Boost Pedal vs. Yellow Channel of KOTv.4???

[iim7v7im7]

Hi,

I own a KOTv.4 and I am finding that I use the "Yellow Channel" which is less compressed OD circuit vs, the "Red Channel" more often these days. I do not think that it is a boost circuit (I have always heard its a variant on a Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal circuit), because as you turn up the gain it clips more. I find that I use it with the volume set high (around 3 o'clock) with the drive set about noon to overdrive my amp when it is set on edge.

I have been considering trying a "boost pedal" to my rig. I am mostly playing my Tele these days into a Fender blackface style amp. I am interested in preserving my guitar's and amp's tone, but want to overdrive the amp with signal. I want to be able roll back my volume to be totally clean and or back off on pick attack and clean up.

After looking at endless threads on this forum and the TGP, I have identified the following 6 boost pedals that are commonly praised (I did not include a Sex Drive because it is buffered or a RC Booster because I understand it to be amodified TS circuit, but these two are often praised):

• Subdecay Liquid Sunshine
• Lizard Leg Flying Dragon
• Zvex SHO
• Wallace Bad Bob
• Catalinbread Super Chile Picoso
• Keeley Katana

For those of you who are familiar with the Yellow Channel of the KOT, do these pedals over something distinctly different from what I have? If so, which would you recommend for overdriving an amp or stacking after a TS?

Thanks,

Bob

[analogmike]

You can't go wrong with the Bad Bob, it's a nice sound, a little grittier than the KoT yellow channel. None of the above will work all that differently than the yellow channel of the KoT the way you haev it set.

If I were you, I would turn all the DIP switches inside down to make the KoT into two boosters. THen you can set them a bit differently, and run both together sometimes for extra boost.

if you have the red set to a cleaner setting -> yellow set to a dirtier setting, both on (adding the booster) will add distortion.

if you have the dirtier -> cleaner, both on (adding the booster) will add volume.

Have fun!

[iim7v7im7]

Mike,

Thanks for your input. I am still set up as you stated with DIP#1 up (Factory Setting). I will give it a try. The KOT is an opamp based circuit and Bad Bob is a JFET correct? Will one have more touch sensitivity when ODing an amp than the other?

Bob

[11 Gauge]

Originally Posted by iim7v7im7

The KOT is an opamp based circuit and Bad Bob is a JFET correct?

This is correct. The KoT is based on the Bluesbreaker. The Bad Bob is based on Jack Ormon's Minibooster.

[iim7v7im7]

Originally Posted by 11 Gauge

This is correct. The KoT is based on the Bluesbreaker. The Bad Bob is based on Jack Ormon's Minibooster.

11 Guage,

Given the differences between an opamp JRC 4580D and a JFET circuit, what are the sonic differences as boosts in terms of dynamics?

Bob

[analogmike]

The sensitivity is more a matter of the AMP reacting to the level of the signal coming from the clean boost (due to your various picking attacks), so either of those pedals should be fine. The pedals themselves (KoT set clean) don't really distort your signal, especially the Bad Bob. It's the amp which distorts when the tubes get hit hard by these boxes.

The KoT set in OD mode with the drive up will dynamically change distortion based on your playing, even into a clean amp with high headroom. A clean boost needs to hit an amp on the limit of headroom to get distortion.

Have fun!

[iim7v7im7]

Mike,

Thanks for your comments. I use the yellow channel with the volume at high and the gain at noon or lower. The pedal is indeed overdriving my amp which is turned up near the edge of distortion. I was really wondering the sonic differences, at the same given volume based on the two circuits. Is one more dynamic or less colored (Opamp or JFET)?

Bob

[11 Gauge]

Originally Posted by iim7v7im7

11 Guage,

Given the differences between an opamp JRC 4580D and a JFET circuit, what are the sonic differences as boosts in terms of dynamics?

Bob

If the amp is running super clean, the differences will be almost negligible, as Mike has indicated. So that's something you can test for yourself. I typically test boost pedals with the vibrato channel of a Vibrolux Reverb set to 3 on the volume dial, for any sonic characteristics.

The 4580 has a pretty high slew rate for an op amp, but the KoT/BB have such low drive characteristics that you won't get most of that in "boost only" mode (with the BB V.1 you'd have to physically pull the clipping diodes). I believe that Mike added a little more drive to the KoT via a 10K resistor in the "drive" circuit, but it's mainly used as a minimal drive thing, very much like the 51K resistor in a TS.

The original BB pedals used a TL072, which is a JFET IC array. People sometimes favor this chip due to the higher internal input impedance (they claim a little more audible brightness or "crispness"). I believe that the Klon Centaur uses that chip, just to give you an example of this preference.

I've even built boosts using an ordinary bipolar transistor (like an EH LPB1 booster), and even then there is little coloration at low amp volumes, with the drive on the boost set not much above unity gain.

I really wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm more concerned with slew rates/rail clipping when op amps are driven really hard, which isn't applicable here.

[guit30]

I am finding that boost pedals for the most part are not much different than overdrives
Jim