HEADROOM!!
Like most guitar tools, the Boost ‘n’ Buff is a pedal that
always sounds best at its highest operating voltage. The
previous version ran off 9V supply, or 18V with the use of
two batteries. This newest version of the Boost ‘n’ Buff
features some internal circuit wizardry that takes 9V ONLY
(refer to POWERING THE PEDAL section) by DC adaptor or
battery and internally supplies the pedal with approximately
24V! This means no more dual batteries, or additional 18V
power supplies. Put 9V in, and enjoy the extra clarity, sparkle
and headroom of the Boost mode.
BUFFER MODE (BYPASS)
In bypass mode, the Boost 'n' Buff acts as an ultra high input
impedance/low noise buffer. In fact, the input impedance is
approximately 5Meg. With such a high input impedance, your
guitar pickups don't need to deliver a lot of current in order to
reproduce their full natural bandwidth. You can drive cable
lengths as long as you like without sacrificing tone, and due
to the ultra low noise design, you can use the Boost 'n' Buff
out the front of dirt pedals or high gain amps without worrying
about introducing any significant noise.
So what's different about this buffer and the buffer you'd find
on mass produced pedals? Well, the primary role of a buffer
on a mass produced pedal is not to 'rescue' your guitar tone
from degradation, but rather to drive the low quality transistor
based switching system. The input impedance of these
buffer circuits are thus designed not to keep all of the top end
sparkle of your guitar tone. In some cases, the input
impedance of this buffer is as low as 200kOhms, which is 25
times lower than the input impedance of the Boost 'n' Buff
circuit.
By adding the Boost 'n' Buff in your signal chain, especially
near the front of your effects, you'll notice that in bypass
mode your guitar signal will have a bit more sparkle and top
end detail. It's not that there are any special EQing 'tricks',
but rather that the Boost 'n' Buff is faithfully reproducing all of
the frequencies that are coming out of your guitar. Your tone
will feel a bit more powerful, with more punch and almost as
if there's more dynamic range and 'sustain' (although these
are not the right words to describe it). You've got to try it out
to feel what I'm talking about.
BOOST MODE
FULL BOOST –This is a full frequency boost regardless of
the gain and volume settings. It not only boosts the volume,
but seems to really lift your tone as well. It’s difficult to
explain. You’ve just got to feel it. This is perfect for solo
volume boosts. The one thing to note is that if you're going to
use digital effects in your signal path, I'd suggest putting the
Boost 'n' Buff after the digital effects to avoid overloading the
A/D converters.
TREBLE BOOST –I tuned this mode to be a more of a
dramatic treble boost than the stock Boost ‘n’ Buff. I figured
that if the full boost option is now available, then it would be
possible to make the treble function a bit more prominent. At
maximum gain, not only do you have an amazing amount of
boost (approximately 35db), but the frequency response is
perfectly tailored to driving a valve amp. It is literally like hot-
rodding your amp with an extra tube stage. Also, with the
24V headroom, your sound will be 'cleaner' going into the
amp, so that there's less colouring from the transistor.
MID BOOST –This came about because I quite liked how
the treble boost pushed an already overdriven amp, but for
some amps, I found that too much top end made the tone too
harsh (For others it was fine). So by rolling off some of the
highest frequencies, and beefing up the mids, we were able
to get the extra gain, cut and richness, but without the ice-
pick.
VOLUME AND GAIN CONTROL
Turn down the volume, and use the built in gain of the Boost
'n' Buff to get mild dirt sounds, boosting different parts of the
frequency spectrum with the MODE switch. Finally, by mixing
the relative levels of volume and gain, you can now coax a
wider range of timbres from the pedal.
N.B. THE GAIN POT WILL CRACKLE!!!
Like the mixing desks of old, this transistor boost design has
DC across the gain pot causing a crackling sound when
moved –an expected part of the design and one that
shouldn’t cause much grief as it tends to be set-and-forget.
