Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster User Manual

-PICKUP BOOSTER-

HIGH DEF BOOST

& LINE DRIVER

USER’S GUIDE

Hi-Def Boost & Line Driver

Congratulations, and thank you for your purchase of the Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster. This
pedal is the only effects pedal designed specifically to work together with the pickups in your
instrument to achieve optimum gain and resonance for all types of tone applications.

The new Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster is a re-issue of our original pedal, but with a few key
upgrades. The pedal retains the all discrete, class A, low-noise circuit design but the Gain control
now can be turned down to unity (0dB). Also, we added a discrete push-pull output stage that
increases the drive capability. So even if you have the Gain knob down at 0dB, your signal chain
will sound cleaner overall by compensating for the dulling tonal effect of long cable lengths. This
low impedance output stage is capable of driving very long cable runs.

HOW IT WORKS

1 Gain - This is the Pickup Booster’s primary control. By rotating it fully counter-clockwise, the

pedal acts as an ultra clean, transparent buffer at unity gain (0dB). Rotating the Gain knob fully
clockwise provides 25dB of clean boost. This range of Gain control provides the flexibility to boost
the signal in a long or “saggy” effects chain, drive long cable runs back to the amp, push the front­end of a tube amp a little harder for more saturation, instantly punch up the level for solos, or
balance the output between guitars or even between different pickups on the same guitar!

HOW IT WORKS (cont.)

2 Resonance Switch - The Resonance Switch interacts

directly with your pickups, so it is only active when
connected directly to the guitar. The Resonance Switch
was designed for electric guitarists who use single coil
pickups of the type typically found on Strat® or Tele®
guitars. By engaging the Resonance Switch, the resonant
peak of a pickup can be lowered, making a single coil
sound closer to a vintage humbucker or a high-output
humbucker. There are three settings on this switch, marked
“1”, “0” and “2”. The effect of these settings is as follows:

Setting 1 (up): A single coil pickup sounds like a vintage
humbucker.

Setting 0 (middle): The tone of your pickup remains
unaltered.

Setting 2 (down): A single coil pickup sounds like a
high-output humbucker.

Note: The effect of this switch will not be as evident with
humbuckers through high-gain amps as it will with single
coil pickups through lower-gain amps. Also, the Resonance
Switch interacts directly with your pickups and so this pedal
must be the first device in your chain. If you have
isolated the connection to your pickup by placing
another pedal, tuner, on-board circuitry or wireless
unit in between, this feature will not have any
effect on your tone. The same holds true for active pickups,
since the preamp isolates the coils from the pedal.

7

(on back panel)

6

5 4

1

3

2