MI Audio
Category Archive: Boost ‘n’ Buff
NEW BOOST ‘N’ BUFF V.3 COMPLETE!
The new case design for the Boost 'n' Buff v.3 is now in stock. The circuit is finalised and ready to go into production and should hit the street in a month. You can read about the re-design in this previous blog post: http://www.mieffects.com/
NEW BOOST ‘N’ BUFF MINI AND NEW BOOST ‘N’ BUFF V.3
A couple of months ago, we started a Facebook discussion on boost pedals. I was looking at re-designing the Boost 'n' Buff and wanted to make THE booster. We got some great feedback on the matter and it became clear that there were two main uses of boost. Some of you prefer the loud, super-clean, super-simple boost, and others preferred boost with some EQ control to add some sparkle to your tone. So, naturally, I decided to design two Boost 'n' Buffs!
Since discontinuing the first version of our Boost 'n' Buff, we have had a lot of people asking for that simple one-knobber to return - and so it has, in the form of the new Boost 'n' Buff Mini. So the same Class A transistor design was packed into the small, finger-size "1590A" sized enclosure with the same feature set; buffer mode in bypass and +40dB boost when engaged. A flat booster for the lower range of the gain control, and treble booster for the higher range. But one added feature gives the Boost 'n' Buff Mini something extra. A voltage doubling circuit has also been added to provide the boost circuitry with 18V. This means that when 9V DC is added by power jack (the small size doesn't allow for battery), the circuit is supplied, internally, with 18V. This gives more headroom and extra top-end sparkle to your signal - all in a tiny enclosure that could fit on any pedal board.
I then wanted to add an EQ feature to the Boost 'n' Buff so that it could have the flexibility to be integrated into any set-up. However, I also wanted to avoid the large knob count my pedals tend to have. So a neat solution involved adding a three-way mini toggle switch to select between three tone-shaping options, whilst still keeping the same VOLUME and GAIN layout from Boost 'n' Buff v.2.
The EQ options are:
- FULL BOOST - This is a full frequency boost regardless of the gain and volume settings. It not only boosts the volume, but seems to really lift your tone as well. It's difficult to explain. You've just got to feel it.
- TREBLE BOOST - I tuned this mode to be a more of a dramatic treble boost than the stock Boost 'n' Buff. I figured that if the full boost option is now available, then it would be possible to make the treble function a bit more prominent.
- MID BOOST - This came about because I quite liked how the treble boost pushed an already overdriven amp, but for some amps, I found that too much top end made the tone too harsh (For others it was fine). So by rolling off some of the highest frequencies, and beefing up the mids, we were able to get the extra gain, cut and richness, but without the ice-pick.
As well as the added EQ feature, I also added a voltage tripling circuit to boost the pedal's operating voltage to ~27V! Unlike the Boost 'n' Buff Mini, v.3 does have room for a 9V battery, and will internally triple the supply voltage of either battery or DC adaptor supply.
Here is a demo we recorded of the prototype Boost 'n' Buff version 3. We tried to show the amount of boost on tap and the different EQ voicings for each of the three modes into the clean and overdrive channel.