My “clean” boost pedal. It used to sound good. What happened?

Last week I posed the question to guitarists and bassists on how they achieve their “perfect” sound. This Facebook thread contains the replies, of which there were many different opinions. One consensus was that a “perfect” tone will never be found and you should expect to find it at your detriment. But the “hunt,” as Robert Eugene Bradley puts it, is a welcomed process.

So in this follow up post, now that we’ve determined “perfect” isn’t something quantifiable, I’d like to explore the idea of interesting, innovative or just plain weird techniques used in order to achieve a purpose in your sound.

Local H’s Scott Lucas has half of a P-Bass pickup installed in his guitars to capture the sound of the A and low E strings. He did this to effectively replace a bass player and give their two-piece group a huge sound.

While infinitely less interesting or innovative, I was recently in need of a clean type boost pedal for a few select parts of our live set. After spending some time online weighing the options of a new purchase, I realized I could reappropriate my old (and awful sounding) Boss ODB-3 bass overdrive pedal to act as a boost. It’s worked perfectly and I saved money in the process.

I’m sure you out there on the Internet have some interesting musical fixes, so I’m going to pose the question on Facebook again to find some responses.

-RB

Picture Atlantic supports Local H at Bottom of the Hill, Sunday, April 14. 21+, 8:30pm doors. Advance tickets are available here for $12.