A Tale of Two Treble Boosters

AniML

New member
I recently purchased a Catalinbread Naga Viper v2 to put in the front of my pedalboard to heat things up a bit. Initially, running it into my new JHS Bender fuzz was a noisy mess as it was heavily amplifying pickup buzz and the white noise floor. I tried it at 9v and 18v off my CS7, in the end it was user error because I had the Bender sharing a connection on the power supply with a daisy chain connector. Once I gave the fuzz a dedicated port on the CS7, the noise was drastically reduced. As a next step, I powered the Naga Viper with a 9v battery and it got a little better still. The Naga Viper is a cool pedal that can do a thick Rangermaster-ish thing up to a full range boost and not only enhances fuzz, but also works great into a BD-2 or my KOT clone (another AWESOME pedal).

The other treble booster I almost forgot I had. It is a Rangemeaster circuit I built maybe 10-12 years ago and was sitting in a box in my closet full of electronics "junk." It is anything but junk. It is less gainy than the NV, but much crisper and tighter. I barely remember the details of the build, but it is a perfboard build, based off the RG Keen schematic. I didn't know (and still don't) how to quantify the gain and other specs of the AC125 germanium transistor and to properly bias, except to say it sounds great. As a PnP device it is powered only by 9v battery. I kept the enclosure unpainted (just clear coat) as a nod to the originals - and before wild graphics became part of pedal marketing - as is the case with most every Catalinbread pedal.

They both have the characteristic whoosh when you adjust the boost and it is hard to decide which I like more, so they are both on my board.

treble boosters.jpg - Click image for larger version  Name:	treble boosters.jpg Views:	0 Size:	83.7 KB ID:	6297771




rm guts.jpg - Click image for larger version  Name:	rm guts.jpg Views:	0 Size:	63.9 KB ID:	6297773
 
Last edited:
Increasing the power filtering capacitor to 100uf will make the viper quieter. 47uf is a bit small.
 

Attachments

  • viper.png
    viper.png
    94.7 KB · Views: 0
i have a rangemaster clone a buddy made for me and its great. i tried the naga viper a while ago and liked it, but havent had one to play with through my rig. the rangemaster into a fuzz is a fun thing for sure! i like it into a cooking amp too
 
I recently purchased a Catalinbread Naga Viper v2 to put in the front of my pedalboard to heat things up a bit. Initially, running it into my new JHS Bender fuzz was a noisy mess as it was heavily amplifying pickup buzz and the white noise floor. I tried it at 9v and 18v off my CS7, in the end it was user error because I had the Bender sharing a connection on the power supply with a daisy chain connector. Once I gave the fuzz a dedicated port on the CS7, the noise was drastically reduced. As a next step, I powered the Naga Viper with a 9v battery and it got a little better still. The Naga Viper is a cool pedal that can do a thick Rangermaster-ish thing up to a full range boost and not only enhances fuzz, but also works great into a BD-2 or my KOT clone (another AWESOME pedal).

The other treble booster I almost forgot I had. It is a Rangemeaster circuit I built maybe 10-12 years ago and was sitting in a box in my closet full of electronics "junk." It is anything but junk. It is less gainy than the NV, but much crisper and tighter. I barely remember the details of the build, but it is a perfboard build, based off the RG Keen schematic. I didn't know (and still don't) how to quantify the gain and other specs of the AC125 germanium transistor and to properly bias, except to say it sounds great. As a PnP device it is powered only by 9v battery. I kept the enclosure unpainted (just clear coat) as a nod to the originals - and before wild graphics became part of pedal marketing - as is the case with most every Catalinbread pedal.

They both have the characteristic whoosh when you adjust the boost and it is hard to decide which I like more, so they are both on my board.







Very cool post. I love Treble Boosters, and in the end with both those and fuzz pedals I tend to greatly prefer germanium over silicon based circuits, but I do live a good hybrid too. My Keeley Fuzz Bender employs both, and it is a monster fuzz that really makes the most of each type of transistors strengths. It has the germanium texture paired perfectly with the less compressed, edgy, and beefy sound of silicon.
 
Very cool post. I love Treble Boosters, and in the end with both those and fuzz pedals I tend to greatly prefer germanium over silicon based circuits, but I do live a good hybrid too. My Keeley Fuzz Bender employs both, and it is a monster fuzz that really makes the most of each type of transistors strengths. It has the germanium texture paired perfectly with the less compressed, edgy, and beefy sound of silicon.

I just let a Fuzz Bender go. It had plenty of sweet fuzz tones, but a little too fizzy for me, that I just couldn't dial out
 
I just let a Fuzz Bender go. It had plenty of sweet fuzz tones, but a little too fizzy for me, that I just couldn't dial out

Yeah, it is not the pedal you buy for its cleanup and amplike tone for sure. I use it for doom metal riffing. For more traditional fuzz tones I use a Ramble FX Twin Bender. It does MkI.V tones, Fuzz Face tones (with the fat switch on), Mk II Pro tones, and beyond with the fat switch on in Mk II Pro mode.

The Fuzz Bender, Twin Bender, Warm Audio Foxy Tone, and two Game Changer Audio Plasma Pedals (one OG and one Third Man version) cover all my Fuzz to Fuzzstortion needs.
 
Yeah, it is not the pedal you buy for its cleanup and amplike tone for sure. I use it for doom metal riffing. For more traditional fuzz tones I use a Ramble FX Twin Bender. It does MkI.V tones, Fuzz Face tones (with the fat switch on), Mk II Pro tones, and beyond with the fat switch on in Mk II Pro mode.

The Fuzz Bender, Twin Bender, Warm Audio Foxy Tone, and two Game Changer Audio Plasma Pedals (one OG and one Third Man version) cover all my Fuzz to Fuzzstortion needs.

I got a JHS Bender in place of the Fuzz Bender, and also just ordered a TB MKii kit from General Guitar Gadfgets
 
If you want to reduce high-frequency noise, add a low-pass filter to the input. A 10k resistor and 1.5nf capacitor will cut frequencies over 12khz.
 

Attachments

  • 60d37rh2p4x81.png
    60d37rh2p4x81.png
    91.5 KB · Views: 0
I got a JHS Bender in place of the Fuzz Bender, and also just ordered a TB MKii kit from General Guitar Gadfgets

Tbt the Fuzz Bender sounds nothing like a Tone Bender to me. It's its own beast. It's almost like a perfected Big Muff to me, but with a much bigger range of tones and textures.
 
Back
Top