Boost without increase in top end presence or mid hump ?

EricTheWeary

I'd agree that a pure boost doesn't always give you the result you think it will and it can sound surprisingly harsh or boomy (it's shoving more level into the amp which won't necessarily respond in a smooth, linear manner). So something with eq wether it's an eq pedal or a transaparent boost.
The other alternative is to put something in your loop to cut volume so your maximum volume is set up from the amp rather than boosted by a pedal. There are a couple of pedals designed to do this, although my brain won't come up with the name of any of them. 

Telejester

Ive bought grunfelds boss bd2 , online clips show it to be much less mid hump than a tubescreamer type unit and as per its name it sounds terrific for blues and especially with a tele which has plenty of inbuilt presence of its own.

ESBlonde

Other way round, set everything for your 'boosted' sound and then set something like a graphic, comp or simple volume pot in a box - whatever in the amps FX loop to reduce the overall level without changing the gain structure creating your tone. Toggle that and you get volume change without any tone change whatsoever (phsyco-acoustics aside).

timbuk02

Mad Professor Underdrive works on that premise...

Voxman

Telejester said:

There are so many pedals out there that give a mid boost or increase in top end presence when engaged and this is precisely what i dont want. Could you suggest a boost pedal or overdrive used as a clean boost that simply adds transparency,  thickness and sustain without tubescreameresque mid hump or added top end sparkle ?

I'm unclear as to exactly what you're trying to achieve because you're using confusing descriptions:

1. Clean boost 
2. added transparency
3. added thickness
4. added sustain
5. no midhump or top end sparkle

Clean boost -  this is one of those descriptors that means different things to different people.  To me, a clean boost is simply a volume boost that does not change the underlying tonal characteristics in any way.  It doesn't add mids, sustain, high-end, or gain. It is simply your original tone, just louder.  Is that what you're trying to achieve?

If so, there are two types of pedal that will achieve this - an EQ and a boost pedal such as a BBE Boosta Grand, Mooer pure boost (but there are quite a few others).  A key consideration is where the pedal is placed.  If you place either pedal in front of your amp, after a particular level you'll get a gain boost which in addition to volume adds a level of distortion (some folk may refer to a mild distortion as sustain).  

If you want the volume boost but with no gain (ie no distortion) added at all, then these pedals need to go into your FX loop - preferably a serial FX loop for best results.  A simple 7 band EQ will do the job very well and you can set the clean volume boost simply by increasing the 'level' and leaving all the EQ sliders at zero if you want no change to your tone.  MXR do a ten-band EQ that requires an 18v power supply, but gives you both level and gain boost sliders in addition to a 10-band EQ.

Added transparency - I'm not 100% clear on exactly what you mean by this.  To me, this equates to taking a blanket off your amp and having a clearer tone.  The EQ will do this to some extent by giving you far greater control of your overall EQ than you can get from just your amp.  But by definition you will be adding or reducing certain frequency bands.  So the contradiction here is that the moment you try and add transparency, you're changing frequencies.  

But there is another pedal that will do this in a slightly different way to an EQ and that is the BBE Sonic Stomp Maximiser.  It really will take the blanket off your amp you never knew was there.  Again, best place for the BBESSM is in your FX loop.  It won't add volume but it will give you a clearer tone in a different way to an EQ.  The theory is that all guitar speakers try & interpret the full range of frequencies thrown at them but they do so inefficiently and the tone you hear is muddier than it might otherwise be.  The BBESSM changes very slightly the speed that high and low frequencies reach your speaker so that the speaker responds more efficiently.  Its one of those pedals that you don't notice is on - until you take it off!

Added thickness - I think you mean making your sound 'fuller' ie less thin and more 'girth' but by definition you'd be doing something to the EQ frequency response to achieve this, typically by adding mids - which you said you didn't want - hence the contradiction. An EQ can give this (eg by upping mids, bottom end etc).  

The BBE Boosta Grande (again in the FX loop) will give you this in a slightly different way(there are other similar pedals as mentioned, but this is the one I have and so know its characteristics). I use one in the FX loop and in addition to giving me a clean volume boost with no added gain (and the single boost knob lets you control how much volume boost for lead solos etc) it also 'beefs up' the tone a little which helps cut through the mix. It's hard to explain but the tone is just that little bit 'bigger/thicker' yet without any significant change to the characteristics of the underlying tone. 

Added sustain - If you put an EQ or BBESSM or Boosta Grande in front of your amp, any of these will add gain and thus a degree of additional sustain if you raise their levels.  If you want clean sustain with no added distortion, you need a compressor like a Boss CS3, or MXR compressor etc - the characteristics, noise levels and cost of different compressors can vary enormously.  You would normally place a compressor in front of your amp at or very near the beginning of your signal chain.  The problem with compressors is that they squish (hence compress) the frequency range of your tone and you lose the more top & bottom end 'extremes' of your tone. This can be good or bad depending on your ears and what type of music you play etc.  

No mid-hump or top-end sparkle - again, this refers to frequency response changes referred to above. 

So, whilst everyone here has been trying their best to help and give you recommendations, and whilst each recommendation is perfectly valid, the recommendation being made is based on each persons interpretation of what they think you want - and that's why you're getting such a wide range of different pedals.  

I hope the above is at least of some value in helping you to crystallise exactly what you're looking for and thus be better placed to find the right type of pedals that will get you where you want to be

(PS - I would mention that I have a fair bit of experience of the BBESSM, BBEBG and 7-band EQ - I have all of them in a mini-pedal board that I use in the FX loop of my amps - currently it's in the FX loop of my Vox Valvetronix AD120VTX - I have all three because they do slightly different things - I typically leave the BBESSM & EQ on all the time, and kick in the BBEBG for lead solos when I want to stand out above the mix). 

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c33/voxman5/ADVENT-PC/Pictures/Gear/Floor pedals/Mini-pedal board for FX loop_zpsnlsbwov5.jpg

ThePrettyDamned

@Voxman great post. 

I think an eq is a good way to go because it'll allow the shaping to get the tone in your head. It's funny, actually, they're incredibly out of fashion and various clean boosts are in fashion but a good eq pedal can get you where you need to be and radically alter tones for other uses, too. Currently quite affordable used, too, with ge7s being fairly common. 

Voxman

ThePrettyDamned said:

@Voxman great post. 

I think an eq is a good way to go because it'll allow the shaping to get the tone in your head. It's funny, actually, they're incredibly out of fashion and various clean boosts are in fashion but a good eq pedal can get you where you need to be and radically alter tones for other uses, too. Currently quite affordable used, too, with ge7s being fairly common. 

Thamks - & I fully agree - I think an EQ is the one pedal that should be on everyone's pedal board because it's a cheap, simple, and universally portable way to drastically change and control your underlying tone with any guitar and amp, in a way that you simply cannot do with an amps more limited on-board EQ ..and it could even save you a fortune on changing pick-ups and/or speakers!