The clean boost pedals simply increase the volume, while the dirty boosters add coloration to the tone to give it more character.
Playing in a noisy electric rock band involves a lot of teamwork, but what happens when you have a guitar solo and the drummer decides to start playing even harder? Whether you want to reduce noise for a moment or add some juice to a long chain of pedals whose signal has begun to weaken, this list offers a range of options that can increase volume and improve the sound. Make yourself happy by offering one of the best boost guitar pedals on the market!
The boost pedals are a fantastic way to set your sound apart from the overall mix. Instead of compressing your sound, they intensify the volume to better preserve its purity, highlighting the best attributes of your amp. With a boost pedal, rest assured that your solo will make an impression.
The top 7 clean boost pedals for nice guitar effects
Finding the best guitar boost pedal is not always at the top of the priority list for guitarists. Distortion pedals, Reverb, Fuzz and other effects units often steal the limelight, but that doesn’t mean that your board is complete without a really nice booster. We have selected some of the best pedals in this category, which we believe you should know about.
MXR M133 Micro Amp
If you are looking for a pedal that is easy to use (a knob) and delivers quality sound, the M133 (Micro Amp) from MXR will certainly suit you. 100% analog, the pedal of the American manufacturer will offer you a great boost of dynamics and volume on your solos at the touch of the switch, without significant coloration of the sound.
This is a pure and uncomplicated device that does an excellent job with the only control wheel it has. Connect it to your pedalboard, set the amount of profit you want, and play. A great feature of the MXR M133 Micro Amp is the fact that it fits into any application you have in mind. It even gives additional gain to your distortion pedals.
For simplicity, the Micro Amp is more than versatile; it is one of the most affordable boost pedals whose performance can be worthy of that title. That is the reason why many guitarists chose this model.
Pros
- Highly Compact
- Incredibly affordable
- Boosts and thickens overall sound
- Simple to use
Cons
- Might produce a slight amount of noise when the gain is turned to 12
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TC Electronic Spark Mini Booster Guitar Pedals
Another amazing boost pedal with a single control. The TC Electronic Spark Mini Booster took a proven design and spiced it up a bit. In terms of performance, this little pedal gives you a good dB per euro ratio. There is decent transparency to this effect, and it comes with a true bypass. However, that is not all it has to offer. TC Electronic decided to add another functionality layer by presenting its PrimeTime function.
Despite its sophisticated name, PrimeTime is really quite simple. There is a small switch below the gain button that allows you to choose how the pedal will behave. In position one, it acts like any other foot switch. When you place it in its second position, you switch the pedal switch from on/off mode to press to play mode. This is useful when you only want to increase the short parts of the song. It is not something that all guitarists consider useful, but some will appreciate it.
Pros
- Highly compact unit
- Incredibly affordable
- Sounds fantastic
- ‘PrimeTime foot pedal technology’
- Optional 3-band EQ settings
Cons
- It does not have as many features as the original Spark
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Xotic RC Booster
The Xotic RC Booster is a multi-tool guitar boost pedal. Instead of simply boosting the signal, this amazing booster pedal for electric guitar allows you to select which part of the frequency range you want to increase. This is an excellent guitar pedal for boost or gain. No noise, and plenty of headroom. Adjust your guitar volume for a clean boost, or send your amp into overdrive.
That is possible thanks to a formidable three-band equalizer that is able to apply its settings without affecting the tone. That is the very definition of transparency in guitar effects. With a little creativity and some time on your hands, you can use this reinforcement for a variety of purposes. For us, one of the best boost pedals.
Pros
- Quiet operation
- True bypass
- Great boost
- Good quality
Cons
- Adjusting the second gain may be difficult
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Donner True Bypass Boost Killer Guitar Effect Pedal
The new price of some famous pedals visibly does not please the Chinese, who have decided in recent years to provide the largest number of legendary circuits at a broken price.
In this case, Donner’s Boost Killer is very, very close to the Xotic RC Booster. The same design (four knobs—basses, volume, treble, gain, and true bypass) and even promise the original, namely to keep the transparency of sound in all circumstances.
Although the race of the knobs is not always very progressive and the max gain will not transform your overdrive distortion, the overall quality of the sound is simply bluffing for the price. The Boost Killer is more well built, does not blow, is versatile, and will not disintegrate in a pedal. Whether you are a beginner or not,.
Pros
- Affordable price for a reliable pedal.
- Intuitive and easy operation of the threshold parameter.
- Small size to make room for other pedals on a pedalboard.
- Toggle switch for two modes.
- True bypass circuitry does not interfere with the guitar’s tone.
Cons
- Audible clicking sounds when the pedal is engaged.
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Xotic EP Booster Mini-EQ Effect Pedal
The Xotic EP Booster is one of the most popular boost pedals in the middle, and the legend is not usurped. Based on the famous Maestro EP-3 Echoplex circuit, the pedal has only one knob but can offer up to 20 dB of volume.
Embedded in a shiny black case with the most beautiful effect, the EP Booster will offer anyone who has the means to offer it exceptional sound quality, boosting all frequencies pleasant to the ear. The sound becomes so hot and dynamic that you may even become addicted!
Note that the last Xotic has two switches inside to promote or not certain frequencies and thus change the behavior of the pedal at your convenience.
Pros
- Makes your sound thicker
- Echoplex sound
- Offers plenty of options, compact size
Cons
- It would be better if the EQ was featured on the surface.
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Electro-Harmonix LPB-1
When it comes to guitar effects pedals, Electro-Harmonix is one of the names you can trust, regardless of the type of tone you’re looking for. That said, it is not surprising that the old EH produces one of the oldest and best pedals on the market. In terms of design, it is quite similar to the MXR we talked about earlier, only that it has a bad character. There is only one button to work with.
Unlike other pedals of this type, the Electro-Harmonix LPB-1 not only adds volume and roundness to your tone but also pushes the overdrive of your amplifier. In fact, the circuits found in this model were the basis of some of the oldest overdrive pedals. That’s a lot for a pedal that costs less than two large pizzas.
Pros
- Inexpensive
- Easy to use
- True bypass
- It thickens your sound decently
Cons
- Can get a bit loud
- Does not offer a 100% clean boost
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ZVEX Effects: Super Hard On
Zvex is among the most popular boutique brands on the market. If you wonder why, the answer would be his brutal fuzz box, which practically started the company. Since then, Zvex has been on the mission of bringing us some of the most scandalous effects pedals that nobody else was willing to manufacture.
The definitive feature of Super Hard-On is the level of transparency that this pedal provides. We are talking about an almost imperceptible change that will hardly be noticed even by the most experienced guitarists. This is predominantly a clean impulse unit. They were asked to build a good boost, so they did exactly that.
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Boost Guitar Pedal: Boost By Noise
If you’ve already played guitar in a band with at least one other guitarist (not counting the bassist), you’re probably familiar with the volume dance. When your group sets up to rehearse, record, or give a concert at a live event, you usually do a sound check to make sure the levels are ideal. In a perfect world, it would give you punchy voices, a bass drum, and a snare, with the bass guitar taking the rest of the bass and the guitars floating gently just above the midrange.
Guitarists tend to have problematic egos, though, and I speak both as an egocentric guitarist myself and as someone who has been working as a sound engineer for a few years.
Usually, a guitarist has his amp a little too loud. Without the supervision of a take-no-prisoners engineer, the other guitarist increases the amp to compensate. The only problem is that they often go a little too far—or at least that first guitarist thinks they’ve gone too far, then they get their amp up, and so on—until some sort of run armament destroys the audience’s ability to hear anything but two competing guitars.
In addition to protecting your ears against long-term exposure to high decibel sounds, this dance is another good reason to wear earplugs at small gigs. They do a great job of removing the high frequencies produced by guitars, which allows you to hear a more complete picture of the song than the band had intended.
For the musicians on stage, there is a simple solution to the problem, a solution that can give your picking a little more time when it’s time to shine: this is the boost pedal.
Conclusion
Guitar boost pedals are a very useful piece of your pedalboard, but you must master them. To use these pedals correctly, you need to have a thorough knowledge of not only what they do but also of your equipment. Once you reach that level, you will find that momentum pedals are a real change. The models we have chosen for this purpose are some of the best you can find. There will always be some boutique designs that are incredible but also tend to have exclusive prices. We look for the best deals, and they work.
On the other hand, if you are into soloing, you may wish to experiment with the delay effect using a delay pedal.