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What is it?
Not just another boost pedal, the SoloDallas SVDS Boost is refreshingly unique, made all the more cool because of its esoteric pedigree. Sometime between the late ’70s and early ’80s, an innovative wireless system called the Schaffer-Vega Diversity System (SVDS) was scooped up by nearly every A-list player.
Angus Young, David Gilmour, Eddie Van Halen and others adopted this unit – not just for the wireless freedom and signal integrity it afforded but for the fact that it seemed to inject a noticeable bump in harmonically rich tone.
A prime example is Young’s SVDS-enhanced lead guitar sound on AC/DC’s Back in Black. Call it the “secret weapon with the secret sauce,” but the SVDS’s state-of-the-art circuit combination of a clean boost, a compressor and an expander (“compander”) – plus enhanced EQ and an optical limiter – made Young’s amplifiers sing with enriched harmonic boost and dynamic range.
Young got that boosted tone by plugging a 1/4-inch cable from the monitor headphone output jack of the SVDS receiver into his Marshall input and cranking the monitor level knob.
In essence, the effect of this clever hack of exploiting the SVDS’s monitor op amp circuit can be heard not only by Young and others, but on many live recordings, from Kiss Alive! to countless Grateful Dead bootlegs.
The SVDS Boost is rugged and robust in construction, and by all appearances, it’s undoubtedly built to last
Now, SoloDallas, a company of passionate tone connoisseurs, has reproduced that exact circuit for the SVDS Boost – a full-frequency boost colored with harmonically rich gain in a pedalboard-friendly mini-pedal.
The SVDS Boost is rugged and robust in construction, and by all appearances, it’s undoubtedly built to last. It’s completely analog and features a high-quality PCB with gold contacts, a heavy-duty footswitch, a bright blue LED, commercial-grade pots and Neutrik input and output jacks. Its sole knob allows for up to 30dB of gain boost.
Under the hood, an internal gain pot (that’s factory set halfway) can either maximize your guitar’s pickup response or be driven to increase even more harmonic clipping.
Specs
- Launch price: $129/£121
- Type: Boost pedal
- Controls: Gain/Volume knob
- Connectivity: 2x 1/4″ input/outputs, center negative power input
- Bypass: True bypass
- Power: 9V DC Center Negative
- Dimensions: 3.5″ x 1.5″ x 1.5″
- Options: None
- Contact: Solodallas
Usability and sounds
What distinguishes the SVDS Boost from other boost pedals is that it does indeed inject analog coloration and refined harmonic content into your guitar tone. On its own, it offers a fattened gain bump and increased output as you dial its knob past unity gain (around 9 o’clock), where the pedal starts to sound sharper and crunchy-crumbly in all the best ways.
Here, backing off your guitar’s volume knob allows the articulation of your playing to become front and center while offering a bolder definition of your guitar’s tone.
But many players will find the SVDS Boost becomes better suited when placed after any of your gain-stage pedals or through the front end of your preamp, where it adds a fair amount of subtly sweetened midrange gusto that’s instantly smile-inducing.
The SVDS’s magic lies in how it boosts with thickened body and extra sustain without squashing the attack as you stack it with overdrives and fuzz pedals – and even juicing the front end of a classic Marshall or cranked Vox.
I was able to nail Young’s string “zing” on the solo of Back in Blackwhere his fast pentatonic runs and droned open strings have a warmly sweetened edge that sings with clarity.
It’s almost impossible not to realize the SVDS’s charm lies with its interaction with pedals and amps, seamlessly coloring it with a touch more saturation, a dollop of compression and a percussive boost.
As a result, it tames all the rough edges organically, while sculpting your tone in a way that brings out all the dynamics of your playing. And who doesn’t want that?
Verdict
Verdict: ★★★★½
Guitar World verdict: The SoloDallas SVDS Boost offers up to 30dB of gain boost, but its superpower is punching your guitar tone with presence, thickened gain and sustain, and percussive harmonics, which truly enriches the dynamic “feel” of your playing.
Hands-on videos
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