Electro-Harmonix LPB-2 Linear Power Booster

This unit surprised me. I love the fact it has only one knob control. It dosen't need any more as long as you have a decent tube amp. Using this pedal is very easy

I'm playing with a 98 Fender Lone Star Stratocaster with a Marshall JTM30 (all tube) amplifier. It is a a bit noisy when you aren't playing the strings, so who cares? Righteous feedback makes the ghost of Jimi Hendrix bless your playing! This pedal kicks serious ass. I love that it dosen't change my Marshall sound, just kicks it up to outer space! I play with a Boss Digital Delay and a DOD Stereo Flanger, and it kicks the flanger up. It's great as a boost on the distortion channel, but I like cranking it up on the clean channel. It sounds SO good on the clean channel. Then theres all the choices of pickups. This pedal, in the words of Emeril Lagasse, makes me happy-happy. It was either this or a MXR Distortion Plus. Go for the Electro Harmonix LBP2. Its a piece of history, a piece of gold and relatively inexpensive (70$) compared to all the other vintage pedals. I believe this particular pedal is from 1980 or 81 at the latest.

Sure and sure.

Electro Harmonix I don't believe exists anymore...Unfortunately

I play rock, blues, punk and funk. I've played for 14 years. If it was stolen, I'd be pissed, and I'd scour the land for another one. I love how this pedal almost saturates the tone, but dosen't. It's riding a crest of saturation. God it's an awesome sounding pedal. Sometimes when I'm jamming late at night, and I'm using the neck pickup I'd swear that I'm getting a tone like Jimi Hendrix, or Billy Gibbons (70's era ZZ) Of course I can play maybe half as good as them on a good day, but I got the sound baby, I got the tone! If you see one lying around at a store, grab it. It will make any preamp, distortion pedal, parametric eq, power booster or whatever pedal you have pale in comparison. For a vintage pedal, this thing has great value.

It is easy to use. Has an on/off switch, footswitch and one knob.

After years of being dissatisfied with analog and digital effects I decided that I prefer the true sound of an overdriven tube amp. The LPB-2 won't give me this sound but it does boost my signal going into the amp to provide a stronger tone capability. But that's not the end of the story. I use this in conjunction with a Ton Sholz Power Soak.
The Soak allows my to overdrive the Power amp section at any volume level. The combination of these two units gives me controllable natural amp distortion and volume. I also use a volume pedal for more control. Many pro players have been using this type of set-up for years both in the studio and for live performances. It has been something that has rarely been mentioned.
I am using this with a Fender 1963 Vibroverb re-issue amp.
Neither of these devices will color the sound so all that you hear is natural amp distortion. It can also be set for more toneful clean sounds.

It's over 20 years old and works like new.

The old Electro Harmonix company is long gone.

I play all types of music from Jazz, blues, Pop, hard/soft rock, and beyond.
Been playing for over 30 years.
I would replace it if it were stolen...if I could find one.
I find it to be a necessity in my normal set-up.

This asks for me to rate it's value. Since they are no longer made I can't estimate the value. For me it is indispensable.

The LPB-2 (Linear Power Booster) is the foot pedal version of the LPB-1 (which is just a small box with a volume knob and off/Boost switch). Along with the volume knob and switch, the LPB-2 also comes with a footswitch. The metal case is durable, but you need to remove four screws to replace the battery, so I docked a point for this (although I modified mine to accept a 9volt power supply - utilizing the on/boost switch to toggle between the power supply and the battery). Otherwise it is extremely easy to use.

Just boosts the original signal level, with no coloration of the sound whatsoever. If you crank it all the way up there will be noise, after all it is a booster, and will boost whatever line noise is present. Besides that, much of the noise can be associated with distortion, due to overloading the input of your amp. I especially do NOT recommend using one as a solution for an under powered amp, you will be disappointed. I never have the volume more than half way up, so noise is not a factor for me. In itself, I don't think it adds any noise to the signal path, but it?s not shielded in any way, so it may pick up some interference floating around. If you just don't over crank it, you should be ok. Switching isn?t totally noiseless, but it?s really not all that distracting either.

Bought it in the early 80's and still works. The volume knob is a little scratchy, but that's to be expected. It doesn't bother me enough to get it fixed, and even if it did, it would be easy to do.

The old EH company is no longer around. I bought this thing straight from them, along with a Deluxe Big Muff PI and Small Stone, and they were always really cool. As a matter of fact, I thought they were the coolest company around at the time. I no longer have the Big Muff or Small Stone (they got misplaced at a gig in '85) but now that they are reissued, I have a chance relive my lost childhood!

This is a very simple device that only does one thing, so I suppose it is not a ?must-have? item, but it sure comes in handy when you need a little boost. I mostly use mine now to boost my acoustic on certain songs, to give it more ambiance when my picking is subtler. Add a bit of chorus, a dash of delay, crank the reverb and voila! It fills the room with a certain atmosphere that I could not otherwise get. In this way I use it more as an ?effect? I guess, in tandem with other effects, rather than just to boost arbitrarily, although it does help to boost you for soloing, etc.

If they ever reissued them I would definitely get one, just for the heck of it (especially if they went for the original price of $19 bucks!). If I ever find an original one for a reasonable price I?d probably also get it, otherwise, they?re not really worth all that much. I?m currently getting together all the parts to duplicate it: a couple resistors, a couple capacitors and a transistor. I?ve heard that if you hook a few of these pedals in series you can create a distortion effect, I?m curious about what this sounds like. Anyway, for a cheap, fairly useless pedal, I think it?s kind of cool.