UB:21 TC Spark Booster Mini Pedal Review - What is it? Do You Really Need One? Why I Bought One!

TC Electronic Spark Mini Booster Pedal - Simple and Effective! What is it? Do You Really Need One? Why I Bought One!
The TC Spark Mini Booster Pedal is manufactured by TC Electronics, a Danish company that needs very little introduction, as they began selling guitar pedals around 1976 and are well-known for their quality products. In previous videos I reviewed a number of Stratocasters and one thing that Single Coil guitars can lack at lower volumes is depth of tone. Overdrive is often added to help get that punchy sound, and one pedal that is definitely worth a look at is the Boost Pedal. The TC Spark Mini Boost Pedal - comes in an off-white finish, and requires a 9 Volt adapter or a suitable power supply. See my reviews on the CIOKS Power Supply ( • UB:9 CIOKS DC5 Power S... ) and my Pedal-Board review - ( • V5: Playing Guitar 40 ... ). This simple little pedal has one Gain/Volume Knob (LEVEL) and an on/off foot-switch that features - ‘The Prime-Time Function’… which can be used for brief solos. To engage Prime-Time, it’s just a case of holding down the pedal’s foot-switch and to disengage, release the foot-switch. As I progressed my guitar and amplifier search I found that my Fenders played through a Bad Cat Black Cat set to a moderate 'valve crunch' tone benefitted very well with the addition of the Spark Boost set to around 10 o'clock.
There are many boost pedals out there on the market, some with simple features and others loaded with all kinds of goodies for those that love to tinker with stuff. As for myself, I really appreciate pedals that are straight-forward and hopefully this video will help those who are considering the purchase of a Booster pedal… Enjoy!
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In UB 22 Video (Unboxing Video 22) I take a look at another iconic guitar but this time from the Gibson family and that has to be where it all started for them, the Gibson Gold Top with P90 Pick-ups - • UB:22 Gibson Les Paul ...
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[@StuGuitarChannel]

Thank you for watching! If you benefit from what you see and hear, please give a ‘Thumbs Up’, ‘Subscribe’ & ‘Hit the Bell for Notifications’ it all helps the channel algorithms. Much appreciated! Do check-out my channel playlists…
- Q&As Answering topical questions
- Stu's Guitar Recording Journey
- Unboxing Music Equipment Videos
- Stu's Guitar Journey! (12 part Video Series)
- Guitar Backing Tracks - Blues, Ballads and Cinematic
- Stu's Guitar Channel short Trailer
*Brought to you by Stu’s Guitar Channel - Enjoy Playing Guitar.

[@GilbertMiranda2008]

Thank you for this professional video explanation. You have a new subscriber looking forward to you new videos. Thank you.

[@StuGuitarChannel]

Hi Gilbert - Many thanks... If you have time, do check-out the rest of my journey on my channel play-list, I'm sure you will find video programmes of interest. As someone who has been making corporate and broadcast video/film productions for a living for decades I like to try and be as helpful as I can when reviewing equipment I've been checking out. Don't hesitate to share your own experiences... regards: Stu

[@GilbertMiranda2008]

@@StuGuitarChannel Thank you Sir i will pleasure to met you and thank you for reply. Thank you Sir.

[@socalwill9876]

Where this pedal really pays off is setting up a tone with a humbucker and then switching to a single coil - just engage the Spark set to the difference in output and now the single coil hits the front of the amp/chain at the exact same level as the humbucker, no more adjusting specific gain settings for each pickup. Perfect for coil split experimentation. And yeah other manufacturers make the same thing, but nobody else does it in the mini format for $60, cheers to TC Electronics for a great pedal and Stu for a great vid 🤘🎸

[@StuGuitarChannel]

Thanks for that Socalwill9876... I had not thought about that... I do have that balance issue, just a little with my HSS Stratocaster but thinking about the split coli arrangement on my PRS McCarty, I must try that out. At present, my playing is in a recording environment where I have total control over what I'm doing but I would certainly look at that if playing with others live. Thanks again for the comment... Regards: Stu

[@Allen-gj3qd]

The tc spark is a great boost. My favorite is the ep boost. I actually got to play an echoplex one tone and the preamp was so amazing I know why people love them

[@StuGuitarChannel]

Hi Allen.. The ep boost was going to be my other choice but since I was already familiar with TC gear I went for that. I've never tried an Echoplex, now you have me curious... regards: Stu

[@user-wl7rb5ri5m]

I gave mine away. Take that Boss GE-7 you have in the closet and use it. Tweak some of the frequencies to taste. Now you’re using the most powerful pedal there is. The MXR eq pedal will work too.

[@StuGuitarChannel]

Thanks for chipping in... do you want to say why you decided the Spark Boost was not working out for you? Since I went onto purchase a Bad Cat Black Cat Combo, which has very nice edge of break-up tones, I find the TC Boost gives just a nice push to that crunchy tone where needed. Specifically using a Strat or Tele... Regards: Stu

[@aminahmed2220]

What a fantastic video have a wonderful weekend stu also how was your holiday season ❤😊

[@StuGuitarChannel]

Happy New Year Amin... many thanks again and regarding my holiday break... it was nice and quiet and I slept a lot... I got a chance to catch up with friends and I think I will be playing with a big model railway today we have in one of our offices, with a grandchild. We built the railway for a TV series - that was fun to do... little boys never really grow up Amin... ;-) What did you get up to? Regards: Stu