Tri Boost

The BYOC Tri-Boost was a pedal designed by BYOC in order to make the "boost" of your choice available to you when playing guitar, bass, or some other instrument. It's characterized by a simple design philosophy and is limited to two knobs and a single tone-selector switch.

Unfortunately, the BYOC Tri-Boost is no longer being made.

Controls

Image from DiscoFreq's Effects Database

• Knob 1 - Level: Controls amount of gain going into and coming out of selected boost transistor. Turn the knob clockwise for louder and "gainier" output.
• Knob 2 - (Rotary Switch): Selects boost to be effected from one of three transistors:
  • "Clean" Boost (BS170 transistor): This is a mosfet transistor and should result in a "smooth" and relatively undistorted gain increase
  • "Linear" Boost (2N5089 transistor): This is a silicon transistor and the boost should resemble an Electro-Harmonix LPB-1.
  • "Germanium" Boost (OC-75 transistor): A germanium boost like the old Dallas-Arbiter RangeMaster. Gain increase is described as "spongy" and "warm".
• Switch 1 - Gain Character: Three-way switch for tone-shaping of gain increase:
  • Left Full Boost: Increases gain across all of the tonal spectrum of the signal.
  • Middle Treble Boost: Increases gain in the signal's high frequencies.
  • Right Middle Boost: Increases gain in the signal's midrange frequencies.
• Footswitch 1 - On/Off: Toggles the pedal between "On" (active), and "Off" (bypassed).

Bypass: True

Like all BYOC pedals, the Tri-Boost has been designed to be True Bypass.

General Information

One thing that's interesting to notice is that the Mosfet portion of the Tri-boost pedal contains the same transistor as the Double SHO Crackle Boost, however, the Tri-Boost just doesn't offer it in a distortion- or overdrive-inducing double-pedal. If you like the mosfet ("clean") boost function from the Tri-boost, but are looking for a bit more "Oomph", consider looking at the Double SHO Crackle Boost. The Double SHO Crackle Boost's pedal ancestry can describe, and when put to use, can help attain on getting even more gain.

Our Tri-Boost has already had the Mosfet "clean" boost internal control adjusted to the optimal point for the Mosfet boost to be clean across the entirety of the output level control sweep. ...And yes, this internal trimpot affects only the clean boost portion of the pedal. If you wish to have even more gain with a mosfet tone structure, please don't hesitate to look at one of our Jeds Peds Double SHO Crackle Boost pedals.

Phase Inversion: Yes

Like most Boost pedals, and regardless of the boost mode selected (clean, linear, germanium), because each boost path through the pedal only involves a single transistor amplification stage, the Tri-Boost will invert the phase of any signal going into, and therefore coming out of it.

Clean (Mosfet) Boost

Schematic ID	Electronic Part	Action	Phase State
Q1	BS170	Inverts	Inverted

Linear (Silicon) Boost

Schematic ID	Electronic Part	Action	Phase State
Q2	2N5089	Inverts	Inverted

Rangey (Germanium) Boost

Schematic ID	Electronic Part	Action	Phase State
Q3	OC-75	Inverts	Inverted

Pedal Manual

As of this time, BYOC has not issued a separate manual on how to use the pedal. The best references are either this wiki page, or the build instruction manual (linked just below *and* also available...) at Buildyourownclone.com which describes the architecture of, and how to build the pedal.

Schematic

Please note that the original Tri-Boost calls for a 2N5088 silicon transistor. We have instead opted for the 2N5089 transistor, which has both a higher gain AND a quieter noise floor. This change can lead to a set of slightly different gain characteristics when linear boost mode is selected, but shouldn't be radical enough to be noticed in a band rehearsal or performance situation. Please note that from our perspective of pedal performance, the 2N5089 was chosen first for the quieter noise floor, then secondarily for the increase in gain; not vice-versa.

© Copyright 2007, BYOC LLC.

Artists

We are currently unaware of any artists actively using the pedal now, or who have in the past.

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Additional Sources