Xotic EP Booster Mini EQ Effect Pedal

I play lap steel guitar and had been looking for a small boost pedal that would not distort or color the tone of the instrument. Just clean boost. Something that a good studio mic pre-amp would do, but easy enough to use without a lot of fuss.Depending on the venue I'll use either my Bugera AC 60 or my Vintage 5. Never had problem with distortion thru the AC 60, but the Vintage 5 would start distorting once the gain went past 4. With the EP Booster set at mid point, Vintage 5 gain set at 3, distortion was much less and the volume was more than enough to handle the room. the amp is made to color the signal, so the the Booster gives a bit more clarity and depth to the overall mix.I used the booster at another venue with my AC 60. Booster set zero (-3db gain), AC 60 gain at 7. The booster added a really sweet depth and clarity to the signal. Subtle, but you can really hear and feel the difference. I brought the booster up to the mid point position and it was way more than I needed, but very clean.There are 3 settings to choose from on the Booster. I use mine with the default settings, which is pretty much a neutral setting.All in all, a very nice piece of gear that delivers everything I was looking for.

I've heard raves about this pedal for years, but I thought it all must be hype. Then I heard a guitar player who used the same gear that I had -- Strat, Tele, and Les Paul into a vintage 1960's Blackface Deluxe Reverb -- but his tone had some "magic" that was missing in my rig. I couldn't wait to talk to him on the break during the gig. It turns out that the EP Booster was the big difference in our rigs. So I bought this while still maintaining my skepticism that it could really be the missing piece to add that extra-special-something to my tone. For the first day it was in my signal chain I was unimpressed. I like the clean boost, but I didn't hear any of what I would call "magic". In fact, I didn't like what it did to my tone, even though it wasn't an in-your-face change. All of that changed on the second day! I switched the internal dip switch to the Vintage setting and found tonal bliss! It made my Strat sound a bit fuller, smoother, and creamier somehow. Now I never turn this pedal off when playing clean-ish tones. It truly is magic!! I'm so enamored with this tone that I've been playing my guitar every single minute I can break away from my work for many days now. "Pleasant, smooth, creamy, full-bodied, rich, fluid..." are all some of the ways I'd describe what this pedal does. I haven't tried this yet with overdrives and distortion because I'm still gob-smacked by what it does to my clean tones, so I can't comment yet on what it does to a distorted signal. Now I'm craving a second unit so I can put one at the beginning of my signal chain and one at the end, with one set to "Vintage" and one set to "Flat EQ". One will be used for the tone it imparts and the other will be a clean boost. For my particular rig, it turned me into a true believer! YMMV.

I held off for ages with this pedal purchase. I'm glad I finally picked one up.This is a very basic circuit sort of based on an echoplex preamp. It's similar, but unlike the echoplex it also boosts your signal, which changes its output volume as well as its tone. However, that is not a bad thing for guitarists, especially those playing through tube amps.You can set the pedal to be unity gain or boosted (+3db) when turned all the way down. Even at unity gain you still get a nice clarity and evenness to the sound, like a light compression. There are more powerful boosts out there, but this one feels more refined and purposeful rather than a typical amp-slamming sledgehammer. I can see why people just leave this pedal on, it's like adding another tube to the front of your amp to cook it up just a bit more.

So many of the players I admire use this, I had to get it. One knob. Tiny profile. It does the solo boost thing great; adding some high end sparkle and gain.

Just received this in yesterday and had the opportunity to try it out for several hours last night. I was quite impressed with the tone I was getting. I have never been happy with the Klones and TS's I have used previously and this EP Booster exceeded my expectations. I tested it out with my Tele going into a Deluxe Reverb and the EP Booster brought out just the right amount of pleasing breakup in the Deluxe Reverb amp and cleaned up nicely rolling back the volume on the Tele while still retaining good presence. I still need to test it out with other guitars and tube amps in my collection but so far this pedal will be a niche for the Fender amp. I also tried out all three Dip Switch settings which is a nice feature with options toward dialing in your tone. My only criticism is it would have been nice if the Dip Switched were accessible externally instead of having remove the four screws and bottom plate otherwise I am very excited to add this to my guitar signal chain.