Seymour Duncan SFX-01 Pickup Booster

This is the first Seymore Duncan Pickup Booster, the SFX-1 Pickup Booster. I have one as the first thing my guitar plugs into to take advantage of the pickup enhancement mode. The signal then goes into a Decibel Eleven Loop Expander that has a Buffer, then a Digitech RP-12, Digitech RP-1, then into another Seymour Duncan SFX-1 Pickup Booster with the toggle switch set to zero to drive my pedalboards signal 9dB's up with out altering my tone .
I run both SD SFX-1's at 12 volts to get more out of them, instead of 9 volts, fed from my Decibel Eleven Hot Stone Deluxe for the cleanest sound possible.
There is only one chicken head knob for raising the volume / gain boost , 6dB's to a whopping 25dB's.
You can use it to add girth and gain to your overdrive, distortion or fuzz foot pedals, make your tubes sizzle harder when you go past 10 o'clock or just use it for pickup enhancement.
The switch is 1,0 or 2.
# 1 will give single coils a hot rodded P90ish kick but still retain the Classic Strat Quack.

# 0 will only give you only un altered boost that is dictated by the gain knob and # 2 will give your single coil pickups the drive of a medium drive of 12k ohms pickup or maybe 13k ohms.
If you love to drive your humbuckers slightly harder, use mode 1, unaltered w/ boost use mode 0 or if you want to make your passive humbucker pickup have the drive of a pickup ranging 18k ohms to 23k ohms, use mode #2.
The older Seymour Duncan Pickup Boosters, like the SFX-1, boost range goes from 6dB's to 25dB's, while the current version goes from 0db's with pickup enhancement mode and up to 25dB's of with or with out pickup enhancement .

I tried the newer ones, but I like the sounds of the older SFX-1 Pickup Boosters much better. They seem to hit the two tubes of my Digitech 2112 SGS and the tubes in my two VHT Valvulators 1's, like an extra tube before going into two Crate Power Blocks.

If you get any version of the Pickup Boosters, get two , one as the first thing your guitar plugs into, to enjoy the pickup enhancement. And the second one to drive your signal hotter to you rack and or amps .

You may not need to get new pickups, this unique Booster, will illiminate the need of more aggressive sounding pickups.

This is the small red box pedal but out by Seymour Duncan. What does it do? It boosts your signal anywhere from 6 db up to 25 db of clean, flat signal.



I bought it as sort of an impulse buy to try out in the studio. I paid $80 with free shipping from Sweetwater's website.



It is a no nonsense pedal. No extra EQ or drive buttons. So I really enjoy the simplicity.



None at all. If you crank it up you will get some added noise, but hey what can you expect, if there is noise in your signal this pedal will amplify it.

The resonance control does not really do a whole lot for me. It is supposed to make a single coil pickup sound more like a humbucker. I do not hear much of a difference, maybe that is just my ears.

Well built. Knob is solid and this pedal can take a few good stomps.

A great option to consider if you do not feel like taking your guitar apart and putting new pickups in. Maybe you play a vintage guitar and are looking for just a little more juice to send to your amp.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

This was S/D's first foray into the stomp box market and it has been a unqualified hit. Note to fuzz/distortion/overdrive addicts. THIS IS NOT A FUZZ BOX. It's a nice little metal box with the holy trio of a knob a switch and button. Comes in a pleasing blood red color and feels like it was built to military specs for rugged, macho construction.



I've played in bands for 25 years and played for 30 years or better. Yup. I'm old!! I've recorded and toured and put an instrumental CD to #2 on the Amazon indie charts: Project Twelve(34). I currently play in two classic rock bands in western PA. My musical tastes run from Zep/NIN/The Police/Jeff Beck/TOOL/Aerosmith. I own a Gibson Les Paul Classic, Gibson Gothic Explorer, ESP K500, Fernandes LE-1, Fender Strat, couple of Yamaha electrics etc. Amps are Marshall, Fender, Gallien Krueger, Hughes and Kettner and Tech 21

Picked this up at the now defunct Music Go Round in Pittsburgh. It costed me a whole $65.00 and that's all I have to say about that.

Here's what it does and it does these things well: It provides a clean boost of anywhere from 6 to 25 db complements of a big ol chicken head knob. It also has a little dip switch that colors your tone slightly. Or not. In the (1)position, it gives a single coil a bit of a vintage humbucker sound. I use fairly high output humbuckers and use this setting when kicking up leads. For me it adds a little Billy Gibbons tasting boost/compression. The (0)position is just a boost with no coloration. The (2) setting gives a little more of a higher gain humbucking tone all of the settings are quite useful and musical as long as know what you're getting into. According to Seymour, the unit was designed with single coil players in mind. I'm not often in that group but have still found this feller to be muy useful. The unit can be operated via battery or by 9 volt adaptor. The SFX-01 has a nice bright status light so you know when it's on. Good call there! Unit is small and the jacks are well made.

What's not to like. Just know that if you have noisy pickups, or are prone to feedback issues, 25db of boost will only compound these..... in spades.

High quality all around. Could be used as a self defense weapon.

Assaults the preamp section of an amp like a mother! Colors your sound in a musical way. Good tool for live players.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I am totally in love with my Strat, and I'm struggling because I don't always feel like bringing a Les Paul to my gigs (it's temperamental). I really think that this pedal is my saving grace. Basically, the main draw of this feature, besides functioning as a standard gain boost, is that it has settings that will allow your single coil pickups to function more as a humbucker. This is amazing. It's an analog effect, it isn't rackable and it has true bypass. There are no computer or midi functions, just a standard 1/4" input and output.

UTILIZATION

This is a really easy function. There is a switch with three settings. The top setting changes the sound of your pickups (which are presumably single-coil) to a tone that resembles more of a vintage-style humbucker (think the classic p-90). The bottom setting does a similar thing but makes it sound more like a newer, super-high gain humbucker. The middle setting allows the pedal to function simply as a gain boost. The knob controls the amount of gain boost added on all settings.

SOUND QUALITY

I use this primarily with Strats and Teles (ones that have the traditional single-coils in them). I like the sound best with Fender amps too. The pedal basically functions as a pre-amp, and does color the signal a lot, but that's the idea behind it. It does it in a good way all around. The thing is no joke, it really does allow your pickups to work like humbuckers, and the fact that it distinguishes between the vintage and newer styles is awesome. The gain boost on all settings is also phenomenal, it adds more volume and a serious raw power to the sound that absolutely kills.

OVERALL OPINION

I really liked the fact that this pedal can improve the functionality of my Strat and Tele. The price is also amazing for how useful the pedal is. I can only recommend this people who sometimes need more raw power from their single-coils. It's certainly easier than buying another guitar.