yo guys,

I need something to boost my sound only a footstomp away, since i play lead in my band (www.stigmathrash.hyves.nl). I use a Randall RGT-100 tube head.

Just name the best gear for this question, thanks

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Hi, The Doctor

You mean as a way to increase the volume for solos, right? If I understood you well... I've heard the BOSS Metal Zone can be used as a boost pedal. I myself tried it quickly a couple of times. I didn't have time to play around with the settings well enough but I had gotten that effect of a boost pedal. You basically set the Level knob to give you a higher volume than when the pedal is disengaged, then when you go in for your solo, you engage the pedal and that's it.
You have to play around with the EQ and the Distortion knobs, though. Other than the Metal Zone, there are other pedals out there, of course. But I thought I'd mention this pedal since it's a commonly-used pedal and you might have it already.
Hope this helps!

thanks for your help, but I want to keep the distortionsound from my amp as pure as possible. From what I understand I can use the metalzone purely as a sound boost without chanching the tone of my amp?

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No problem!

Yes, you keep the Distortion knob all the way down. You only use the Level knob.

awesome! Im gonna test that pretty soon

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Cool. Let us know how you got on.

By the way, how do you like that Randall RGT-100 tube head?

I wouldnt recommend the Metal Zone as a pure clean boost, its still going to do a lot of coloring. If you want to keep your amp tone, you need a dedicated clean boost pedal, or an EQ pedal with a level control. The Keeley Katana is one of my favorite clean boosts, it would probably work well in your situation. In a pinch though, a Boss GE-7 could work. Just set the EQ sliders flat and boost the level.

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Neither would I. If you go back to my first post, I told him that he could use a Metal Zone just to try it 'cause he might have one already.

Keeley Katana... haven't heard of that one. I'll make a note for the future should I need a clean boost.

And the BOSS GE-7... I had one but it was making a lot of noise/hiss. I believe I had started a thread here about it. Anyway, the instructions said that the pedal should go in between the guitar and the amp but I was getting noise and hiss that way. So, I did some research online and came across info saying that it should be connected in the FX loop. I didn't bother trying that out out of fear that I might damage it or something (unlikely, but still). I got to know about the MXR 10-band eq pedal so I just returned the BOSS GE-7 to the store.
I think it's worth mentioning that I tried the GE-7 on a solid-state amp at the store where I bought it and there were no issues (no noise or anything). I had actually read somewhere on the internet that the issues were with all-tube amps.
Anyway, The Doctor can still use it as a clean boost.

yeah well, my amp is full tube so thats kinda icky.

I really dig the Randall, I went to the local store to get a scew or something and I suddenly see this awesome looking Randall, full tube 100 watt baby for 250 euro's. 250 for a full tube high gain metal monster is quite the steal!

www.stigmathrash.hyves.nl, there you can find recent recordings with the left guitar played through the randall

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Yeah, using a solid-state pedal with an all-tube amp isn't really such a good idea, is it? If I were you, and I still wanted a boost pedal, I'd try and get a tube boost pedal. I don't know of any myself but I imagine that they exist.

That's some cool Thrash Metal you guys play, by the way! I see two guitarists here - one with a Gibson and one with a Dean. I imagine you're the one with the Dean? Both guitars are great.

As for your amp... well done. Was it new or second hand? Either way, if it works alright, you got a great deal.

its not a dean, its a washburn

i guess i'll be going to a store and explain the situation. Hell, I might even pay a hundred euros for a fucking pedal, but I want this shit to work!

I tried my mxr dime-distortion in front of a solid state amp, but that had no effect whatsoever, I'm gonna try it with the tube-head the next rehearsal, just see what it does.

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Washburn? Cool. Is it a discontinued model?

Yeah, go to your local store and speak to the employees there. They should know about these things and should help you find what you're looking for. Good luck!

Hmm... solid-state and all-tube amps apparently react differently to pedals. I have a personal experience with that myself. The BOSS 7-band EQ pedal I had used to make a lot of hiss and noise with my all-tube amp whereas on a solid-state amp, it worked fine. I returned it to the store where I got it from 'cause I didn't get it to use it on a solid-state amp.

hmm, ill keep you posted.

the washburn indeed is out of print

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A vast majority of pedals are not tube, you arent robbing your tone of anything by using a "solid state" pedal.

In regards to the GE-7, it is known to be a noisy pedal. The purpose of putting in front of your amp is to shape or boost your tone before it hits the preamp. Boosting your level before the preamp (front of the amp) allows you to add a bit of gain by sending a hotter signal. The purpose of putting it in the effects loop is to further shape your tone or to give yourself a volume boost. Instead of using the pedal to send a hotter signal to the front of the amp you are sending a hotter signal to the power amp, which gives you a volume boost instead of a gain (distortion) boost. Also, using the pedal to shape your EQ in the effects loop is more effective than using it in front of the amp.

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Valtiel: I think you've got a point there. I mistakengly had distortion pedals in mind, and boost pedals are different. Distortion pedals (transistor-type) would produce a hard clipping-type distortion as opposed to the all-tube soft clipping distortion. Boost pedals have got nothing to do with that. They just boost the signal and that's it, if I'm not mistaken (again)

So, The_Doctor could try out a transistor-type boost pedal and it shouldn't negatively affect his all-tube tone, I guess.

As for the GE-7, yes, in fact that's what an other user here on MetalTabs recommended, i.e. that I use the GE-7 in the effects loop. The problem was that the instruction manual didn't mention that. It said that the pedal should go in between the guitar and the amp and since I was thinking of getting an MXR 10-band eq pedal and returning the GE-7 to the store, I didn't want to try it in the FX loop. I'm 99% sure I wouldn't have done any damage to it but still... you know, since the manual didn't say anything about it, I didn't try it. On the MXR website, it says that the pedal can be connected either in between the guitar and the amp or in the FX loop. The fact that MXR provide this info in their manual is a good thing. BOSS ought to do the same, in my opinion. It would avoid confusion.

Thanks again for the info!

the manual is lying. You can stick it into the loop. It is literally impossible to cause damage to your amp by sticking pedals into the loop. However, people say not to put distortion pedals into the loop because it sounds like crap.


as for boost advice, i REALLY like my maxon od808.

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Yeah, the_bleeding. You had told me about sticking the pedal in the fx loop but I guess I chickened out on that. Or else was too lazy to try it since I was thinking of getting an MXR 10-band eq pedal instead.

Maxon OD808 sounds good. They're high-quality pedals. Doc! Take note!

I don't know what's wrong with Q or whatnot, but even having a tech do it for you is not "noob"-ish. Many pro's have their techs switch for them. Dimebag Darrell's tech actually had to manually ride his noise gate a lot of the time, for instance, because his rig was so out of control.internet services Best Web Hosting


But yes, there is such a thing as an onboard preamp that can do the whole booster thing. One example is linked below. May require a bit of rewiring - what I personally prefer is to have both pickups balanced, one master volume, two tones, but if I was doing this I'd have to sacrifice one of the tones I guess. (I have three knob guitars, no four knobs)

Anyhoo, that's that. Pretty straightforward stuff, if you know how to do your own wiring, else have your tech do it for you.

That bot's post was almost helpful. Scary.

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