see if there are any guitar pedal nerds here (just like me) that can help.
I currently have this pedalboard: 29 pedals EUNA -> Meris Enzo -> Chase Bliss preamp MKII -> Hologram Microcosm -> strymon volante -> strymon nightsky -> strymon deco -> UAFX Dream 65.
I find the chase bliss preamp MKII beautiful, but complicated to dial in, and noisy. not sure how many db volume boost it can give, but it doesnt seem like much. therefore, i’m looking to replace it.
got a 1981 inventions DRV on order, not sure if this gives a volume boost.
any advice? germanium boost? milkman pop top boost?
I would put any preamp right at the end of the chain, or maybe with reverb after it. That might help you avoid noise, and to more easily dial in a sound you like
the Level slider on the humble Boss GE is a classic clean boost thats usually dead quiet. The bands, if you didnt already know, have a Q thats not necessarily narrow, but definitely not wide, which is either a blessing or curse depending on how you want to cut (or boost) at that freq. after youve boosted the overall level.
And, probably find one for $10
I would advise playing around with pedal order before buying anything since it can make such a big difference in how everything works.
A boost might be your answer (there are tons but most are based around 3 or 4 circuits). It’s also possible that a strategically placed buffer would do the trick, I’m not familiar enough with most of those pedals to say but if it’s a line drop issue a buffer will help to “recover”.
Are you running a guitar into this board? If so you might want to make it’s signal hotter before it hits those pedals. I have guitars with pickups whose impedance is a poor match for some pedals and the whole chain works poorly as a result. To compensate I’ll make sure to put something that matches well first in line (pre tuner, etc) like a SHO.
Hijack: How do control the volume spikes from the enzo? I’ve just used to controlling it from my guitar but it reacts so different depend on mode and octave and the filter settings? Also I struggle with enzo earlier in my chain as when by pass it’s goes to mono on one route which throws my other stereo pedals into mono… either that or I’ve feck up the settings
I had a large pedalboard at one point, less tasteful than yours i must say. I realised after a certain number of pedals I was fighting tone loss a lot. Adding pedals at a point swaps one problem for another IMO.
It really is. One of very few pieces of music tech that’s ever made me think “how did I ever live without this?” after getting it. Works different kinds of magic in different places on a pedalboard, can solve all sorts of problems, and it’s really simple electronically.
