The Misunderstood Boost Pedal

A boost pedal. Why do you care anyway? What the heck is a boost pedal? How come so many very different pedals are all called boosts? How do I know which boost pedal I need? Do I even need a boost pedal?

All excellent questions, questions that I have asked myself in the past. Since we’re here together, let’s look into this subject.

What is a Boost pedal?

A boost pedal is a design that takes an input signal and uses a circuit to change the level of the output signal. In most cases a boost pedal increases the level of the output signal, but you can actually decrease the level if you choose, although I have yet to figure out a use case for that. Some boost pedals include an eq circuit that allows you to be selective about where the boost happens in the audio spectrum. For this reason, some folks will use an eq pedal as a boost and this does work.

We do need to understand that our brains respond to how we hear at different volume levels and to our ears, tonal response varies at different volume levels, but as I am not an audiologist, I’m going to stop there on that topic.

What are there some many different “boosts”

It really comes down to what the player is looking for. If we go back to the sixties we encounter one of the first boost pedals, the Dallas Rangemaster. It’s not actually a pedal, just a box that sits on the amplifier. It boosts the treble signal and leaves the bass alone, or in some variants, offers the ability to cut the bass while boosting the treble. From this use case we get the term Treble Booster. The Rangemaster was made famous as an integral part of Brian May’s tone on Queen records, but Rory Gallagher and lots of other folks used them in their very straightforward set ups. Since the original Rangemaster, that circuit design has been migrated to stomp boxes with a variety of options. Some have just the one control. Others have switches that move the central frequency where the boost happens or even often different boost options.

The flat boost has no eq. It boosts the signal without impact on any specific frequency range. This full range boost, is often called a full range boost with no irony at all.

You will also encounter boosts with predefined eq curves, boosts that boost bass, boosts that boost midrange and boosts that are simple as well as boosts with amazing and perhaps unnecessary complexity.

How do I know which boost I need/want?

The type of boost that you choose is completely personal, and should be based on what you want to achieve. If you are looking to get that Queen tone, then you need a treble booster and a VOX AC30 and experimentation and practice. Some overdrives are simple boosts and you can even use a boost to push a preamp into overdrive by increasing the signal at the amplifier input. There’s no one right answer.

Placement of the Boost pedal in your chain

Some boost pedal designs are very simple and need to be the very first pedal in your chain, like old style fuzz pedals. Personally I find this limiting and will suggest avoiding boost pedals that are particular about where they go in the chain.

If you put your boost in front of your overdrives, you can push the input of that pedal which will change the inflection point and the character of the overdrive or distortion. Some fuzzes tolerate this pretty well too. In this position, the boost does not have to increase the overall volume of the signal as you will control that in your drive pedals.

If you put your boost after your gain stages, you can use it to raise the overall output signal making the signal to the input of other pedals or your amp louder.

My Preferred Use

The option that I use most of all is a boost with a flat equalization curve, but set at neutral volume. In lots of experimentation, I find that a boost in this state opens up the audio spectrum. It’s not really a dynamic range expander, but creates the feel of a wider space. I’ve tried the boost in front of my gain stages and after my gain stages, and in general am liking it better after the gain stages, as some gain stages sound like they are narrowing the audio space, and the neutral boost puts that back.

Boosts, like most pedals come from a variety of makers with different design intentions. I am going to list the ones that I have bought and kept.

Treble Boost

I like the Frost Giant YOMI best. It’s simple and does the Rangemaster thing extraordinarily well. It’s also inexpensive and while Frost Giant is focused on the fuzz space, I was really thrilled by the effectiveness of the YOMI. Sadly it looks like it might be discontinued.

The Analogman Beano Boost is also nice, and has a switch to focus its boost in the mids or the lows, being designed to be used to push the front end of a tube amp like on the Beano album. I like the Beano Boost particularly into the front of a non master volume tube amp because I can get drive tone without having to crank the amp up to call the cops levels. One really good piece of news is that unlike many other Analogman pedals, the wait is not months/years.

The JAM Pedals Rooster LTD is a very nice boost and as a focus switch for treble or mids or bass. They are hard to get and only come in a bright red leather case. Less expensive than a Rangemaster reissue, and better in my opinion. When you buy a Rooster, you also get a standard metal back plate to make affixing it to your pedal board easier and without needing to damage the standard leather covered back plate.

All are based on the Dallas Rangemaster structure.

Clean Boost

A clean boost doesn’t change the tone, only the level. This is where I find myself most often.

My favourite clean boost is the Xotic RC Booster V2. This is a clean boost with some basic eq function and a second cascaded gain stage. I use mine flat and have rarely kicked in the second gain stage. It does a brilliant job of opening the audio space without colouration of the tone. This is one of those boosts that is ALWAYS ON.

While it is not only a clean boost, this is where I use the JHS Clover all the time. It has three settings on its control knob for No EQ, No Mids Control and Full EQ. There are EQ knobs for bass, treble and mids. JHS calls it a preamp because it has an XLR output and does a nice job for basses and acoustic guitars with pickups. While I bought it for the clean boost when the volume is set to neutral, it does a lovely job between an acoustic with a bitey piezo and your audio interface as a way to deal with the piezo annoyances. You can also run it direct to a PA in this mode. For electric guitars, it’s basically an FET boost, and I don’t recommend using the Clover as your preamp to your interface. I use it always on on the REVV D20 board which itself goes straight to the interface from the head.

Single Coil Boost

In general, I favour lower output single coils over high output ones because I find the high output pickups get nasally going into the front of a really clean amp like a Fender Bassman or Twin Reverb. While I like the opening up of a clean boost, for low output single coils, I bring a tube based secret. That secret is the Effectrode Fire Bottle. This is a tube based boost where the tube is running at full plate voltage. It has a tone and a gain knob. I tend to leave the Tone in the middle and use the guitar’s controls for tone and I turn the gain to give me neutral volume, as on my clean boosts. The difference that shows up is the warmth and breadth that comes from the tube in the Fire Bottle. Effectrode says that the Fire Bottle works fine with humbuckers, and it does. Yet for me, the Fire Bottle is a choice use for humbuckers and an always on for single coils. You can of course use it to overdrive the front end of your amp if you wish and it sounds good in this way, although I prefer to use a separate gain stage to get overdrive so I don’t have to adjust the amp controls when switching back and forth. The only downside is that these things are limited due to limits in the number of the old tubes needed to make them.