I needed something to raise the volume on my newly installed passive inexpensive shadow double piezo pickups on all my Gypsy Jazz guitars for a seamless non-intrusive no mod amplification solution for these instruments. Also I wanted it in pedal form for my portable pedalboard.
Piezos are generally very quiet, my Headrush pedalboard has some amplification at the input but it was not enough.
I decided to go for the HB Pre since it packs all the features I would need such as Gain, Tone, Volume plus DI balanced out and it has chorus and verb, which I won't be using much but is nice to have.
The quality of the pedal is good, the knobs feel very good, they have a bit of resistance when you move them. The box itself is metal, very sturdy pedal, as any other from Boss etc...
The sound quality is very good. Only if you raise the High tone all the way up you hear some noticeable hiss, but at 3/4 or less is silent (I have it at 3 o clock)
The unit's signal (tested with studio headphones) is very clean, is certainly usable. Every Pre amp in general will introduce a tad of hiss and I would say this unit is certainly clean enough to use Live and even in the studio.
The verb sound is not "the best" but it can be a fun FX if you're creative. Would work wonders in reggae since is kinda grainy.
The Chorus is VERY usable. Quite cool to use with an acoustic when set slow and almost not there.
The phase switch works, is just a phase switch.
I like you can switch everything in and out of the signal, in that way you can be sure the sound is clean and unprocessed if you need.
So, there you go. Give it a try if you are wondering. I will keep mine.
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