Tone Press as Clean Boost?

[notyalcer]

I just posted this at TGP right before I saw this new board...

I have a Tone Press that I am not using much, and inspired by this phrase from the manual that it can be used as "a “class A” clean boost pedal with about 8 db of boost", decided to try it out as such (by turning the blend and sustain knobs all the way CCW and using volume at about 3 c'clock). I am comparing it to an AMZ minibooster I built which is JFET based. The Tone Press has a heavier tone to it, seems to boost the low end more than the highs, but by comparison the AMZ is fairly linear but with a high end emphasis that adds sparkle. I have not tried the TP as boost with the band yet, but it seems like a good flavor to add. I use a boost to buffer and lift the signal a bit, not to slam the input of my amp.

I have two questions: is anyone else using a TP as a simple clean boost with success? and is the gain section of the TP at all similar to either the Launch Pad or B-Buff circuitry? Probably a better question for Mr. Barber, I know. Thanks.

[David Barber]

I just posted this at TGP right before I saw this new board...

I have a Tone Press that I am not using much, and inspired by this phrase from the manual that it can be used as "a “class A” clean boost pedal with about 8 db of boost", decided to try it out as such (by turning the blend and sustain knobs all the way CCW and using volume at about 3 c'clock). I am comparing it to an AMZ minibooster I built which is JFET based. The Tone Press has a heavier tone to it, seems to boost the low end more than the highs, but by comparison the AMZ is fairly linear but with a high end emphasis that adds sparkle. I have not tried the TP as boost with the band yet, but it seems like a good flavor to add. I use a boost to buffer and lift the signal a bit, not to slam the input of my amp.

I have two questions: is anyone else using a TP as a simple clean boost with success? and is the gain section of the TP at all similar to either the Launch Pad or B-Buff circuitry? Probably a better question for Mr. Barber, I know. Thanks.

The Tone Press uses two FET SRPP sections in the "dry" and mixer sections, these are biased and gain staged for headroom and tone as the primary concern. This is a very different approach to SRPP use, than the common "boutique booster" that we see redundantly throughout the hand built pedal landscape. In the Tone Press the SRPP adds lots of sweetness and a slight "tube style" softening that using bipolars or an opamp did not seem able to provide. The Launch Pad has even more headroom and output than the Tone Press, by using a balanced line driver circuit with 24 VDC of supply internally, we can get near perfect rendition of the input reflected at the output, but with lowered impedance and about 20db of available boost.

The Tone Press is usually seen as having a slightly colored sweetness than the LP, and the LP has tremendous output available while staying very clean (most boosts start to clip while going to high boost levels). So you have different flavors and different available boosts at output.

[Thazy]

I've used the TP as a boost into my Vox a few times and liked the results. It's really kind of cool to have both options, compressor or boost for those times when the rig sounds different and I don't need compression. TP into my Silver LTD covers alot of ground for me.