My favourite boost...

[darren wilson]

Everyone's got their favourite pedal that they kick in when your all the way up, all the way up, and need to go to eleven. What do you use for that "extra little push over the cliff"?

My favourite is an octave fuzz.

I have a few really nice heavy Rectifier patches on my GT-6, which are awesome for rhythm work and chunky chords. But on one of them, i've got it set up to kick in an Octave Fuzz and some delay when i hit the "CTL" footswitch. The sound is completely over the top and totally unique. I get a really wild square-wave sound (almost like an analog organ) with some pretty wild high-frequency overtones. It screams. It howls. Stomp on the wah, and it gets even more crazy.

[bduersch]

My top pick for pushing things over the top is the Ibanez TS9-DX, mostly because of the versatility. It can provide that gentle, transparent boost, it can provide an over-the-top heavily EQ'd boost, and just about everything in between.

Certainly it's not the most exciting effect, but I get a lot of mileage out of it. I use 'em in both of my rigs.

My other favorite pedal for pushing things over the edge is the EQ pedal on my Mark IV, but that's a whole other story...

--B

[vaijem777]

I've been a big fan of the Fulltone FatBoost for awhile, and use that in front of my rig for a little something extra I usually kick it in when I'm using my Strats- it really boosts the single coils and brings them up to about the same level as humbuckers, but without any additional gain.

Lately, I've been using a TS-808 and an original TS-9 with my setup as well, which gives me a couple of extra "channels" and gain stages to play with. I've got them hooked up through my GCX switcher and can turn them on/off with my Ground Control Pro.

Another pedal that I've become very fond of is the Fulltone Ultimate Octave...ever since I got "Crystal Planet", I fell in love with Satch's tone using that pedal! A great fuzz/octave boost that's very toneful and musical.

[RobV]

I'd like to ask you if you tried that patch on the GT-6 in a band/gig setting. How does it sound and does it cut through? I have a GT-6 and I seem to have to back off on the distortion and really boost the mids to cut through the mix.

Just like to know how yours sounds in a band setting.

Rob

[darren wilson]

Seems to cut through just fine.

[Two hands31]

Originally Posted by Rob V.

I have a GT-6 and I seem to have to back off on the distortion and really boost the mids to cut through the mix.

Unless you're soloing, you don't WANT to cut through the mix. You want to blend into a nice mix. People like you are a sound engineer's worst nightmare. Everyone in the band is trying to cut through the mix. I prefer to have the bass guitar louder than guitar sometimes, well, not louder, but maybe as loud as. Just to get it to blend into one sound.

[RobV]

I take it you're a "sound engineer".

I'm not saying be the loudest guy, just being able to be heard. Isn't that part of being in a "nice" mix? I was just asking that because I had problems at first when using the GT-6 being heard at all.

Rob[/code]

[The Dark Wolf]

VoodooLabs Sparkle Drive. Lots of CLEAN boost. DS-1 is a nice choice, too, has a little more grit in there. Sometimes I just use a small multi FX pedal with EQ, set it up with no FX or processing, other than EQ shaping and an output boost. Just like active pickups, without the routing!