Lomo Boost Pedal

The boost pedal is one of the first things Jon ever built. While working in Denmark Street in the 90s he was lucky enough to be surrounded by beautiful vintage gear including some great British and American valve amps. Having tried loads of these amps with a couple of old boost pedals he decided he would make himself a boost pedal and make a couple for other people who were interested.

So, off he went up Tottenham Court road to try to buy the bits he’d need. Along the way messages got mixed, bits that weren’t available had to be substituted for the nearest thing he could find and what had been planned turned into something just a little bit different. The pedal that came out of it was the kind of happy accident that can only happen when you don’t quite have enough knowledge to stop you trying something.

The pedal uses a PNP transistor in an upside down circuit which gives the pedal a low input impeadence and a medium output impeadence, hence Lo – Mo, LOw in – Medium Out. Some people might tell you that technically this shouldn’t work but it’s one of those occasions when what shouldn’t work just sounds great. The medium impeadence output works great straight into valve amps. The low impeadence input pulls down the guitar signal ever so slightly and tubbies up your tone when the boost is on, smoothing out the highs.

Current Lomo Boost, 2010s, 2000’s and 1990s.