Electro-harmonix Lpb-1 Linear Power Booster Review
Information
Original author: JVM
Weapon: Pedal
Make: Electro-harmonix
Model: Lpb-1 Linear Power Booster
Price: $39
Overall Impression
The EHX LPB-1 is a very basic and simple stomp box.
"The Nano LPB-1 Linear Power Booster. An exact recreation of the original LPB-1 circuit, which ushered in the age of overdrive in 1968. Put the LPB-1 in front of any effect to dramatically increase definition from its cleaner and heavier input drive. Control the gain and saturation of any amp. The LPB-1 puts impact into your tone." - ehx.com
This little box proves that there is beauty in simplicity. There honestly isn't that much to tell. There's one knob, clearly labeled "boost", an off/on indication light, and a footswitch. It's metal and won't break on you. If you need some oomph in your tone, and thats ALL you want, no fancy extras, this is the pedal for you.
It's true bypass and does not color your tone in the least when not engaged. As you turn the knob clockwise, the gain, volume and sustain of your tone increases. It's great for putting on the clean channel of a tube or solid state amp to push it into overdrive, and it's a sweet overdrive. It also sounds great when you've already got some gain going, and you just want to give it that extra push.
The battery life is great, but of course you don't want to leave it plugged in or it will drain. There is an adapter, not included.
Personally, I use it quite often even when I don't need a big boost. It's not JUST a boost pedal, it's an enhancement pedal, it makes what you play sound better, clearer, etc. An awesomeness pedal, if you will.
You can get similar products, for example the Voodoo Labs sparkle drive sounds great as well. But not at this price.
10/10 - it does exactly what you expect, and sounds great.
Go out and get one!
Sound
Here's some sound clips! These are all through my toneport and have similar characteristics when used through pretty much any solid state amp I've tried. The pedal reacts differently to tube amps, so I'll add some clips of that when I can (though I can only crank up my amp when no one is around So I'll do that later).
lpb1_solidstate_chordboost.mp3
As you can hear, the cranked pedal is almost TOO much on a solid state - personally I think it sounds better on a tube amp but hey thats just me Too muddy for my tastes, but thats kind of a solid state thing to my ears. Also please excuse the sloppy playing on the second one, there was an open E string ringing a little bit that made it sound more muddy than it should have.
