Trying to find a “always on” OD/boost pedal

So many directions you could go and of course is dependent on amp and desired tone. Hard to beat an EQ pedal for a lot of things. As far as boosts, I have had good always on use from these on various amps.

Peper's Dirty Tree
Klirrton Lichtbringer
Boss SD-1
DryBell Unit 67
Airis Effects TS
Ibanez TSV-808
Highwind Direwolf
Strymon Sunset
Fortin Hex Drive
Empress Para EQ
 
EP Booster does the deal well as you outlined It.
I second this...EP Booster is my always on. I run it in the unity gain (+3 db off and bright switch on) setting and it gives a nice kick without being too overwhelming
 
One thing I'll note:

Everyone's style of music is different. Amps vary among players. Guitars are also player-specific. There can't possibly be only one pedal that gives everyone what they want to hear.

Everyone, including the OP, knows that you have to live with a pedal to know how it's going to work for you. In some ways, that's kind of a tough conclusion, because it involves some expense and risk.

But there's a reason for all the experimentation we see everywhere. The OP isn't alone, so many of us are on the Great Tone Quest! ;)

I will say, however, that I haven't changed anything on my pedalboard in about a year, and that was only to update an older model to a newer one. Seems to me that's a pretty good result. Again, however, my style and taste may not be remotely like your style and taste.

This is why the internet is both very useful, and very useless I guess!

Try stuff. See for yourself. Yes, of course you'll spend money needlessly. But think about going out to dinner; the next day it's poop. You can't sell your poop.

A pedal is never poop, you can sell it if it ain't workin'. ;)
 
Last edited:
One thing I'll note:

Everyone's style of music is different. Amps vary among players. Guitars are also player-specific. There can't possibly be only one pedal that gives everyone what they want to hear.

Everyone, including the OP, knows that you have to live with a pedal to know how it's going to work for you. In some ways, that's kind of a tough conclusion, because it involves some expense and risk.

But there's a reason for all the experimentation we see everywhere. The OP isn't alone, so many of us are on the Great Tone Quest! ;)

I will say, however, that I haven't changed anything on my pedalboard in about a year, and that was only to update an older model to a newer one. Seems to me that's a pretty good result. Again, however, my style and taste may not be remotely like your style and taste.

This is why the internet is both very useful, and very useless I guess!

Try stuff. See for yourself. Yes, of course you'll spend money needlessly. But think about going out to dinner; the next day it's poop. You can't sell your poop.

A pedal is never poop, you can sell it if it ain't workin'. ;)
This is spot on!

One thing I will add to this is that, for me, the more I tried different OD pedals the better I got a predicting which ones I may or may not like. I definitely bought my fair share of pedals that looked and sounded good on youtube videos to plug it in and found out with the first chord I played that I was never going to get a tone out of it that I liked. Then after spending time trying, I would sell them or trade them off. One way to save some money is if you have friends that play you can borrow pedals and plug them into your rig and see what you think. Be prepared to go through this again if you change amps. A different amp can be a drastic change.
 
How is it that most of the times we end up in this conundrum it is always drive or boost related. Far less often it is Reverb or Delay related.
 
SHO or clone is a great pedal for some people. It adds some zing and can sound great on clean and dirt channels that aren't already harsh. Due to it's design though, it's not the best choice for volume rollers as it can get noisy when you roll the volume down. For pure tone though, it's one of the best if you leave your volume on 10 as God intended.
 
I always wonder why EQ pedals are left out of these conversations.
Because they work and they are boring...lol. They also don't have tap tempo and may not be true bypass....(I know, I went too far on that one and crossed the line. Forgive me). :)
 
Because they work and they are boring...lol. They also don't have tap tempo and may not be true bypass....(I know, I went too far on that one and crossed the line. Forgive me). :)
You modded a GE7 to be true bypass??? :oops::oops:
 
Back
Top