Boost Pedals

A boost pedal is typically used to increase the volume of a guitar’s signal. Many players therefore engage boost pedals for solos, to ensure that they are heard in a band mix. However, some guitarists use boost pedals to drive more gain from their amp and achieve a more saturated sound.

A boost pedal simply increases the level of your guitar’s signal whereas an overdrive pedal adds gain and volume to it. An overdrive pedal uses a clipping circuit in order to push your signal into distortion, which is something that a boost pedal generally lacks in order to keep your signal sounding clean.

Running a boost pedal into the front end of a clean amp will increase its volume, but using one into a distorted amplifier will simply add more gain. Placing a boost pedal before distortion or overdrive stompboxes will have a similar effect - creating a more saturated tone. Many players therefore use boost pedals in their amp’s effects loop instead, which will purely increase the overall output.