This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

[JeffB]

But it sounds pretty badass.

I have had an xotic ep boost for about a year or so. It worked phenomenally well with one of my guitars and my Tubemeister, but that was it. The xotic did not gel with my other amps and guitars, regardless of how the dip switches were set and whether I ran it at 9 or 18v. It has not got along my new Orange either so I picked this one up the other day.

Wow. What an improvement. It doesn't have the sheer amount of gain boost that the Xotic does, but it sounds far better and more musical in every single way. The Xotic always seems too bright or too muddy on top, and the low end coloration is muddy and overkill. Strident lows. But the EP preamp is much clearer while not getting harsh, muddy, or strident. Now, there is the whole bit about the proper chip and voltage of the original EP, IDK what Dunlop has or has not used, they claim there is some circuit wizardry in there to allow it to have the high headroom while still running off a 9v battery or adapter and I believe it cos it does work better than the Xotic at 18v. And unlike the Xotic, it v also responds much better when you roll your guitar volume down. if you jack up the gain all the way on the ep preamp , it gets this quasi fuzz thing going which will bring to mind a bunch of classic recordings. Set at unity gain, is how I am using it mostly though, just for the coloration when I want it.

Don't overlook it.

 

[Hoss]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

Nice!

There's nothing like that "secret weapon" on your board that just makes everything pop!

NEW STUFF ROCKS!!! :headbang:

 

[ErikH]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

Nice. I've been wondering about that one.

If it runs on 9V but gets 18V internally, they have a charge pump inside that increases the voltage. It's a nice way to make a pedal board friendly without needing a separate power supply.

 

[JeffB]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

Nice!

There's nothing like that "secret weapon" on your board that just makes everything pop!

NEW STUFF ROCKS!!! :headbang:

It does make everything pop...love how it drives the the delay repeats into a little more filth as it regenerates, and the phaser sounds more intense as well.

Nice. I've been wondering about that one.

If it runs on 9V but gets 18V internally, they have a charge pump inside that increases the voltage. It's a nice way to make a pedal board friendly without needing a separate power supply.

I am unsure if that is what is going on inside or not. I know there are some echoplex pre clone pedals that do just that. But whatever Dunlop did, it's a marked improvement over the Xotic with the 18v power supply.

 

[the toad]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

Awesome, thanks for the post, I've been eyeing boost pedals lately. Specififly these two as well as the TC spark...

 

[Hoss]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

Sounds like the kind of stuff I'm getting out of my EM DRIVE.

 

[jimijames]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

I dunno if a charge pump is to make it more pedalboard friendly or what, but they do have a slightly different sound compared with running it straight 18v like with the xotic. I don't want to call it sag but it's something qualitatively that I prefer.

Just be careful when you're using it with a digital delay because some charge pumps can cause a heterodyning noise - people have had this problem with klones but idk if the Dunlop pedal has them.

 

[Matt42]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

I tried it at a GC right after it came out. I wasn't super impressed, but I might have to give it another shot after your post.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

I am curious: is this tape emulation? Or a recreation of the EP's preamp? Both?

What you are describing sounds a lot like Deck 1 on the strymon DECO, which is tape emulation/saturation.

 

[JeffB]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

Just the pre, Ben.


FWIW, I think this and other EP pre pedals are not the kind of thing most people will try in a store and say THIS HAS TO GO ON MY BOARD, NOW. Instead it is a very specific sound that was used by a lot of people in a certain time period and is very subtle, but it can give ya that missing frequency,pop, and slight grind. Most people are not looking for it or care. And in that case you are better served with a typical clean boost or od. In addition, you really need to be playing LOUD to get the full effect.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

I always loved the funky square wave type of clipping that the preamp stage of the tape units had. It gave a nice edge and plumped up your guitar sound before hitting the amp.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

Just the pre, Ben.


FWIW, I think this and other EP pre pedals are not the kind of thing most people will try in a store and say THIS HAS TO GO ON MY BOARD, NOW. Instead it is a very specific sound that was used by a lot of people in a certain time period and is very subtle, but it can give ya that missing frequency,pop, and slight grind. Most people are not looking for it or care. And in that case you are better served with a typical clean boost or od. In addition, you really need to be playing LOUD to get the full effect.

Thanks for the clarification. I have no interest in it, I have tape emulation, echo units, and an actual tape echo unit if I need that type of coloration.

 

[JeffB]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

I always loved the funky square wave type of clipping that the preamp stage of the tape units had. It gave a nice edge and plumped up your guitar sound before hitting the amp.

Bingo.

 

[JeffB]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

Here is something fun I discovered. Backing off the gain below unity on the pedal cleans up your amp in a very cool way- it reduces pre amp saturation but retains the beef in the eq, giving the sonic impression of a very low gain amp dimed ala a twin reverb or a hi-watt jacked way the f up. It doesn't thin out though like if you just reduced the pre amp gain on the amp itself.

 

[Matt42]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

In addition, you really need to be playing LOUD to get the full effect.

I think that was part of my problem.

 

[Artie]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

If it runs on 9V but gets 18V internally, they have a charge pump inside that increases the voltage. It's a nice way to make a pedal board friendly without needing a separate power supply.

The Soul Food does that also, but I believe they have there's configured for +/-9-volt operation. That gives you a true bi-polar supply so you can eliminate some caps in the signal path.

 

[GilmourD]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

So, one year later, do you still feel the same JeffB? I'm looking at some EP type preamp pedals and trying to figure out which one.

 

[JeffB]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

Heh. Wow. One year.

I still use it! I mostly use it as a boost for leads these days, as opposed to a tone enhancement for my rhythm tone. Since I have got my DSL, I'very had less need for it on all the time.

That said, I still think it's coolest function is the ability to set it so you get less gain and retain the chunk of your tone. Very neat. That still works very well even with the DSL.

It's not very versatile, but does a great job within its limitations.

 

[Lucy Diamond]

Re: This pedal seems to have flown under the radar

This is very interesting.

I absolutely love my ep booster and it gets along with my amps so well I was going to get another one but after reading this I may get the echoplex one just to have a little something different.

We'll see.

Thanks man.

Enjoy in good health.