What I have learned from this video is that I need fifteen boost pedals of various kinds.

that danelectro sounded phenomenal!! super gritty. love the looks of it too

I mostly ignored Boost pedals for a long time. Then I learned that a lot of the artists from the 60s/70s were using whatever was around that could boost their signals: the preamps in echo units and reverb units, mixers, etc.. So instead of going and shopping for modern pedals designed specifically to boost, I started experimenting with what I have around. My current boosting options in my chain are, an old DOD compressor, an EHX Memory Man, EQ pedals, Echoplex EP3 (model), old ProCo Rat, Sonic Maximizer, and the preamp in my 80s Tascam Casette 4 track. All have their own tonal character. If you want to avoid GAS and save some money, just try experimenting with anything you’ve got around that has a “level” control on it.

Andy could sell a pedal to a person that doesn't even own a guitar

Always interesting when people name Brian May as being known for using an AC30 or a Rangemaster, but don't mention Rory Gallagher, the guy who he literally got the idea from.

Narrow my search? Andy, you just widened my search for a clean boost.

That Naga Viper sounds rad.

Having tested some, I recommend by personal experience, the humble Boss Blues Driver. It is truly neutral and transparent. All knobs at noon and you can't say if it is on or not. Total volume and tonal unity. From there, you may get anywhere you like. Highly recommended.

Someone needs to make the Andy Martin boost. We have the D&M Drive. We need the Andy "clean tone" boost. Someone's gotta make it happen!

I have a Behringer SF300, I know it based on a Boss FZ-2. I bought it out of curiosity and love the Fuzz tones, but for me the shining light is its boost mode. I cycle through many pedals, to find the Nirvana of tone, and this pedal is a stalwart, it always stays on the board, and has been totally reliable. I don't know what it is about it, but it is the best boost I have come across to push an edge of break up of a tube amp into something more curly. I have even considered stacking two. Anyway my two cents.

I love the Xotic RC Booster. It's popular here in Nashville and I often use it as my always on pedal, especially with a Fender amp. It's also great for cutting bass when necessary.

Big fan of the DOD 410 BiFet Boost--specifically bought it after seeing one of Andy's demos. I use it as a clean boost with just a touch of color for soloing. The buffered option available on this pedal is nice to have too. And the price is totally affordable. Playing through an already breaking up Fender Twin Reverb II (yup, you read that right. Paul Rivera's amps rule!)

The Spark Mini is the one for me. Punches wayyyy above it's price

That Emissary pedal sounds huge! The way I like watching Andy's videos is blind, then when I hear a sound I like I scroll up and see which pedal it is. The Emissary is my pick from this video!

I'm really glad that Andy from Reverb reminds me that I might find any pedal he mentions on Reverb, after finding out during a Reverb search for pedals that I might buy (on Reverb), that there are several different types of boost which I can all buy on Reverb. Thank god Andy from Reverb reminds me to have a look at Reverb so that I wont miss all the good deals at Reverb. God bless Andy from Reverb and Reverb.

Range Master- I actually think of Marc Bolan/TRex. Great sound.

I Love when he does Tony Iommi. I truly believe that Black Sabbath does not get the Credit they Deserve, for their Musicianship and their Unique-Sound and Contribution to Rock n Roll. Their albums (back in the day) were So Consistent. Tony Iommi has created Countless Killer Guitar Riffs. ( snowblind, n.i.b., a national acrobat, dirty women, sabbath bloody sabbath, war pigs, heaven and hell ) it goes on forever.

I'm using both the spark mini and the ep booster. The spark mini for a momentary/short line or lead line (not a solo volume level) usually in the verses and choruses. I can also use it for solos (higher volume than the short lines) with help from an overdrive stack to my DS or other overdrive. The EP booster is my designated booster for soloing. The find the unity gained to be special and produces a very Midy tone

I get the subtle touch there. Black Sabbath -> Tommy Iommi -> Known to have used a treble booster.

I repeatedly watched this video. Watched it 4 or 5 times. I had to hear some of those tones again. Alot of good sound in this video. Ive been wanting to start digging deep into boost pedals. Its high time I start.

Always loved your playing Andy. Been watching you for several years to help with gear buying decisions. Thanks for breaking it down for us. Great playing btw. I also love your Tone Print for the Flashback 2 pedal. Really awesome! Keep rocking!

I have a ‘Black Country’ which is a clone of a Dallas Rangemaster and it’s first in my chain before a Fuzz. INCREDIBLY useful for lower wattage amps, punching through a dense mix and shaving off the unwieldy low-end of a fuzz. Highly recommended.

I love my Spark Mini. I have one on my main and other on my mini stripped down board. Since I go for a Neil Young saggy overdrive in my amps anyway, I don't mind the mushy bass when pushing my edge of break up tube amps with it.

The EP Boost was one of the best little pedals I've ever purchased - and when you link it before a "distortion" pedal it sounds great.

Gonna go stack all of my damn drives.

i think the spark boost by tc is the best overall boost on the market, the big one. you have everything you need there.

always love Andy riffing some Sabbath's !!

Yeah, when you start off a demo reel with great sabbath tones, I'm GOING to buy one. Naga Viper ordered and inbound to me.

Catalinbread is the best booster for me but I’m really attracted to danelectro as a drive pedal. Great.

Any video that starts with Andy playing Sabbath... get's my thumbs up!

I use a TC Electronics Spark Booster (the big one). Running into a Laney Lionheart 5w just at break-up, the boost really creates a wonderful crunch that’s still very clear and defined. Or sometimes I use it on the gain channel for more ”oomph”. As such it is almost always on!

Never was a fan of boost-pedals until I bought the Egnater Goldsmith which is a drive and a boost together in a box but usable separately. You can flip a switch to go from boost into drive and the other way round and it has a patch on its back if you want to use one section somewhere else in your chain. And the first time I dialed in a sound with the amp and boost only, it was like throwing sweet, sweet cream on a cake. Lots of it. It's one of the best Pedals I've ever had.

Andy could play a Sears Silvertone guitar straight into a Peavey Bandit and still sound like the gates of heaven..

I was most impressed with the Fender and the Danelectro ones.

Danelectro never cease to impress me. Great video!

Sabbath for breakfast. Awesome.

Great overview. Love your demos! They've been really useful as I'm retooling my pedalboard. The biggest obstacle that I didn't expect is with the power supply. Some of my beloved older EHX pedals are really power hungry and use adapters with reverse polarity and weird non-standard pins.

A Hagstrom with Railhammers? How cool is that!

Hey Reverb, kudos for putting a player of this caliber on the site excellent idea for newbies and old dogs like me too lol who need a refresher once in a while about the ever changing world of effects pedals … really solid idea whom ever came up with the idea to put this gent on who not only has a good narration voice, the information given out on these boost pedals for example is really good to know as every player has wondered about the range master idea. Keep up the good ideas I watched the entire video. Parker P.S my boost and treble enhancer are both made by BBE solid as a tank and good pedals for the dollar amount. Oh and I also can’t say enough about the Sonic Stomp pedals they make, instant SRV and groove when clean. You should do a blurb on that pedal it’s been in my board since it’s inaugural start.

7:17 The Hudson Electronics Broadcast is a better option to the Colour Box, imo.

So are all boost pedals actually treble boosters?

That danelectro pedal sounded amazing

i love how frequent this guy plays sabbath riffs

One other option... If you want to take your current tone and simply make it louder, then a clean boost pedal in the serial effects loop is where it's at. It will take your guitar>pedals>preamp tone and drive it into the power section of the amp opening up some more of that tube power amp goodness.

After literally years of searching, buying, swapping, selling, I have finally settled on my forever setup: 61 LP SG --> TC Spark Booster --> Naga Viper --> slightly overdriven Laney Combo. Ride the guitar volume and tone pots and the palette is infinite.

Boosta Grande all the way I have 3 of them ,It doesnt change the color much and I like it when I am playing solo with my tele,I finger pick and I boost that so it cuts through then I have 2 others for some heavy strumming and some laid back stuff.But i agree with rurlyok ,that dan electro made me think about what I am doing.

Love it Andy. I run an R8 les paul and a junior through a Keeley katana into a Dr Z Route 66. Love it.

Nice to see a Hagstrom in use.... Check out the Monty's Guitar MORE pedal. Two separate 15db FET boosts with an effect loop between them so you can put a drive in and have boost before or after or both, or one or two boosts only. Very cool

3:13 - Don't forget Rory Gallagher! He used a Rangemaster Treble Booster into an AC30, which inspired Brian May to get the same rig!

🤘👍🏿🚀Kingsley Page is my go-to boost, after fuzz and going into the front of the amp.

Having tried all the above, the classic Treble Booster circuit is unique, and works well in live mixes.The Naga is different than it's Germanium counterparts, being Silicon, and having a gainier ,harder, attack.The Ge types ARE notably noisy and unreliable, but have a unbeatable tone in controlled environments, - much like Ge Fuzzes. The pre amps are really a different thing, - you either like the offered tonal change, or you don't, - tried all mentioned, and personally not a fan of how they change attack and sensitivity. The Coloursound is the bomb, - once almost forgotten, it does it all.

Very helpful information. Thanks for posting.

I own a Rangemaster copy. Most of the time I use it as a solo boost, but when it's set to 10 and my modeling amp models a Vox at the edge of breakup, there are some very Brian May like tones.

I love the boost on the radial switch bone!

I have a JHS Haunting Mids. For now it's kicked all overdrives off my board. EXCELLENT lead pedal. Good for more than just that too.

Everyone in the metal scene says to use a 6505 and a tube screamer variation to get that tone. I took that idea and said what if I used an Orange and a treble booster from Laney? The results were incredible.

The MXR M293 Booster Mini is great on bass!!! I dial in the Echoplex preamp for just a tiny bit of dirt, but if you hit the Echoplex section hard, with the Micro Amp boost, it breaks up rather nicely!!! The tone knob rolls off highs, so you can dial it in as transparent, or as warm as you want. I tried about 30 different boost pedals for bass, and the MXR Booster Mini won!!! The Spark (4 knob) was on the list to try next, but after I tried the M293, I stopped right there.

Nice range of boost types. I've used lots of clean and dirty boost pedals over the years. My first was an original Guv'nor to coax decent tone from my JC-160 in '89. Currently I'm using a Rook as my always-on drive and I push it with a Tumnus when needed. The Rook is so versatile, it accommodates any pick-ups fed into it. I play P90s & 'Trons.

That sabbath tone is godly

Great review. Thanks for doing the research I had planned to do! This video will help my next few purchases I think.

I quite enjoy the TC Electronic 4 knob Spark as a pre-booster into my OD's.....it has a good range of EQ adjustment, plus the added gain and level adjustment for fine tuning.

Naga Viper treble booster, updated version of the classic, which is more like the EQD Bows ,-which gets very nasty, but is also a hopelessly dirty, dirty, boy(& also discontinued, because parts are no longer available).

Greer Amps Special Request is nice. One knob and it seems to lighten up the tone of muddy pedals making them so much cleaner and more articulate. It's billed as a preamp, but it just soars with other pedals. A good one.

Great video. Helped me decide on the Fender Engager - it's exactly what I'm after.

I actually use my MXR ten band EQ with its vol and gain controls as a boost at the front of my board and my EHX DLX Memory Boy with the delay mixed out for a boost at the end of my board. That way those pedals also have additional functionality on my board.

Boosta grande was first and last boost pedal I'll ever need ! But that Danelectro pedal is calling my name !

I have the many spark booster, I use it as a cleaning boost after my blues driver

Amazing sounding! SPARK simply sparkles! ✨️✨️✨️Can this be used with a bass? How effective is the boost effect with a bass?

SHO Boost works best for me overall, but so many combos and boosts. I use my boost at the end of my pedal chain - dial in what you like

I use an EHX lpb 1 on a single channel valve amp to push it into natural sounding overdrive. It only adds gain, so it sounds just like the gain knob on the amp being turned up.

That spark into the ocd was sooooo nice

i have my EHX LPB1 on all the time. love what it adds to my tone. simply more. I play at low levels and have softer touch. with the help of the lpb1 i can get some of the yumminess of a louder amp. would replace it.

Can't recommend the Fender Engager enough if you only need a clean boost. It's a great tone shaper, and I use it to replace cab sim pedals. It's quiet too. Demo on my channel!

I don´t understand why Rory Gallagher isn´t the first player to name when talking about Treble Booster. YES Brian May it´s a great guitar icon but we need to give Rory the credit he deserves! In a world that already has left him behind on the usual ¨holy grails¨ of guitar, it´s neccesary to remember him, because lots of people might just not know who he was. Jus sayin.. great video as always.

Where are the new Xotic booster/buffers??? They're great! Super Clean & Super Sweet. Check 'em out. I have the Super Sweet and it is, uh, super sweet!!! Before them, I used the MI Audio Boost & Buff, also nice.

I have the Naga Viper. It's a good treble booster. It's like a frigging razor jeje.

When Andy open with a Sabbath riff I lose my commons sense and feel the urge to buy the pedal instantly

Another belter from Andy! I myself use the Rothwell F1 booster after a Weebho Dumbledore for an all round volume boost, sounds great, slices through the mix :)

Always great to hear the Hagstrom

I have a rangemaster clone right after my wah, an EP booster (always on) after my tuner, 1/2 of my Fulldrive2 mosfet is a boost for solos, and finally I use a visual sound clean boost at the end of my chain to drive the line to my amp.

Rat first going into a 10 ton hammer going into a danelectro transparent overdrive for a lil volume boost. I can use any of them independently or together for some extra breakup. I don’t have the gain very high on any of them and completely off on the danelectro.

on eof your first examples with 3 added boosters sounds like a distortion or Fuzz pedal. Wouldn´t it be easier to get the same result with just one of those pedals in stet of a booster???

Can you still get a Dallas rangemaster? Did you ever try a Hawkboost? That is supposed to be the one Rory used.

I've had an EP Booster on the end of my board for years now. In fact, I have two of them. However, for an always on boost/preamp/tone sweetener I am now using the Drybell Unit67. The compression is just right and the Rangemaster-based boost punches the high mids perfectly. The EP Booster then becomes a more louder clean boost on the end, when needed.

I like your Guitar . I know it´s a G&L , bit which one ? Sounds so nice.

What about the J Rocket color boost? One badass boost.

I found this an Excellent and instructive video! Thank you!

Man, I just LOVE that LES PAUL tone!!

Spark mini rules…mainly because of that brilliant momentary switch

I have that Poppy Boost and love it, but it's not on a board yet. My favorite boost circuits are multi-purpose things: the (boost side of the ) Analogman King of Tone, the (sculpting power of the) Chase Bliss Condor, the (boost side of the) Zvex Box of Rock, the (boost side of the) Empress Para EQ, and my new favorite the Deep Oggin by Thorpy (which is a chorus/vibrato pedal... but I like it set imperceptibly low with the boost circuit cranked!). ...That might be why the Poppy isn't on a board yet. I need to build a fourth board. ;-)

Hi Andy. I was needing some help with something from an older Tone Report issue. I spoke with a few people at Reverb and they were unable to get in touch with you, so they suggested that I leave a comment on your most recent post here on KZfaq to see if you would contact me. Thanks

Andy. What a guitar player.

A pigdog modded Coloursound fuzz face with the Earthquaker Devises Bows is absolutely awesome with strat, 335 and les Paul black beauty, mind blowing.😃👍

Liked this video for Sabbath! More demos with sabbath riffs plz!!

I have a few on those pedals, I like my Walrus Emissary pedal Best!

The all illusive ghost pick

Why didn't you mention the "Port City Salem Boost"?? Best boost pedal hands down, BTBAM has used it for years

I am freaked out about the imaginary pick he is "holding"

I WONDER IF U CAN USE THE BREAKDOWN BY DANELECTRO AND THE MXR BOOST MINI TOGETHER STACKED UP.

volume boost pedal recommendation : mxr micro amp , ep booster , tc mini spark