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Well I'm not a stick everything on 11 type of guy.   I just like to have my levels "correct" going in and a little shaping if possible on my guitar. A lot of what I did to that 5150 was bleed off some gain between stages to take care of the fizzies and it's overcompressed nature. I'm a nut about hitting things the way I want. High gain, yes, but not mushy in the slightest. Crispy. Like this(it's tame): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7jfigffl1U

So noise on the Fatpants... Anyone have experience to share? Good? Bad? OK, but manageable? Anyone have a Fatpants AND a Thunderpuss?

I have found midboosts useful in certain situations, but this one's gotta be pretty flat. BKP Aftermath plus Wenge neck and body = mid city. I think I may be looking at the Fatpants here for this one as a final decision. Extra sparkle up top and some bass if it's needed and I've got the tip on it being very low noise so as long as that holds up, should be in the land of good tone. Anyone care to comment on Fatpants and noise?

Modded myself. There's no way I'm paying $400 for a handful of components that I'll end up fine tuning anyways.

Have a bias mod, mid sweep, the noise reduction from the XXX/JSX/Rockmaster Pre installed(which is exactly what FJA does. It's a 3 component mod. 2 diodes and either a fixed or a pot), general revoicing of the input and gain stages and a conversion of the rhythm channel into a second lead that isn't nearly as stiff or thick as the original lead, which I play rhythm with. I use a fendery DIY tube pre for cleans because there's no use pretending the 5150 will ever have a great sounding clean without major sacrifice or surgery. The first unit in my rack is dual input so I use a buffered ABY pedal circuit to switch between the clean pre and the 5150 pre. Best set up I've had yet and it didn't cost a fortune like my former ENGL head.

Can I run the Thunderpuss on 18V? Are there benefits to be had?

Going to be fed off the same battery that feeds the piezo buffer and I was just never going to turn it off. I never turn my PA2 off though it's set very low. I'm also looking into a Jackson JE1000 gain booster. Looking at the Thunderpuss scheme with fresh eyes leaves me thinking that may be the solution as well. Nothing fancy, just a hotter signal and easily manipulated for tonal change. I think if I work a highpass set around 50-60HZ into the Thunderpuss(I am really liking that name for some reason), that will be good for me. Keep the unusable mud outta my damn signal. Thunderpuss.

Yob, yob, yob, yob. Sesame Street up there.

My name's Ryan.

I'm looking to add a small circuit to my guitar build for an on-board boost. So far I'm seeing the Fatpants and the SHO as top contenders. If it doesn't fit in 1590a, it's too big. I'd like to skip a traditional volume knob ala EVH and be able to turn the signal off with the boost gain/volume.
I'm gonna try to lay it all out here for my signal chain on this situation:

BKP Aftermath bridge and Cold Sweat neck, around 15k on the bridge and 12k on the neck.
DIY Tubescreamerish OD
Heavily modded 5150. It's close to an ENGL Fireball in it's tight bass response and the fizz and noise has been reduced dramatically.
Playing tight, thick aggressive metal. Mostly palm mutes and pinch harmonics.
Needs to be low noise, if possible.
Don't need gobs of extra volume.
Looking for an open top end and a tight bottom, but a thick sound with open chording.
Trying to stay away from any kind of low end smudging, high-end brittleness or mid-boosting/notches. Just looking for some "more."

Thanks guys, I appreciate your opinions.

A lot of people are jumping on the $2.99 piezo elements from Radio Shack(or the equivalent from wherever) as they do sound quite good with a decent buffer or preamp. I think this would make a lot of people happy and create revenue, if the product was well designed.