Treble Boosters Comparison Part 1 (That age old question, do they all sound different?)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- A selection of treble boosters either copies of ones Brian May has used or the same model, *The Rangemaster is a clone from Pigeon FX. All recorded in Ableton Live, using a Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 interface and Sennheiser MD 421-II microphone, through an AC30HWC2X edited in Movari Video Suite. Played on a Dansan Red Special (in drop D tuning) with Adeson PUs, Recorded with very little processing, just some added reverb.
Boosters
Rangemaster (clone)
BC149
Cornish TB-83
Fryer Plus
Fryer Deluxe
Fryer Touring
KAT Strap original version
KAT Red18
Video demonstrates that close mic'd full up, the boosters sound very close to each other, however some exhibit more feedback and are slightly thinner or fuller sounding, (Rangemaster) while others are tighter and more focused (KAT) again 'in the room' you can hear subtle differences, but up full they all blend into one main sound when combined with an AC30 and a Red Special, On studio speakers you can hear some subtle differences, but on computer speakers little is apparent, however for certain tracks some boosters would be preferable, such as say Keep Yourself Alive would work best with a Rangemaster or I Want It All with say one of the KATs... personal pref, but an audience would find it almost impossible to tell the difference, only the guitarist on stage feeling how his guitar reacts.
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![Because Everyone Needs A Treble Booster [Yes You Do]](/img/tr.png)
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The Fryer Touring (Red) sounded more “Queen-ish”. Was brighter. I liked that the best. Excellent analysis
Run an ac 30 on half volume with a Gibson ,the turn on the booster ,clean when you lower the volume and gauge drive from 7,8,9.The boosters were designed to push an amp in the sixties.
Great video mate, to point out any difference would be splitting hairs. I A/B’d my boosters against the line 6 helix range master model and you can’t split it. I still gravitate towards my TB83 clone !
Yeah I think as a player you notice tiny differences but as an audience member you can’t tell them apart
Bery subtle sound differences between them all, some sound ever so slightly more ‘open’ than another. Arent the Fryers and Cornish silicon?
I can’t really hear much difference . Very Simple circuit doesn’t justify the cost I made my own for a tenner Sounds just as good .
It’s hard to get across via an iPhone recording but trust me they are sonically very different and it’s very noticeable in the room, but much like different guitars in TH-cam videos where you can’t really tell if it’s a single coil or humbucker in the flesh it’s obvious
Great video, thanks for taking the time in the quality recording. Which pedal did you find rolled off the boost the quickest with guitar volume and most “pleasantly”?
Moons Gin Thanks, I think the KAT boosters have the nicest smoothest roll off
Thank you for this very interesting comparison! Greetings from Bavaria/Germany!
From what year are your Fryer Brian May Pedals. I have deluxe model from 2008, thinking should I keep it as a collectors item or sell it.
I think… around 2013?
Hugely insightful. Small but meaningful differences. I fear I may have to buy a few to find which works for my own set-up and sound. One question, did you, have you used the foot switchable KAT products? They seem more flexible and may be better for different rigs. Mr May has a specific rig which clearly precludes the need for controls. I feal many won't be in that situation.
Thanks, since I made this I have purchased the KAT Classic which is pedalboard foot switchable
And yes it’s very good and if that’s what you need for your rig I’d definitely recommend it
Thanks for the great comparison video!
I'm now trying to decide whether to buy a KAT black model or a Fryer Touring, what do you think? (I'm going to use it on a Telecaster.)
My ideal sound is more like Brian's sound in recent years, a sound that doesn't lose its glittering when the volume is turned up.
The closest to the modern sound will be the KAT because he still uses them but that’s a strap booster so you will need a wireless rig, the Fryer is a booster you can put on a pedalboard which you may prefer
How can you adjust the gain dB on the kat strap booster ?, I’ve read that you can adjust them.
The front panel features the on/off switch, power status LED and level trim pot, which is accessed via a small hole in the panel. (you will need a small ‘watchmakers’ screwdriver to adjust this).
Thanks Jonathan for recording and sharing the comparisons.
Are there any component differences between the two KAT models other than the housing? The KATs seems capable of delivering the goods at a reasonable price point.
How about the hiss level of the various pedals? Any of them have a noticeably lower noise floor? Although that may be the result of whatever particular transistor that was selected during that pedal's build.
Hi sorry missed this, the two KAT models are different, the red one is more resistant to Wi-Fi interference and slightly smoother maybe? But it’s a very small difference
I bought it because the place we rehearse has lots of military signals and Wi-Fi close by so I get a bit of noise through the system
Hiss levels are all much the same the higher the boost the more the hiss
Again I’d say the least noisy are the KATs
Slightly incorrect there I meant RF interference
All good and useful information. Thanks.
Any extra RF resistance is very desirable where I'm a. There's a high power "'70's-80's oldies" radio station a mile from my home and it manages to seep into nearly all my gear, particularly at late night. My germanium bossters are notably bad for picking up their signal. Turning on an amp here one comes to expect to hear at least a trickle of Barry Manilow or Toni "Hey Mickey" Basil or Michael Bolton, etc, coming through 👺.
Or maybe I should opt for a booster with minimal RF resistance, that way I can practice along to it and build up my repetiore. Nah, I think the red Kat would be better. Cheers.
@@montag4516 sounds like the best idea lol
Does the battery run out even if I plug the wireless only booster into the guitar?
The batteries in those last a long time I’ve found, and I’ve had them in for over a year however I remove the battery if it’s being stored for a while and not used, but I think you should get around 500 hours of use out of them
@@jonathanplanner3270 Thank you! :))
I have 2 questions:
1) do you happen to know if in the 1986 magic tour brian used the treble booster "fireplace" BC149 or the TB-83? because if I'm not mistaken in the pedalboard made by pete cornish, which brian used in '86, there was the Fireplace, and if I'm not mistaken the Fireplace is the original TB-83, but I'm not sure.
2) where did you buy the BC149 treble booster?
Hi there
There were two boosters included in the pedalboard, I understand they were both slightly hotter then the stand alone ones Pete first built for Brian but they were still the BC149 builds
I have had one or two but the one I have now which is wonderful came from Matt Netherwood ( Yonderbosk )
@@jonathanplanner3270 do you think is possible can ask Pete Cornish to build one?
Maybe but I suspect he will just say it’s the TB-83… he’s very secretive about the old boosters
We know they were slightly different because Nigel Knight tested them when he took the pedalboard apart
And they were indeed hotter then the older ones which is why Cornish just says it’s the same, but the one he builds now is a lot hotter
You can try but I doubt he will do it
Brian wasn’t that keen on the big pedalboard he found it harder to use in the dark on stage and wasn’t as pleased with the sound
Cornish may have done a few mods that added small amounts of gain to the circuit but they were also playing bigger venues by then and having to really turn the sound system up high which may have also been why he found it harder to get his tone
Back then there was no health and safety it was up full and if it hurt your ears too bad
I think you should maybe take the mic off a few centimetres in order to capture the subtle differences.
joe threlfall didn’t make any difference
The mic in the shot was in the first position I recorded three versions moving it away each time but all it did was change the gain on the WAV in the final recorded version the mic was maybe three inches away from the amp
@@jonathanplanner3270 my favourite wav was with the touring in terms of audio recorded sound. Try it with the plush Tb if you can.
Have you tried the direct output of the TB in the Deacy amp?
Yes I use the Deacy with TB straight into the amp every time I use the Deacy but I didn’t do it in this test
It is the way the deacy is meant to be used to get the BM sound
How the heck did you afford all of these?
Lol.... well been collecting them over a long time