Customer Reviews

BBE Freq Boost Vintage Treble Boost Guitar and Bass Pedal

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Freq Boost is a good name for this pedal. It gives you an insane amount of gain. It's kind of like adding an extra channel to your amp. Dial in a good crunchy rhythm sound and then kick this thing in for a scorching lead sound. If your amp is already really distorted it doesn't seem to add that much. Works best (as far as I've seen so far anyway) with lower gain settings on the amp. I tried it in front of a distortion pedal and it gave that a nice kick too but I like it better straight into the amp. Buy one while you still can at this great price. Or pay 3-4 times more for a boutique pedal later.

BBE recently discontinued their BBE Freq Boost stompbox. The description BBE gives this pedal is: The Freq Boost is patterned after a rare Treble Booster of the mid-¡¯60s that gave many famous players the ability to add sustain, fatten and overdrive their favorite guitar amplifier.

So for those of you that cant read through this the BBE was a knock off of the units used by Page, May, Townsend, Gilmore and many others to overdrive their amps in the 60s and 70s. They were also used in conjunction with an overdrive or distortion box.

With a distortion, phase or chorus and your wha you can nail Brian Mays signature tone. Knock your pickups out of phase then use this little wonder with a bit of distortion and you have a great Jimmy Page sound. The nice thing is this stomp box also sounds great on its own.

Cranked up about halfway it gives you just enough dirt off pull off the earlier Stones or Who stuff. I found with my hotter pickup like my Dimebuckers and Hot Rails it really sings. I never thought I would be using my Dimebucker pickup to produce a Keith Richards or Clapton tone. Surprisingly with the BBE it nails it.

Sticking with the Dimebuckers the BBE is also a great tool for shredders and NuMetal guitarists. A lot of guitarists like Kerry King will use some type of boost to cut through the mix. In King¡¯s case he uses a Q-Zone. Not only will the BBE Freq Boost help you cut through the mix, it will also thicken up your tone and give you a ton of sustain. Sustain beyond what you would get with a standard compressor. These type of units worked for Tony Iommi in the 70¡äs I am sure you can find a great tone with one.

My suggestion is grab one of these babies now that they have just been discontinued. In a few short years they will be just as hard to find as the originals. They are on the discount racks of a lot of online retailers right now. Similar units can cost up to $300.00 or even more for an original vintage box. With a bit of research you can find these gems brand new in box for $50 or $60 instead of their original $100+ price tag.

Looking for a natural, strong overdrive? Plug this between your guitar and amp and go. Beautiful.

This pedal is so simple it's.......well.....simple. One knob. You turn till you have the treble boost you want & then it's either on or off. It's sounds great & one nice thing is you can boost a little more than you need, cut the treble at the end & voila! Nice treble boost & less noise. BTW you want to put this gadet as close to the guitar in your FX chain as possible. I have placed it right after my Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone which is a great Compressor/Sustainer, & the Pigtonix is first in my FX chain.

if you are a tone hound and seek the next latest/greatest option, this would be it.

It opens up your sound probably the way a good Vox does with an Amp.

Quality construction.