Pete Cornish NB-3

The Pete Cornish NB-3 is a dual purpose pedal from the UK maker Pete Cornish: a Line Driver and Linear Boost in one compact package¹. It is a boost pedal in the literal sense: it raises your signal's level, up to a gain range of 0dB to +30dB, without altering the tone. The maker describes it as allowing "a boost in volume, without any tonal alteration," and states there is no tonal change or phase shift to the boosted signal¹. With a clean amp that means a pure volume increase; into an overdriven amp it pushes extra overdrive².

Each unit is hand built, wired and tested by Pete and Lynda Cornish¹. The design began life as an integral part of Pete Cornish's custom pedalboard and rack systems before becoming a standalone pedal².

What the NB-3 does to your signal

The NB-3 is always in the circuit. When the indicator light is off, it acts as a unity gain buffer amplifier; when the light is on, the pre-selected boost is available at the output¹. Because the boost is set in advance rather than adjusted on the fly, the pedal has no gain knob to ride during a set: you dial in the amount of lift you need and bring it in with the footswitch.

The specifications back up the clean-boost claim. The frequency response is +/- 1dB from 20 Hz to 32 KHz, output noise is -106dBm (10KHz B/W), input impedance is 1 Mohm, and minimum output impedance is 2 Kohm¹.

Controls and switching

The footswitch is a heavy duty all-metal type with a daylight visible LED¹. One thing to understand before buying: this is not a true bypass pedal.

That buffered-always design is the point of a line driver: it keeps a strong, low-impedance signal flowing down long cable runs and through pedalboards, which is why the NB-3 sits alongside the maker's other buffer-equipped designs such as the Pete Cornish LP-2 and Pete Cornish NBM-2.

Power: 9V to 24V

The NB-3 runs on any stabilized, noise free supply voltage between 9Vdc and 24Vdc, with 24Vdc the maximum¹. The supply must be capable of delivering 20mA, and the coax connector is 5.5/2.1mm with a negative center pin¹. Pete Cornish recommends the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus as meeting those criteria, or a BOSS PSA series adapter if only a single unit is powered².

The supply voltage also sets how much level the pedal can put out. With a 9Vdc supply the maximum output is +10dBm/2.4Vrms/6.8 v P/P; at a 24Vdc supply it rises to +19dBm/7Vrms/20v P/P². Players running the pedal as a line driver into long cables or a rack input have a reason to feed it the higher voltage.

Battery or battery free

Two versions exist, and the maker's pages describe both:

The battery is switched on when the INPUT / PWR ON jack is inserted, so unplugging your guitar between sets preserves it¹. The battery free version, as its name suggests, drops the battery entirely and relies on the DC adaptor input².

Build, warranty and price

The pedal is housed in a rugged die-cast box measuring 100 X 120 X 36mm, fitted with a "Chicken-Head" pointer knob¹. Pete Cornish covers the unit for twelve months from the date of purchase against any original manufacturing fault; the warranty is voided if the guarantee labels are damaged or removed, and it is not transferable¹.

The maker's UK price list dated 31 March 2026 lists the NB-3 at 278.45 GBP excluding VAT, or 334.14 GBP including VAT³. The same page reserves the right to change prices to reflect increased material costs³.

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