Greg Fryer has been building guitars, amps and effects for Brian May for more than a decade. One of the key ingredients in Brian May's idiosyncratic guitar sound is a Fryer-designed treble booster. Now you can own one too.
Fryer's new range of Brian May Treble Boosters should be the first stop for any guitarist looking for that big Queen overdrive sound. The Australian guitar, amp and FX wizard recently spoke exclusively to Guitarist magazine about the new range:
"The three treble boosters are silicone transistor based circuits and are designed to give the 'Brian May sound' from his different eras of live playing and recording", Fryer explains, "The boosters give progressively higher levels of gain and fatter sounds starting with the TB Touring, then the TB Deluxe and finally the hottest, the TB Plus, which has the highest gain and fattest sound.
"The TB Deluxe has been designed to produce the rich punchy toneful sound from the mid 1970s Queen albums Sheer Heart Attack and A Day At The Races."
"The TB Touring is the booster pedal that Brian has used since 1998 for his live and recorded work. On stage Brian is using one of several mini boosters which I made for him in early 2006 and these contain the Treble Booster Touring circuit.
"The TB Deluxe has been designed to produce the rich punchy toneful Brian May sound from the mid 1970s Queen albums Sheer Heart Attack and A Day At The Races as well as being very similar to Brian's well known 1980s live sound.
"The TB Plus is our most powerful and fattest sounding treble booster and has been designed to produce the rich fat Brian May tones found on the late 1970s Queen albums News Of The World and Jazz."
Check out the Guitarist blog for more from Greg Fryer.
The November issue of Guitarist magazine - available from 27 October in the UK - contains a full review of the Fryer Plus, Deluxe and Touring treble boosters.
In addition, there's plenty more for Queen fans. Simon Bradley catches up with Brian May at Queen's pre-tour rehearsals and May's guitar tech Pete Malandrone walks and talks through the Queen star's rig in an exclusive video. Magic. Well, kind of.
