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Do You Use a Boost on Bass?
- Thread starter Just Wrong
- Start date
I don't use it for what I'm currently doing, because the other instruments tend to drop out when I'm soloing (more than I'd like, but that's another topic). In other groups, where there are parts where I need to be louder (either to have a bass line come through, or to be consistent with guitars boosting during a chorus), a boost has been super useful. The Barbershop is awesome, but I've been fine with anything that allows me to change the volume and tone. I personally prefer a set boost than fiddling with a volume pedal, partly because I like to change the eq too and partly to have my pre- and post-boost settings set.
I use a low end boost that I engage during particularly intense jams. It makes the whole band sound heavier without drawing too much attention to what I'm doing.
how do you have it set as an always on pedal? (I’ve got one, I like for chorus)
One of the bands I play in requires me soloing, and I felt the need of a boost the last gig. However I'm using my small board with the band and it has no room for a boost. I got an always on compressor that I'll use as a boost the next time we play.
I don’t have a tube amp, so no. That’s not the tool / method I would personally use for most of the use cases others have pointed out. Nothing wrong with them, I just find a boost to be a clunky solution to a lot of the issues listed… life is too short to buy a second pedal for makeup gain to fix another pedal that could (should) have makeup gain on tap if it causes losses, to play dynamically I use.. dynamics, and if I need to sound markedly bigger, I’d prefer some tonal change to go with it, so the synergy of extra gain from dirt (for example) is my preferred approach.
In cases where I have used a stompable volume change, be it boost or attenuation, I’m more likely to use the louder setting to use a lighter touch, with the quieter setting allowing me to slap or be raucous; I don’t find using a boost to get way bigger to be an approach that sounds very good in the absence of a tube amp to change character when pushed.
In cases where I have used a stompable volume change, be it boost or attenuation, I’m more likely to use the louder setting to use a lighter touch, with the quieter setting allowing me to slap or be raucous; I don’t find using a boost to get way bigger to be an approach that sounds very good in the absence of a tube amp to change character when pushed.
I hadn't thought of the Barbershop! That pedal would actually solve a lot of what I'm looking for! Thanks for the suggestion!
Cool. The Barbershop adds just a bit of grit too that sounds like an amp being pushed. Great pedal.
Yes. Boost last in line on my board. Great for preamp tube saturation and some extra volume during guitar solos.
TC spark in front of an Arkham Oracle preamp to push it into overdrive. Micah (from Arkham) told me I can drive the pedal as hard as I want, so I do. 
I'm not sure you would call it a boost, but in my EMG active signal chain instead of a preamp I have an EXB so I can go from vintage-to-modern or straight-to-slap on one control. It does boost both bass and treble while cutting mids at 1 kHz simultaneously, which is net boost.
I have it last, in my chain (though, the Wampler Ethereal, and the Tech 21, sometimes exchange places).
