLY kick in a CLEAN volume boost for solos SIMPLY and on ANY patch. Clumsy patch specific workarounds aside, the Tonelabs don't have such a global facility (and I suspect even most modern units might not be able to do this either).

So then it suddenly dawned on me - in the mini pedal board I have for the fx loop of my AD120VTX Valvetronix amp I have a BBE Boosta Grande pedal that I use for just that - clean volume boost. But it's been so long since I gigged that rig I just completely forgot about it (Homer Simpson 'Doh' moment!)

Now, whilst the Tonelab's have no FX loop, I thought that if I simply put the BBEBG after the Tonelab & before the FRFR108 it should do the job - and it works perfectly i.e. no added distortion, no (noticeable) colouration - just a clean boost the level for which I can adjust & set with its single knob.

Hardly rocket science for many of you clever folk I know - in fact its so simple it probably sounds ridiculous - but when you've been trying to solve a problem with your mind set focused on the MFX unit and then suss it by (literally) thinking 'outside the box' lol, it's still a Eureka moment that's an elegant solution for a clean volume boost that I can use with any MFX, pedal board or amp rig without having to re-program patches. And it means I don't have to reprogram patches for our next gig on Saturday!

An EQ set 'neutral' might well do a similar thing, but the BBEBG is very transparent and its a very simple pedal - just one stomp switch & one knob.

Anyway, just thought I'd share in case this might help someone else.

stratman3142 · September 2023

I use my Helix LT in stomp box mode, and I have two clean boost blocks (3dB and 6dB) at the end of the FX chain assigned to foot switches. That deals with the need for a slight lift, solo boost, and mega boost (if I select both). The Helix volume pedal can be used to back things off, if further fine adjustment is need.

I had a eureka moment in using a 'boost pedal' to solve a problem at the other end of my FX chain. Perhaps it's bleeding obvious to most people

The problem I had was different guitars having significantly different levels going into the front end of my Fx chain. If I set the compressor, OD or distortion for my main higher output guitars, then the levels were wrong for my lower output guitars. I solved that one by carrying a 'boost pedal' that, if needed, I can include at the front to use as a trim. It's not usually needed because my main gigging guitars have the same output levels, but occasionally I want to use a Strat or Tele with a lower output level.

I know I could back off the volume pot on my higher output guitars, but my main gigging guitars are the higher out ones and I want to optimise things for them. I use a lower output Strat and Tele fairly infrequently.

I could program different gain block offsets for different guitars at the front end of my Helix FX chain. But I've already got multiple pedal board set ups in my Helix in different presets, so it was getting confusing having multiple versions for different guitars as well. Plus I didn't want to waste a Helix footswitch by assigning it to control a gain block at the front of the FX chain.

A 'boost pedal' solves the problem of differing guitar output levels for me. I called it a 'boost pedal', but it's a Boss LS-2 line selector that can toggle between two or three different levels. The same principle would apply to any pedal board set up.

I guess many people are doing this sort of thing, but thought it worth mentioning in the broad context of this thread.

flying_pie · September 2023

I've always usee EQ in the loop. A mid hump around +4-dB with the highs and lows at 0 does a great job of a boost that really cuts through, although if you want it to be totally transparent you can just set it to boosted flat.

These days I use my Boss GT100 and I've a bank setting that will turn on the EQ along with increasing the volume and length of any delay. I don't if anyone already makes an EQ pedal with adde.d delay but it would be a perfect solo boost

It's interesting that you are commenting about a lack of FX loop blinding you. That's similar to the (misunderstood) criticism of units like the Tonex pedal not having a loop. You don't need a loop specifically if you can add a boost (or EQ, or reverb, or delay, or...) at the end of the chain but it's easy to overlook that

Roland · September 2023

A habit I picked up when I started playing electric guitar back in the Stone Age is to run the guitar volume around halfway, and turn up for solos. Nowadays, where we are used to much more compression in our amp settings, that just fattens overdriven sounds. However it still works for clean boost.

Something I do with multiFX is what @flying_pie mentioned, to have a switchable EQ boost of between 3 and 6dB, and a wide Q, around 1kHz. This steps up the volume, but only in the range which the guitar needs, and doesn’t compete with bass or cymbals.

Danny1969 · September 2023

The simplest way to do it I found with Pedals or MFX is just have a pedal last in the chain with 2 pots in it and a foot switch. One pot is your normal level, the other is your boost and the foot switch just switches between them.
The pedal doesn't even require a battery or power to work but I have an LED on mine so I know which is which

Image: https://www.thesuperheroesonline.co.uk/antiboost.jpeg

Ignore the LDR and the little switch that enables it.
...that's only there because it can use the stage lights to act as a kind of auto wah .... very effective on big stages with powerful lights, not so much in pubs and clubs.

I did try the switching in Kinky boost and an EQ block on my Pod Go but the level needed seems to change from venue to venue plus the amount of boost I would use depends on whether it's a smallish gig / no ears and we are mixing ourselves or whether FOH is doing it and we are all on ears. With IEM's the boost needs to be relatively small.

stratman3142 · September 2023

Danny1969 said:

...I did try the switching in Kinky boost and an EQ block on my Pod Go but the level needed seems to change from venue to venue plus the amount of boost I would use depends on whether it's a smallish gig / no ears and we are mixing ourselves or whether FOH is doing it and we are all on ears. With IEM's the boost needs to be relatively small.

I've found similar, that different situations need different levels of boost.

The good thing about my Helix LT is that I can quickly touch the footswitch assigned to the boost, which takes me to the boost settings view. Then I can tweak the boost level and hit Save. It's almost as fast as adjusting a real pedal. It works for me because I'm using my Helix LT in stomp box mode as a virtual pedalboard. In fact I can leave it on the boost settings view and not even hit save, provided I know I'm not going to change presets.

Voxman · September 2023

stratman3142 said:

Danny1969 said:

...I did try the switching in Kinky boost and an EQ block on my Pod Go but the level needed seems to change from venue to venue plus the amount of boost I would use depends on whether it's a smallish gig / no ears and we are mixing ourselves or whether FOH is doing it and we are all on ears. With IEM's the boost needs to be relatively small.

I've found similar, that different situations need different levels of boost.

The good thing about my Helix LT is that I can quickly touch the footswitch assigned to the boost, which takes me to the boost settings view. Then I can tweak the boost level and hit Save. It's almost as fast as adjusting a real pedal. It works for me because I'm using my Helix LT in stomp box mode as a virtual pedalboard. In fact I can leave it on the boost settings view and not even hit save, provided I know I'm not going to change presets.

I have a Pod Go that doesn't have the 'touch' capacitance footswitches. Nevertheless, in Pod Go I set up a footswitch (FS) for main output leve clean boost (typically 3dB). Using one of the 6 onboard Footswitches ('FS') lets you see in the display if its on/off, but the downside is you have to switch into stomp mode. So I typically use an external footswitch (say 'FS7') that I can kick on/off in any mode but you can't see if its on/off. But you have to do this per patch, as there's no global option for this. Another approach that can be set per patch or globally is to set the EXP2 volume pedal to eg 80% toe down and 100% heel down. Although I can do the latter with the TLSE/LE's its only per patch, not globally.

willo · September 2023

Yes it's definitely still counter intuitive to me to run a pedal after a modeller but before the speaker.

I remember being confused when the Tonex was released - where would the delays go etc. I didn't buy the Tonex but it was a useful lesson.

Do you reckon you could use a compressor between a modeller and a speaker to get levels across multiple presets to a consistent volume?

Voxman · September 2023

willo said:

Yes it's definitely still counter intuitive to me to run a pedal after a modeller but before the speaker.

I remember being confused when the Tonex was released - where would the delays go etc. I didn't buy the Tonex but it was a useful lesson.

Do you reckon you could use a compressor between a modeller and a speaker to get levels across multiple presets to a consistent volume?

Don't know but it's not how I'd want to use a compressor. Generally speaking my view is that whilst a compressor can be hugely useful in the studio, for live gigging at volume it's not overly helpful as it can kill dynamics and stop your tone punching through the mix, so I'll only tend to use a compressor sparingly for certain patches eg Sultans of Swing.

viz · September 2023

I have 2 mini boost pedals in loop right at the very end - one’s for solos and the other one is set to zero to mute everything.

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Clean volume boost for solos at gigs - Eureka moment!

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