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Treble Boosters!

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  • Treble Boosters!

    Hey all!

    Do any of you use treble boosters? If so, which / how?

    I've always loved the tones of guys like Tony Iommi, Ritchie Blackmore, and Brian May, who famously used treble boosters. However, I always found the treble booster concept a bit odd – how would your tone not become piercing and harsh? I would have experimented with a treble booster, but there aren't too many affordable options out there (or so it seemed).

    Well, I was reading up on some of the features in the Prince of Tone, and I realized that I never properly played with the treble trim pot. With that in mind, I popped it open, cranked the treble trim pot all the way clockwise, and set it to a light overdrive. Now, it essentially drives the treble frequencies disproportionately, and WOW!

    Now, on its own, it DOES sound harsh and a bit too biting, BUT, when used upstream of another kind of a dirt (e.g., my blackstar's gain channel, or a tube screamer, or a klon style light overdrive), the extra treble kick sounds FANTASTIC! It adds saturation and thickness to your high end, and actually ADDS clarity rather than making it muddier the way gain typically does!

    Anyway, I've found a new use for my PoT, which I was actually considering selling before now. Before, it was another very good overdrive pedal to me that did a good job of preserving the natural sound of your guitar, but it also didn't offer anything special that I didn't get in another dirtbox. Now, its in a completely different location in my signal chain, and scratches a different itch I'd never addressed before!
    Gibson LP, Burstbucker 3 A6, 490R A4
    Gibson LP, Pearly Gates A6, Sentient A4
    Gibson LP BFG, Burstbucker A8, P90
    Gibson SG special T, GFS Crunchy Mini, Gibson mini A3
    Strat SSS, SD STK-6 , SSL1 middle, Bootstrap Sparkle Neck
    Strat HSS hardtail, Perpetual Burn A6, Bootstrap Sparkle mid/neck
    Tele, DMZ Area Hot T, Gibson Mini A3
    Tele, DMZ Pegasus A2, Gibson Mini A3
    Jackson V, SD Pegasus bridge, 490R A5
    PRS SE CU24: Air Norton A2, 490R A3

  • #2
    Re: Treble Boosters!

    I haven't had a lot of luck with them...but if I was using a 200 watt Marshall Major, I might need it. I simply didn't use the volume and power a lot of these guitarists (some of my favs) used. With more modern amps, there seemed to be better ways to hit the input. And that was the only real booster pedal that they had access to other than fuzz.
    Administrator of the SDUGF

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    • #3
      Re: Treble Boosters!

      i have a treble booster build into an old fire alarm box. in general i dont care for treble boosters but i have a small 12w combo that sounds great turned up and is manageable volume. there are times i wish it had a big more gain and the treble booster works perfectly in this situation. it boosts treble and output, probably adds a bit of gain by itself, but also cuts bottom so the bass doesnt turn to mush. this is kinda what the old school guys did too, cranked amp with treble booster to get more gain but not turn to mush

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      • #4
        Re: Treble Boosters!

        Why it does not become too piercing is probably because guitar amps pretty much stop at 8k, and start already drop at 5-6k.
        I find Marshall Presence work in that upper area - and dragging that up become piercing.

        It depends a bit where crossover frequency is for treble also what becomes of it.

        Play around with parametric eq and boost half way or so, then dial frequency knob and you will discover where it becomes a nice cocked wah like Brian May a bit, or something else. A good parametric eq also has width or Q-value to tell how narrow band you emphasize.

        Running this into a tube stage is really interesting result, since you decide which frequencies saturate first and generate harmonics. I'm very intrigued by parametric EQ. Got a tip on PDF-2 from Stone Deaf here, and will have it tomorrow. But used it for years in cheapo pedals like Artec that is $25 or so.

        Not having parametric eq a wah is excellent to dial in sweet spot too. Good wah also have width/Q-value setting. Then eq section in amp become like post eq instead.

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        • #5
          Re: Treble Boosters!

          What I have found from my limited use of a treble booster is you roll the volume down and the tone up to get a thick tone and the treble booster is there to give you back the treble. You normally use one with a non-master volume amp to overdrive an amp and exploit a feedback loop at a lower volume. When you solo you then roll the volume up full and roll the tone back.

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          • #6
            Re: Treble Boosters!

            I have the 65 Amps Colour Boost, a nice germanium boost with a 4-way rotary to vary the onset freq.
            Also have a Rawk D Creamer, which is a COT clone combined with silicon treble booster.
            And a BBB OC42 fuzz, combining a fuzzface and treble boost with a Balance control so you can blend them or have either by itself.

            Cool machines, all of them. I like the way they interact with the controls on the guitar.

            Several of my Lovepedal drives feature a Glass control, which I think boosts the high treble rather than rolling it off.
            Not the same thing as a classic Rangemaster, of course. But an interesting and useful alternative to the old fashioned Tone knob.

            EDIT: My two different versions of the Lovepedal Kalamazoo feature both a Glass knob and a regular tone control. I believe the Glass may be pre-gain while the Tone is post-gain as is usual.
            Last edited by eclecticsynergy; 05-13-2020, 03:46 PM.
            .
            "You should know better by now than to introduce science into a discussion of voodoo."
            .

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            • #7
              Re: Treble Boosters!

              Treble Boosters don't boost treble, they act like a high pass; letting the higher frequencies through while trimming the low end flub.

              Also sound best with an amp that's already somewhat cooking.

              Catalinbread Naga Viper & plexi circuit doing DIO-era Sabbath:



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              • #8
                Re: Treble Boosters!

                so... yes. but its does, in essence, boost the treble. it boosts the frequencies after the high pass filter. back in the day, everyone ran the rangemasters one knob full up all the time. the pedal i have is true to the rangemaster circuit, the naga viper is a cool pedal but definitely is a little more refined. very cool pedal though and definitely more versatile than the original

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                • #9
                  Re: Treble Boosters!

                  I have a Keeley Katana that does a treble boost mode when you pull out the volume knob. I was using it into my Picovalve along with a TS-7 tubescreamer and it sounded great.

                  Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

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                  • #10
                    Re: Treble Boosters!

                    If you aren't using them with a bass heavy amp, they absolutely seem to boost treble (a lot), no matter if that is done by reducing the bass...I still hear it as more treble than before. Maybe that's why they never worked for me.
                    Administrator of the SDUGF

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                    • #11
                      Re: Treble Boosters!

                      I use a KAT Treble Booster Classic. It’s all three Brian May boosters in one pedal. Has to be first in the chain because it interacts with the impedance of the pickups. Part of how it cleans up and gets brighter when you roll the volume off, and gets darker and screaming with the volume is dimed.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Treble Boosters!

                        I have built a couple of them, thru a Vox AC30 I can get the Brian May tone quite easily, but that's all I've ever used them for....
                        Last edited by Liam1963; 05-15-2020, 08:34 PM.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Treble Boosters!

                          Originally posted by jeremy View Post
                          so... yes. but its does, in essence, boost the treble. it boosts the frequencies after the high pass filter. back in the day, everyone ran the rangemasters one knob full up all the time. the pedal i have is true to the rangemaster circuit, the naga viper is a cool pedal but definitely is a little more refined. very cool pedal though and definitely more versatile than the original
                          I wonder how my use of the PoT compares to a classic treble booster circuit. I'm not sure if what I'm doing – opening the treble trim pot wide open – is really the same thing as what you all are saying. Does anyone know?

                          That said, slamming this thing into the front of another overdrive or my amp just sounds fantastic, and I'm suddenly wanting to explore the world of treble boosting further.

                          What I have found from my limited use of a treble booster is you roll the volume down and the tone up to get a thick tone and the treble booster is there to give you back the treble.
                          Yes! Absolutely! I can get such a fat, full tone without becoming too muddy and undefined!
                          Gibson LP, Burstbucker 3 A6, 490R A4
                          Gibson LP, Pearly Gates A6, Sentient A4
                          Gibson LP BFG, Burstbucker A8, P90
                          Gibson SG special T, GFS Crunchy Mini, Gibson mini A3
                          Strat SSS, SD STK-6 , SSL1 middle, Bootstrap Sparkle Neck
                          Strat HSS hardtail, Perpetual Burn A6, Bootstrap Sparkle mid/neck
                          Tele, DMZ Area Hot T, Gibson Mini A3
                          Tele, DMZ Pegasus A2, Gibson Mini A3
                          Jackson V, SD Pegasus bridge, 490R A5
                          PRS SE CU24: Air Norton A2, 490R A3

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Treble Boosters!

                            i had a kot for a while but got rid of it so cant duplicate what you are doing with your pot, but my guess is there are similarities but its not the same. a rangemaster is a simple germanium boost with high pass filter and low input impedance. the low impedance is why it wants to be first inline after the guitar to get the best interaction and clean up with the guitars volume control.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Treble Boosters!

                              Originally posted by jeremy View Post
                              i had a kot for a while but got rid of it so cant duplicate what you are doing with your pot, but my guess is there are similarities but its not the same. a rangemaster is a simple germanium boost with high pass filter and low input impedance. the low impedance is why it wants to be first inline after the guitar to get the best interaction and clean up with the guitars volume control.
                              Hmmm...

                              I have a germanium fuzz from Analogwise in the mail. It likely won't get here for another month or so, but I wonder if the two will play together nicely...
                              Gibson LP, Burstbucker 3 A6, 490R A4
                              Gibson LP, Pearly Gates A6, Sentient A4
                              Gibson LP BFG, Burstbucker A8, P90
                              Gibson SG special T, GFS Crunchy Mini, Gibson mini A3
                              Strat SSS, SD STK-6 , SSL1 middle, Bootstrap Sparkle Neck
                              Strat HSS hardtail, Perpetual Burn A6, Bootstrap Sparkle mid/neck
                              Tele, DMZ Area Hot T, Gibson Mini A3
                              Tele, DMZ Pegasus A2, Gibson Mini A3
                              Jackson V, SD Pegasus bridge, 490R A5
                              PRS SE CU24: Air Norton A2, 490R A3

                              Comment

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