Boost and Overdrive Pedals
Pedal Mojo- The Boost before or after Overdrive
Stacking Pedal mojo is always a tricky subject because the rules of the game are more guidelines than anything else. For every tone mojo chaser out there that declares the gain pedals go before the amp, and modulation effects go in the FX loop, there'll be a guitarist breaking the rule and sounding awesome doing it. However, it's always a good idea to know what the rules are so that when you break them, you're doing so intentionally. So let us talk about gain pedal mojo, and how it can affect your tone.
Boost your mojo before or after an overdrive?
Experiment with both of these options. The hard and fast rule is this, putting a boost pedal before an overdrive pedal will make it so your tone will stay roughly the same volume. It will sound more overdriven. When the boost is after the overdrive, you'll notice about the same level of overdrive, but the signal will be louder and add more clarity to your tone.
Boost Pedal before an Overdrive Pedal
Your boost pedal will beef up the overdrive pedal when it's engaged, making it sound thicker and more cumbersome, but with little volume increase. Stacking pedals like this can be a great way to create your own Mojo/tone or to turn a single channel amp into a rhythm/lead dual-channel monster. Great for a band with one guitarist who doesn't have to worry about competing when it comes to volume or those who love the tonal mojo of single-channel tube amps but need a little extra versatility when it comes to gain stages.
Putting an Overdrive before a Boost
Either before the input of a clean amp or in the FX loop of an already driven amp, a boost pedal can simply increase the volume without adding any drive of its own very quickly. Many guitarists wonder why their new boost pedal isn't making a distorted tone louder when put before a dirty amp or other gain pedals: it's because the signal's bandwidth could be excided. A boost after the gain stages, and it'll do exactly that: boost your tone without adding any extra dirt. This set-up is perfect for dual-guitarist bands in which a simple volume jump is essential for lead/rhythm song sections, or for a guitarist which plays as part of a larger group and who sometimes needs to take center stage, and at others needs to take a step back in terms of volume.
I want both!
Nothing is stopping you from putting two boost pedals on your pedalboard, one before your drive stage, and one after/in your FX loop to enjoy the benefits of both. That's what a pedalboard is for, if not to offer you the most sonic options possible?
Of course, Guitar-Zan custom overdrive pedal that has a Pre / Post switch in the pedal itself, which lets you choose whether the boost cascades into the overdrive or vice versa, with a simple flick of a switch… Want to know more mojo-contact us
That's the mojo & info… Hopefully, this has been useful, leave us a comment and hit the like button we could use the boost.
