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Sorry if this is a dumb question, but the confidence boost is just a transparent buffer, right?

No, not really. It's a transparent BOOST. That's what the trimpot on the board lets you do--dial the output volume to be greater than the input. It will work at volume level below the input signal volume, although it's obviously not a "boost" when set up that way.

Buffers are generally simple transistor circuits placed (most commonly) at the front of an effect circuit to provide a high input impedance and low output impedance. This keeps the circuit from "loading down" your input source and causing loss of high frequencies. These are usually set up as "unity gain" buffers, i.e. the buffer output volume is the same as the input.

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To add to what DVM already said, in additional to being a boost, the confidence boost does have a buffer at the input and the transistor boost stage is also buffering the signal. If you were to set the trim pot for unity gain, the circuit is effectively working as a buffer; converting a high impedance input signal to a strong, low impedance output signal.

http://byocelectronics.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=30938

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