software

hey wise humans of tone,

what are treble boosters like the Rangemaster and the BSM RM used for? are they merely used to increase signal strength to overdrive the amp? or do they serve any other purpose?

thanks in advance

It adds gain and presence and was used by Brian May and lots of players,but May quickly comes to mind...


Originally Posted by STRATDELUXER97It adds gain and presence and was used by Brian May and lots of players,but May quickly comes to mind...

John, it doesnt add distortion rite? if i jack it up a before or after a OD / distortion pedal will it merely make it louder or also nastier ?

I don't know...boosting treble?


Originally Posted by pac112John, it doesnt add distortion rite? if i jack it up a before or after a OD / distortion pedal will it merely make it louder or also nastier ?

It doesn't actually add distortion,but it pushes the preamp harder..The Vox Top Boost circuit is based on this premise also,though I'm not 100% familiar with the circuit? It is an added tube gain stage on the Vox AC30 TB..


Originally Posted by STRATDELUXER97It doesn't actually add distortion,but it pushes the preamp harder..The Vox Top Boost circuit is based on this premise also,though I'm not 100% familiar with the circuit? It is an added tube gain stage on the Vox AC30 TB..

thanks for the info John. that means no use for the Treble Booster on a solid state amp i guess....

Think the first Bluesbreakers album, the Dallas Rangemaster was the only effect Clapton used on there. Well, that and a 2x12 Marshall combo...

yeah.. so that means rangemaster -gt; distorion pedal -gt; SS amp = good?

naa, its meant to drive the preamp.. not really much good for SS unless you want a slightly edgy boost..

tom


Originally Posted by pac112yeah.. so that means rangemaster -gt; distorion pedal -gt; SS amp = good?

Actually, treble boosters sound like crap with the SS amps ive tried them with, they are really ment for old tube amps. They were basically the first overdrive pedals in a sense even though hey didnt actually produce there own distortion. Old tube amp have a tendency to sound dark and so hitting it with a boosted treble/upper-mids signal very made them come more alive and gave them more distortion. Most modern amps have tons of upper-mids and treble aswell as gain, so treble boosters dont really sound to hot with them in my opinion. But if you have an old amp that has a good sound but you want to give it more gain and bite, they sound great! Its a similar principle to using a high-output pickup, a JB for example, the boosted upper-mids really help make the amp sing and distort more with an old tube amp.

I *think* Tony Iommi used one in the early, pre-high gain Sabbath days.

thanks guys... that helps my understanding.


Originally Posted by pac112yeah.. so that means rangemaster -gt; distorion pedal -gt; SS amp = good?

Probably not, unless you want icepick treble. old treble boosters work well with warmer, older tube amps.

I *think* Tony Iommi used one in the early, pre-high gain Sabbath days.

Yeh As far as I know Tony Iommi used one in the early 70's and this couple with all those laney heads made awesome drive tones
Sorry to kinda change the subject a bit but i has to say something

Yes Iommi did use a treble booster, one of the things i read somewheres was that he plugged into the bass input of his laney's and ran a treble booster into it? correct me if im wrong. This is only on the first album i believe.

They are quite good into other drives or most common used into big nonmastervolume heads already on overdrive, there they really shine.
But there is a substantial difference in trebleboosters.
Some pedal builders even incorporates a treblebooster in a pedal with normal drivestage as an extragain stage, I have one myself, it sounds rather good

Ritchie Blackmore used three of them after each other!

so that means no use for it unless i have a good old tube amp ?


Originally Posted by pac112so that means no use for it unless i have a good old tube amp ?probably sounds great through an old Fender Deluxe Reverb

This is a bit off topic but
Here are the details on Toni Iommi's Rig (in 1971)
He ran his guitars through
A Tychobrahe ParaPedal Wah then
A Dallas Arbiter Rangemaster (which incase soemone doesn't know is a treble booster)
Into His 6 Laney 100-Watt heads

I am not sure when he stopped using the treble booster but i know that in 2001 he was still using a Tychobrahe ParaPedal Wah.