Electro-Harmonix LPB-1 Linear Power Booster Pedal

Wow, is all i can say. Boosts the gain stage of my Peavey VTM-60 that's been recapped and retubed with NOS USA glass. I had a decent crunch but this makes the amp sizzle with out taking away the tone like a distortion pedal would. No matter where I turn the knob, it has great sound and tone. I might rewire my 90's Les Paul Classic with passive pick ups, cause my SG with a 57 classic in the neck and SD SH5 in the bridge is way more "musical" now. I have SD Blackouts in the LP, and they sound too bassy, farty even with this pedal.I bought this pedal cause I only have a Morley Tremonti Wah with built in boost. The boost only comes on when the wah is activated, and it seriously put 'ca hones' in my amp. I got tired of having to rock the wah for an hour or two when I practice two to three times a week.I don't normally buy new music equipment, and I only have 2 pedals, one a Boss MT2 I got 22 years ago(and still works, just don't really use anymore), and my Morley wah. I've had multi effects pedalboards from line 6 and digitech, but you can tell a difference in the presence. this pedal doesn't loose any presence, tone, while giving a nice sizzle. If you have active pickups, use an amp simulator, or any digital processing, this pedal might not work out for you. If you have good passive pickups, good tone path to your amp, this pedal will rock. I haven't even popped my Fender Strat out of the case with Texas Specials. I wanna hear them in my signal chain, but the SG is just really groovy at the moment.

I recently purchased an LPB-1 because I had a need for a straight "booster" on my pedal board. Boost pedals, as a concept, are an extremely straightforward concept, but the way they impact tone through an amp depends quite a bit on placement in the signal chain, settings, and the type of amp. With these issues in mind, I struggled a bit to decide between a 4- or 5-star review, since the LPB-1 has some limitations conveying clean, "transparent" boost. But given that EHX has made it extremely affordable ($40) and it functions very well for a particular type of boosted sound, I decided that there was enough "function for value" here to warrant 5 stars.Boosts raise the amount gain in your signal, so the assumption by many is that this makes the audio "louder". While this can be true, particularly if the boost is used later in the signal chain, boosts can just as much increase the saturation of the input signal, and hitting the preamp of a tube amp (or perhaps some modeling amps) may also cause it to overdrive. The EHX LPB-1 has a single knob for adjusting the amount of added gain - there are no tone controls or additional parameters. But, used with other pedals (and the settings on your amp), tone control in a booster is more of a luxury than a necessity.Choosing between boosters can be difficult because you really won't know how they function until you use them with your own rig. I opted for the LPB-1 instead of the MXR Micro Amp (itself a single-knob industry standard) because the LPB-1 tends to be warmer and fuller sounding. On a large, bassy amplifier, this may not be desirable. But on a 10" bright combo amp, such as my Fender Super Champ X2, this is a desirable quality.Some critics of the LPB-1 have noted that the LPB-1 will get "dirtier" more easily than other boost pedals. Some have even noticed that there is a mid boost with overdrive, almost like a Tubescreamer. However, this was a sound I actually wanted, and if you have a amp that can stay clean at high enough volumes, the LPB-1 should add additional saturation and "fullness" to that tone, without making it sound like an overdrive pedal.I think the LPB-1 may make sense for a lot of players who use smaller, brighter amps since it is affordable and pairs well with that type of sound. If your are looking for a boost to stack in front of other overdrive pedals to emphasize for lead work, you could consider the Micro Amp, or something with tone controls like the Micro Amp+ or Blackstar LT Boost. In my case, I have the Soul Food (also made by EHX), which offers a lot of clean boost at low overdrive settings, but is considerably brighter than this LPB-1. Between the two, I should have most of my needs covered. The LPB-1 is a tested and proven classic and a great value for a blues/crunch sound, or to emphasize other pedals by giving them "just a little more".

I tested this pedal on a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier and 4x12 cab setup.This pedal works great if you are boosting on a clean channel or lightly distorted channel where you have alot of headroom for a gain increase.However if you are already in a high gain metal distortion situation stepping on this pedal doesnt have any volume effect, as you have no more headroom to boost into. This is not the pedals fault, but it is important to remember if the pedal doesnt appear to boost volume, you are simply out of headroom and your amp's preamp is going into compression. (atleast thats how it works with tube amps, couldnt say about solid state)This pedal does seem to boost your low end frequency quite a bit, which can be good or bad depending on your style, but I like my boost transparent and to have no effect on my tone, so i did return this to amazon. If you want a pedal that gives a boost without changing the tone, look for something else because this does boost your low to low mid range freq. Aside from that it is quiet (In regards to feedback and hum) and functional. Doesnt effect tone when bypassed.

the best thing about boost pedals is that they boost. you know when you are playing guitar and you think, you know, this just isn't loud enough? and then you think, well i could just turn it up at the amp, but then you realise that you really dont want to lean over or really even move? this pedal is the answer. instant boost with the simple tap of the foot. i would describe the sound from this pedal as a "slightly louder version of what your amp sounded like before". in otherwords it is perfect, (based on the fact that the sound you are boosting was AWESOME but sadly wasn't loud enough). these little bad boys are perfect for smashing your room or small apartments where you cant be quite sure that the neighbours can hear you practice scales, arpeggios or that new nickleback number, with this pedal you can be sure that they can.The best thing about this pedal is that is does what it says. it boosts. send me your money.