Ceriatone Forum

Has anyone had any luck with a clean boost or volume pedal in the nake fx loop (no kleinulator, etc), to boost the volume of an overdriven signal in this amp?

Its better to use any clean boost/ volume pedal in front of the amp :)

Not when it is overdriven...just adds gain...  ;) Again, this is for a clean volume boost. My fulltone doesn't seem to do the job in this loop.

 So the amps OD isn't enough for you?  Curious what style amp do you have? e.i. Non-Hrm, HRM etc. ?

 Or do you just want to adjust gain levels on the fly?

 If you use a Vol. pedal in the loop w/ out a D-lator/Klein and you have it on the floor you will most likely get signal loss w/ long cable lenths. I can't say 1st hand about using a clean boost in the loop. If you utilize the PAB the right way it's sole intention was you shouldn't have any problems. It boosts gain levels and lets you cut through the mix (Clean or OD).

Alright, let me explain further.

I use the overdrive on the amp. I have the OD pot at about 10'oclock and have my OD settings both at noon or so, and the preamp volume on 3-4.

What I need is a clean volume boost (hence the fulltone) to boost my volume in live scenarios. No, it can't go in front of the amp. This just adds overdrive to the already pushed preamp.

I'm wondering what can be used in the loop without the kleinulator in order to boost the signal.

Cables lenghts are NOT an issue - i have good quality cables that have been measured up and loose less at 40' than a low quality 15' cable does on its own.

Thanks guys...

Check out pickmasters boost mod.

I'm thinking maybe modifying the loop to take a clean boost pedal better. Any thoughts?

yes. It won't work without a Kleinulator or similar.

Here's the mod I mentioned. It applies to the clean channel but there's no reason you couldn't mod it to work on the ratio pot.
http://ceriatoneforum.com/index.php?topic=740.msg5657#msg5657 (http://ceriatoneforum.com/index.php?topic=740.msg5657#msg5657)

Youre amp doesnt have PAB? Thats what it's for ;D

I've had the same thoughts about trying this - in effect what you want to achieve is the equivalent of tunring up the amps master but through the use of either a footswitch (activate clean boost) or volume pedal.
The FX return on the OTS is post Master Volume and feeds straight into the phase inverter so it's the right place to make this change. However, you cannot successfully place FX units into this loop without using a Klein or C-Lator. The basic problem is impedance mismatch where the Volume Pedal / Clean Boost unit 'load down' the output of V2B (2nd clean triode) and the input to V3 (phase inverter). Doesn't matter how good your cables are, you will have a noticable impact on the tone (reduced highs, unwanted distortion).that's my take on the scenario.

Spot the mistake - V2 is the OD valve. The impact is the same, without buffering the signal with a cathode follower, you will load V2 and compromise your tone.

What I don't understand is: Why can't I modify this passive fx loop to be similar to my early (series I ptp) budda SD30 passive fx loop? Everything worked fine in that amp...

I'm thinking a footswitchable second master volume may be the best solution...similar to the early JCM 900 in functionality. A footswitch uses a relay to switch between two MV pots.

I constantly leave the eq gainstack bypassed ("boost") on.

Any thoughts?

It's worth trying this (without an active boost pedal that is).

If you set the master volume to the 'loudest level' that you require and then insert a passive volume pedal to take it down from there.

You will need to choose the Pot Value in the pedal carefully - this is where my expertise runs out but I'd say that something around 500K would be good. I'm sure others will jump in and tell me that this is wrong!!

I use my Rocktron Xpression to get a (clean) boost. I have 2 sets of patches. The second set is the same but the level is set higher. So with my midi controler I can switch to the louder patch. works well.
The Xpression has an internal mixer where the dry signal stays analog. Only the wet signal goes through an A/D converter.