Simple boost for gain channel

[Colo Springs E]

.....man I cannot believe how difficult it's been to find a boost pedal that operates as nothing more than just bumping up your amp master volume a little on a gain channel.

They all seem to work on clean channel; add some volume and even fatten up a little. But on a gain channel? Most just seem to add more gain and unwanted microphonics.

The BBE Boosta Grande seems to work about as well as anything I've found, but even on it, I just set the volume (or "gain," as it actually states on the knob, even though it claims to be a pure clean boost!) up about 15-20% on. If I set it any higher, Ned Beatty comes to town squealing like a pig.

Doesn't anyone make something that's no more than turning the vol up on your amp a little? Turning down the vol on my guitar isn't an option--I usually like to play with my pickup vol max'd as that's where the tone is that I prefer on most songs, even for rhythm. If I want to "clean up," I turn my pickup vol down, but on many of our songs, I don't want it cleaned up, I want it chunky and dirty.

*sigh*

[halouis]

how gained out is your amp? preamp gain? if it's pretty saturated already, nothing will work on the front end. if you have an effects loop, toss your booster in there and it'll bypass the preamp and bump your power section up plenty.

[Colo Springs E]

....I only keep my pre-amp gain typically at about 9 to 10 o'clock.

The only bummer with putting the boost in the effects loop is, as soon as I put cables into the effects loop, it negatively impacts my tone BIG time. It greatly reduces the gain, and makes it gritty and harsh sounding.

Arrrgh!!

Thanks though for the advice Hal.....