TREBLE BOOST PEDALS

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Treble boosters don’t add distortion or clipping of their own, but instead drive guitar amps into overdrive naturally. It is an effect that has been an integral part of many legendary guitarist’s tone formula, and often underrated.

Some of the most iconic early rock, hard rock, and metal tones were created using one of these pedals.

Catalinbread Galileo Booster

Treble boosters originated due to necessity, because many early British guitar amps were voiced relatively dark. (Think Vox AC30 pre “top boost” models.) Anything but the brightest-sounding guitars—even Fender Stratocasters—could easily get lost in the mix.

Coppersound Broadway Treble Booster

Wampler Tumnus Deluxe

Released in 1966, the Rangemaster Treble Booster was effectively a germanium-based pre-amp in a simple box that would sit on top of your amp. Consisting of one germanium transistor (typically a Mullard OC44 or NTK275), three resistors and four capacitors, it sums up the simplicity of the era’s guitar equipment, but the sound it was capable of producing…well, let’s just say it made more than one guitar legend!

Interestingly, the “Treble Booster” name is a bit of a misnomer – it’s not just a case of simply boosting the treble frequencies. Instead, the upper-mid and lower-treble range “feed” the pedal and dictate how much boost it produces: the more high-end signal, the more dBs of gain. There is also no cutting of the bass frequencies like you find in something like a Tubescreamer.

Thorpy FX The Veteran Si V2 Boost

Archer Overdrive and Boost

A few creative designers began making boxes that would boost the guitar signal in the mid and treble frequencies. These devices would greatly alter the tone, by clarifying the guitar signal, because they boosted the signal too.

They also caused the amplifiers to overdrive. And the results were legendary. The following are just a few of the impactful players who used the treble booster/dark amp combo to great “effect.”

MXR Custom Badass

ZVEX Effects Super Hard On Boost

While these devices do focus the tone in the treble frequencies, they also boost the upper midrange and make a guitar cut through the mix in just the right range. Treble boosters are also sensitive to a guitar’s control settings: Rolling back the guitar volume will clean things up quickly and reveal glassy highs that really sparkle.

Treble booster pedals are versatile, and became a very popular effect for many iconic artists. These pedals helped these legendary guitarists, develop their unique sounds, which they are known for. and musical path.

The Penetrator, Treble Boost

TC Electronic ZEUS

When artists like Brian May, Tommi Iommi, or Ritchie Blackmore their guitars, you could recognize each of them, by their sound and style. Treble boosters played a part in creating their tones. It is interesting, that they all used the same effect, but each guitarist sounded completely different.

Vertex Effects Boost

Sabbra Cadabra Boost

TC Electronic SPARK MINI BOOSTER

Playing a loud amp with a treble booster is not the same as playing a modern amp with a ton of preamp gain, or even a clean amp with an overdrive or distortion box. There’s just something so unique and expressive about sending your tone over the top with a treble boost. It could just be the missing link in your tone quest!

Skewer Boost Pedal

If you are trying to create a heavy, overdriven, tube-amp tone, you should consider using a treble booster. Just experimenting with one, will take your tone to levels, you could not have made on your own.

JOYO JF-13 AC Tone

Caline CP-508 Wonderland

If you increase your input signal you will naturally get more distortion. This can be demonstrated by taking two guitars and plugging them into the same amp with the same settings. If one is lower output and the other has high output or active pickups, it will produce a more distorted sound. This happens without any adjustment of the gain control, on the amp.

The creation of treble booster effects, came from a need to brighten up humbucking pickups on particular amps. Brian May used a treble booster, with single coils. He proved that this effect was far more versatile than what it was designed to do.

TC Electronic Rush Booster

La Grange Overdrive Independent Boost

If you are a gigging musician, you may use multiple guitars, during your live performances. You probably noticed, that plugging different guitars, into the same setup, doesn’t always sound the same. This is because of different tone characteristics, when changing between different instruments.

If you’re lacking a bit of treble and bite when switching to a darker instrument you can throw on a treble booster to compensate for that difference.
This same trick works for different tunings, as you can experience a similar loss of treble when changing to a lower tuning.

Handmade GOLD Professional Overdrive Boost

SUNDANCE SPECIAL Boost

These guitarists, while completely unique in their styles, share the Rangemaster as the secret of boosting their cranked British tube amps into a juicy, harmonic-laden rock tone that always cuts through the mix and is ultimately proto-metal.

Artists Who Use Treble Boosters

Brian May
Since the beginning, Brian May has been known for using a treble booster, into a Vox AC30 amp. The normal channel on an AC30 amp produces an unusable, muddy tone. When you run a treble booster through it, it’s time to “Tie Your Mother Down!”
Brian uses the volume control on his Red Special guitar, to increase his sound. Through the use of his set up, May could go from a shimmering, but edgy tone, to a heavy, raunchy and blistering overdrive tone.
Brian May used a Dallas Rangemaster, at first. He now uses custom Rangemaster-style treble boosters, built by Pete Cornish, and Greg Fryer.

Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster

Tony Iommi
Black Sabbath’s guitarist is another legendary player who put the Rangemaster treble booster to good use. Iommi boosted his early Laney amps into a searing, thick distortion, and the results laid the foundations for what would become known as heavy metal.

K.K. Downing & Glenn Tipton
Both Judas Priest 6-stringers utilized a Rangemaster into the normal channel of four-input Marshall 1959 heads, and created some of the most iconic metal riffs of all time. Once again, a perfect balance was achieved by running a treble-boosted hot guitar tone into the often rather muddy, veiled tone of the normal channel on these amps.

Ritchie Blackmore
He’s known for often using high-powered Marshall amps. Many of Blackmore’s iconic recorded tones, like in Machine Head, were made, using treble boosting effects. He has stated that he loves the tones, he has made with a Hornby Skewes treble booster and a Vox AC30. He said that he was always trying to get his Marshalls to sound similar.

These guitarists, while completely unique in their styles, all used the original Rangemaster. It was the secret ingredient, that boosted their cranked, British tube amps into juicy, harmonic-laden rock tones. It was this edge that created their iconic, British, metal sound.

Ghost Electronic Treble Boost

JOYO Dual Crunch

Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster

Caline CP-516 Orange Burst

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