ISO treble booster that’s quiet with guitar volume rolled off

[2after909]

I have a great sounding mullard oc44-equipped rangemaster from Stromer. I love it into a vox. Guitar volume on 6 = lovely glassy clean, and guitar volume on 10 = great singing, sustaining distortion. It works perfectly. Except for one thing. It’s noisy/hissy, which is especially noticeable when you dial in a clean with the guitar volume turned down. Pretty much no matter how you have the knobs set, when it’s clean it’s noisy. I’d like to be able to get that pretty, glassy clean sound without the hiss, especially for recording. So I’d like to find a treble booster that’s quiet when I dial in a clean. Has anybody used a particular one that they can confirm runs quietly with the guitar volume rolled back? Just wondering if there’s a particular one that’ll be a sure bet. So many options out there. I’m less interested in vintage accuracy (I’ve got that) and more interested in the whole “quiet” part.

 

[D_Malone]

I’ve had quite a few and the Catalinbread Naga Viper is, by far, the quietest.

Still more noise than a typical OD pedal, but that’s the nature of the beast.

 

[2after909]

I’ve had quite a few and the Catalinbread Naga Viper is, by far, the quietest.

Still more noise than a typical OD pedal, but that’s the nature of the beast.

Funny. My friend warned me his naga viper is also noisy.

 

[D_Malone]

Funny. My friend warned me his naga viper is also noisy.

Compared to what?

All treble boosters bring a bit of noise in my experience, but the NV is quieter than most.

 

[2after909]

Compared to what?

All treble boosters bring a bit of noise in my experience, but the NV is quieter than most.

Good question. I wonder if it's the germanium transistor causing the noise. I've never tried one of the silicon ones. I'm not so concerned that it be vintage accurate. I've got that, complete with noise! Haha. To be clear, for live stuff the noise is not a huge deal. But for recording the noise is loud enough that it makes that pretty, glassy clean sound pretty much unusable.

 

[D_Malone]

Good question. I wonder if it's the germanium transistor causing the noise. I've never tried one of the silicon ones. I'm not so concerned that it be vintage accurate. I've got that, complete with noise! Haha. To be clear, for live stuff the noise is not a huge deal. But for recording the noise is loud enough that it makes that pretty, glassy clean sound pretty much unusable.

Gotcha. The Naga Viper is Si. Maybe a treble booster isn’t for you then. I’m not an expert, but I’ve had quite a few and they all raise the noise floor noticeably, some more than others.

 

[2after909]

Gotcha. The Naga Viper is Si. Maybe a treble booster isn’t for you then. I’m not an expert, but I’ve had quite a few and they all raise the noise floor noticeably, some more than others.

NO, I'm a treble booster fan, for sure. I just want a super quiet one...

 

[Brent Hutto]

NO, I'm a treble booster fan, for sure. I just want a super quiet one...

You could cheat and use a digital Source Audio pedal (L.A. Lady, Kingmaker) and use a Treble Booster patch for it. That'll be as quiet as anything could be, given whatever gain and EQ parameters you perfer in your boost.

 

[D_Malone]

NO, I'm a treble booster fan, for sure. I just want a super quiet one...

Alrighty. Be sure to let us know when you find that unicorn. I want one!

 

[2after909]

Is the beano noisy? I stumbled upon the union tube and transistor offerings. There’s three takes on the treble booster concept - the snap, the crackle, and the pop. I’d be curious to try them. I do wonder about the fulltone ranger too. And the Cestus from Mythos. No hiss with that glassy clean is the dream.

 

[2after909]

You could cheat and use a digital Source Audio pedal (L.A. Lady, Kingmaker) and use a Treble Booster patch for it. That'll be as quiet as anything could be, given whatever gain and EQ parameters you perfer in your boost.

This is an interesting idea.
Never would’ve considered it on my own but I’ll look into it… thank you

 

[D_Malone]

Is the beano noisy?

No more or less than most in my experience. It’s a simple circuit, the biggest difference from one to another is transistor selection.

Again, all treble boosters are inherently noisy, depending on how much boost you dial in. IMO a treble booster is meant to boost a dirty amp by slamming the front end with a high gain signal. Boost the gain and you raise the noise floor. There’s no way around that.

The Beano is a great one just because Mike/Analogman makes selecting and testing transistors a high priority.

If you’re looking for a relatively quiet treble booster you may be disappointed. They’re all noisier than a typical OD pedal in my experience. It’s up to you to decide what’s acceptable.