Ananashead Effects, the Barcelona-based company behind such boutique guitar effects pedals as the Bolt Drive, has unveiled the Range Booster – a treble booster based on the legendary 1966 Dallas Rangemaster, which was the secret weapon of many a rock legend, including Tony Iommi, Marc Bolan and Eric Clapton.
The Range Booster comes in a similarly grey enclosure as the amp-top unit that inspired it, and has both silicon and germanium transistors, which you can select via a toggle switch, with chicken head controls for dialling in Boost and Range (read: tone).
The silicon will clip a little harder than the germanium transistor offering a little bit more of a harder-edged drive once it hits your amp, and this feature lets you choose between the stock tones of the Dallas Rangemaster and those modified by the likes of Iommi and Brian May who preferred the low noise/harder tones of the silicon clipping.
Another popular mod at the time was to swap out the Dallas Rangemaster's input jack to enhance the low-end response, and Ananashead says the Range control performs similarly.
The Range Booster is the latest in a long list of treble boosters inspired by the Dallas Rangemaster, and could be used to brighten up a dull amp, for adding some hot sauce to the mids and highs for extra cut, or for finding a Schenker-esque cocked-wah tone.
The pedal is true bypass, takes a 9VDC input, draws 3mA of current, and has shielded inputs and outputs to reduce noise.
As with all Ananashead pedals, the Range Booster is handmade and available to order direct, priced €110 (£99, $125 approx).
See Ananashead for more details.
Those of a mind to get themselves an original 1966 Dallas Rangemaster can be expected to pay around two grand. Denmark Street Guitars have one online right now.
