More Analogman Bass Beano Boost Soundclips

[Mark Olson]

So I got my old Mustang Bass back, and I decided to pull out my Treble Booster and have a play.

My Fender Mustang Bass has been fitted with a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder P Bass pickup a long time ago. It sounds fairly beefy.

The Bass Beano Boost is the perfect tool for getting a bit of a fuzz tone out of a tube amp.

These clips feature the amp set fairly clean actually, the dirt is only there because of the Treble Booster, and in this case I don't get overly saturated with the treble booster and Mustang. But it is a cool fuzz tone. Check it out:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=8989621

Nice and beefy, not what you'd expect from something called a Treble Booster. There's some volume knob rolloff at 0:45 until 1:13 for a natural overdrive sound, and I throw in some palm muting at 2:09 (volume on guitar still cranked) to show some of the touch sensitivity and different possibilities you can get with the Treble Booster even as an always on pedal.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=8989631

Here the volume and tone are rolled down on the guitar but the Treble Booster is still cranked, just to give an example of that picky palm muted tone you can get with a a little bit of attitude to it courtesy the treble booster + tube amp.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=8988958

Here's with my SG Bass, which has flats on it right now, same settings on the amp and treble booster, just to give you an idea of the difference with a hotter output guitar.

So check it out and let me know what you think.

[markjazzbassist]

germanium just sounds so "right". ah i love you analogman.

great stuff man, GAS has been engaged.

[Mark Olson]

Yes it does. I believe my Bass Beano Boost has the single NKT-275 transistor, but I know he offers other transistors as well, my brother had a guitar Beano Boost with a different transistor in it, I think it was some kind of mil spec OC-44, he sold that to one of my friends who likes to play bass through it into a cranked Ampeg V2. He's planning on picking up a Bass Beano Boost as well.

Interestingly enough I actually tried plugging the Bass Beano Boost straight into a soundcard to see from a different angle exactly how it was affecting the sound. On a lot of settings it seemed like a large clean volume boost and not much EQ change or anything, but when I cranked it up really good it seemed to add a little bit of fuzz on it's own, which I'm not entirely sure wasn't the soundcard clipping, but the clipping lights weren't lighting up at all and I had the input set on it very low.

[theavondon]

This sounds so incredibly good. Like, the sound I want. You may have just made my bank account empty out once again.

[Mark Olson]

Just as long as I make it clear that you probably won't get the same affect out of a solid state amp, at all. Treble boosters, like lots of pedals actually, are designed to be used with all tube amps, and especially with Treble Boosters you don't get anywhere near the same affect with most solid state or hybrid amps, if not all of them.

For these clips I'm using an Orange Tiny Terror. Reason is you need a tube amp, and it needs to be loud enough to start with to be pushed into breakup by the booster, which of course the Tiny Terror gets pretty much immediately. But you can imagine how the booster would sound with an AD-200 or an all tube Sunn or something of that nature.

[Mark Olson]

Another clip this time with the Wilson Freaker Wah:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=8996541

[Mark Olson]

So played this with my SG with flats through my Marshall today (since I've been demo'ing boosts). I only had my amp volume at one so I'd get some more saturation at gig level volume if I wanted it (control with the Beano's knob).

High setting:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9615258

Mid setting:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9615259

I played these with a pick. So if you can imagine, take that mid setting there and think how it'd sound if I played hard fingerstyle and rolled the tone knob off on my bass a bit. Pretty instant raging Jack Bruce tone. A lot closer than any "Marshall in a box" pedal.

[Mark Olson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6xKaUDookk

Watch when it heats up. That's the tone I'm talking about. For me that is the definitive Jack Bruce/Cream tone.

[Mark Olson]

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9808028

Here is a new recording I just did now with the Beano Boost into my Marshall on 5. First I start with the pedal off (bass volume on 10), pedal on with bass volume on 7, move that up to 8, then 9, then full on. It gets a little buzzy full on because my speakers aren't broken in yet or just don't sound good broken up (that's why I don't like to use pro audio speakers), but you get the full range of overdriven, distorted, and fuzzed out tone all within less than a third of a turn on the bass' volume knob.

[Mark Olson]

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9808080

Here it is with some delay and wah thrown in.

[dokazaado]

so you're favoring the Beano over the Phat Phuk for the moment?

I love boost pedals, I want to try them all...

[Valerus]

where did this pedal come from!?

[Mark Olson]

The Beano Boost and Phat Phuk B are very different. I've been using the Beano more lately because I've been switching between flats and rounds a lot and the Beano sounds really good with both. But you can hear that buzziness I'm getting because either my speakers aren't broken in or the speakers just don't sound good broken up (damn pro audio speakers) so it's a tough call. The Beano excels over other boosters from getting a fuzz tone from the amp, and the way it works really gets some drive from the speakers as well, which normally I love but not yet with these speakers.

You can get the Bass Beano Boost from Analogman, just make sure to tell him you want the Bass version, the bass version has different capacitors for more low end. For these clips I'm using the mid position on it, there's also a high and low position, the low position loses no low end.

[Mark Olson]

Oh here it is, same everything, with flats:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9808137

[dokazaado]

you tried the Xotic bass boost, Mark?

[Mark Olson]

I've owned the BB Bass Booster, I really liked it. Wish I had another one. It's a good overdrive pedal. Not tried the RC Booster. I prefer for a straight up booster to just have a single knob that I can just crank. My motto is "less knobs = more tone". I'm not a tweaker!

[Mark Olson]

SoundClick artist: Psychedelic Bass Jams - page with MP3 music downloads

Quick Clip of the Bass Beano Boost with my SG neck pickup. Beano Boost set halfway up, amp is low, a much more moderate setting. Strings are Fender 9120M tapewound roundwound strings. Bass setting on the Beano.

[Jive_Turkey]

Reviving an old thread... So just to make things clear... I have a Fender Tv Duo Ten, which is a hybrid amp but it has a tube preamp, albeit only one tube... Would something like the beano boost not drive the tube or is this combination futile?