Analogman has faithfully recreated the 1960s British Dallas Rangemaster in the Beano Boost, a germanium based treble boost. Typically when you think of an electric guitar tone, the last thing you’d want to boost is the treble frequencies. At least, that is what you would likely be thinking if you haven’t tried out one of these little gems. The original Rangemasters were used to boost the darker British amps of the 60s into lovely singing sustain, helping them cut through the mix and sit in the right frequency range. Today they still do that very thing in spades, but the tone genius that is Analog Mike has realized that today’s guitarists have a lot more choice in the amps they use and all the treble may not be what they always want. In his unrelenting tweaking he has added a frequency switch to allow you to focus the boost more to the mid or low range of the guitar in case you already are running a bright Tele into a Vox amp, for example.
Now before you go and switch off the default treble setting, I implore you to give it a shot first as there is some method to the madness that is a treble booster. When the treble frequencies are boosted into an already cranked and compressing amplifier, something special and perhaps unexpected happens. The treble compresses even more, making it creamy smooth, while the rest of the frequencies get a boost as well bringing them up closer to the treble volume in the mix. The final results being a creamy over-driven amp that is perceived to have less treble. Go figure.
If you amp isn’t to the point of compression (hello Silverface Twin Reverb), then switch the tone to either the mid or low settings (based on your guitar) and you get a huge range of volume boost with some of that almost fuzz like compression and gain boost. Alternative run this pedal into the front of another low-medium gain pedal and hold on to the smooth, thick almost fuzzy goodness.
A final note, this pedal is germanium based and as such does best when your guitar is the only thing in front of it. Crank it up and you get that beautiful volume sensitivity that lets you turn down the gain from your guitar without affecting the overall volume of the signal much. Of course, there are no rules, so try it out anywhere in your rig that you want; throw it behind your other pedals as a final volume boost with some thickness and it will still do just fine.
Here it is, the Stratocaster that I often refer to as “the first”, “the original”or if I’m channeling my inner Stevie, my “Number One”