Analog Man Beano Boost

This is a very easy pedal to use. One knob, a selector switch for the ranges high/mid/low. The selector switch is a great addition which sets it apparent from the original Rangemaster.

This is a very versatile effect, but needs to be used with some distortion, whether it be an overdriven amp or in front of a overdrive/distortion pedal. I have used it in front of just about everything for studio work (Oranges, Hiwatts, Marshalls, Fenders, Mesa Boogies, etc.) It works well with both solid state/tubes, humbuckings/single coils, fuzz and overdrive boxs. This pedal pushes your lead sound over the top and might replace a compressor in some case for it provides more sustain and transparent boost. Very quiet. It is best if used before any buffered effects in a pedal chain. Not just for Brian May fans but other classic guitar sounds as well (Richie Blackmore, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, eventhough most of these guys probably did not use a Rangemaster).

Hand wired and nice case (like an MXR pedal). I doubt it would malfunction. This pedal works the best with a cheap carbon battery so it is important that you do not leave the instrument jack plugged in when you are not using it (you probably know this already). You should get a 100 hours or more out of a battery.

Mike was great, needed this pedal in a few days for a recording session because my BBE version broke (total junk, sorry). I am pretty picky when it comes to service and have no complaints so far.

I am well into my 35th year of playing music. I have been a sessions musician for some of the greats, and still am a guitar instructor.

I choose not to list all of the stuff I own for the list is vast and I would rather be humble about it. What is important is that this pedal is worth trying out if you like a classic guitar lead sound.

Yes, I would replace it, but I am a pretty big guy and feel sorry for anyone who would try to walk off with it :)

This is just an update to my earlier review of this pedal. I've been playing it for 3 years now and have NEVER gotten tired of it. The only time it's turned off is when I'm using my wah pedal because there's a bit of a harmonic redundancy happening when using both together. I'm using it with an '82 made in England Marshall JCM 800 1x12 and a 2001 Vox AC 15 with several Pete Cornish distortion pedals(SS2-G2-P2-NB2). IMO, this pedal is a must for topping off your British amp. Does the J.Page/J.Beck/B.May thing all day long but sounds killer for punk or anything else you want to rock hard with lots of cut and clarity. Use a good transparent distortion pedal and you can get those tones at any volume level. If you can't tell, I'm still in love with this pedal and I highly recommend it.

3 years of live gigs,etc. and it hasn't failed me yet. Also, batteries last forever in this thing.

Mike's great. No problems there.

Been playing for 30+ years and will hopefully be using this pedal for 30+ more.

straight forward, you either get it - or you're... well, hopeless. Volume knob - dials in amount of boost. Three position toggle switch - select between treble(regular), mid, or low frequencies to be boosted. True bypass stomp switch. LED indicator light. That's pretty much it.

I'm not a pedal guy. I know pedals can be interesting and fun, but my old man( ex brit session player) instilled his purist approach of - it's all in the hands - into my little head when i started playing with his guitars at 5 years of age. I subscribe. However, I find that sometimes an amplifier may need a bit of help getting itself off the ground. And in the case of my handwired JTM 45 combination amplifier, this pedal proves itself necessary to take the amp to it's special place. Right out of the box, with the knob turned to 12 o'clock, a 61 SG, and the amp set to 4, I was steppin' out. Ha. I couldn't resist. Marshall valve amps will make sweet love to this Beano Boost. The Super 100 at 6 with a strat and the same amount of boost... well, my neighbors were terrified, and i may have peed my pants just a little. Not a very noisy pedal. Very little hiss. I purchased the Beano with the NKT275 and battery only. Don't think you would need the optional oc44. Bottom line: great pedal that can add some lovely "colored" honk and sizzle to the front end of an amplifier. However, best served LOUD(i.e. non-master volume amp cranked) to get in her pants.

well see. it's only got a few bits and pieces in it. Case is stronger than I am, but most everything is. There is a piece of pc board in there. eww, but whatever.

I submitted an order and waited 3 weeks. That was the extent of my "dealing with the company". It was well worth the wait.

Thumbs up. But don't buy a pedal of this sort if you're plugging it into a solid state practice amp, or any other amp that doesn't already sound excellent. You will scratch your head, and end up flogging the thing on ebay. in fact, stay away from a pedal like this if you're not using a quality valve amplifier.

1 knob, 3-way toggle (hi, mid, low boost). not tough to figure out.

interesting effect, tone coloration. boosts your high end, can add (at least what it sometimes reminds me of) a "wah stuck in one spot" sound. you do lose low end (with the switch in the hi-boost spot) but that is kind of the point. with humbuckers into the hi-gain (british) channel of my rivera amp, this thing adds a nice treble crunch that sounds very cool/aggressive. adds a certain "presence" to your sound. i don't leave it on all the time, but its nice to have the tonal options it provides. pretty quiet unit, considering what its designed to do (boost/add high end).

seems very solid, haven't had it that long.

Mike seems to get very positive reviews in this area, and he answered my emails quickly and i didn't have to wait too long for the pedal.

cool pedal, seems to do exactly what it is supposed to do. adds a unique hi-end crunch/clarity to your tone, some sustain (though not much - not designed for that). provides a good tone for blending when recording (mix it with your unboosted sound and it rounds out the overall tone in a cool way).

Idiot proof pedal. One knob for output, and a 3 way toggle switch for preferred eq settings. Middle for standard, up for full range boost, down for low boost.

This pedal basically brought my Orange RV50 head to life. The sound cuts through like a saw now. Definitly the greatest thing to happen to my sound since i started over 15 years ago. Even my friends who have heard my band a million times claim that this pedal has helped my sound so much that it's night and day. Basically the missing link to all those dark british amps.

Extremeley Important! This pedal must be set first in the signal chain directly after guitar or it will sound putrid! If set first, it is a true work of genius.

Point to point wiring, Hard mxr box, switch is top notch. You would have to TRY to break it in order of even coming close to this thing malfunctioning.

Mike is probably the most pleasant person i have ever dealt with in any service. Makes me have faith in humanity again. Answers all his emails and your questions very fast (within hours most of the time)

If this were stolen, I'd cry. I'd cry till i got the money to get another one, and then I would order it again right away. This is the pedal for those crunchy break up nuts out there, as well as for those people who need a cure for thier dark sound that just doesnt cut through enough. For the price, it's probably the best treble booster out there. I think he should charge more personally, but mike seems extremely humble, and thank god for that.

The instruction sheet says best place is last in signal chain before amp. I tried it there first and was disappointed in the thin sound. However, after some swapping places, I now have it first in my chain and this thing is AWESOME!! What a difference in trading places! Right before my Teese wah and my new KoT overdrive.
Simple one volume knob and a high, mid, and low setting switch.
I'll give it a 9 for having to swap places to find the sweet spot. Other than that very easy to use. Just stomp and scream!

Like I said above this unit is very sweet! Produces a super thick, creamy overdrive in front of any of my amps. ( Boogie MkIII, Music Man 212 HD 130, Fender Pro Junior, Allen Accomplice ) Like Mike says, it cleans up well when I back off the volume on my guitar. When I back off below 8 on my guitar it takes on a sparkly tone that is so nice, then roll up to 10 and it gets raunchy and nasty...too cool!

I've had it about 2 years and no problems foreseeable~ A look inside at this simple point to point ciruit and I see old school quality~ Nice...

I have several aNaLoG.MaN pedals and have emailed Mike numerous times with always a quick, brief reply within a few hours. I was on the waiting list for a KoT pedal for 2 years and I'm sure I botherd him with all my, "Is it ready yet" questions, but he always told me what the hold up was. ( KoT review coming soo. Have to go play right now! )

I play roots rock, classic to hard and this unit is just what the Dr. orders to boost my solo's over the edge and into total tonal bliss. I've been playing guitar 40 years and this is a keeper. I tried a Keeley Java Boost and the Beano smokes it! The Java sounds muffled in comparison. If it were lost or stolen, I'd be mad and sad and order a new one. Good stuff here!

I found it EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to get a good sound out of the unit! The manual works perfectly. But it is just one knob.

I am playing a 1989 Fender American Stratocaster with a one piece maple American Fender neck with a bone nut, sperzel locking tuners... It has Seymour Duncan Custom 5/Lil '59n/Jazz N pickups with CTS 500 pots. I always run a Boss NS-2, Boss GE-7 modded by ToneJam, and an Analogman Comprossor; sometimes I use an Analogman Juicer and a Maxon SD-9 with the Analogman mod. My overdrive is an Ibanez TS-9 with the Silver mod by Analogman yet again. I adore and swear by all my other analogman pedals. The unit sounds extremely bright and fuzzy, like I'm playing through a handheld amp. This effect is magnified with compressors. Eve n with the neck pickup with tone down it sounds bright.
I am playing a Fender 1965 Super Reverb '65 Reissue, with Settings T/M/B=2/7/2. The GE-7 has the mids raised even more. It sounds like a tube screamer driven strat that is very thick, yet with that thin tone that sounds like Fender. The mid-heavy settings balance out the bright pickups. Even with exremely midrange-heavy settings, the neck pickup, and a low tone, the Beano Boost made my signal sound BAD, and overly bright and harsh.
***The only decent sound I found was with the middle pickup (a neck Lil '59) with the tone down around 3, and the beano at around 9:00, it made my humbucking strat sound like a true single coiled strat. this was the only bearable sound I found.

It's analogman. His stuff is built with the most quality stuff around and they're built like tanks. It's built for life.

Mike is a very nice, personable guy. He is often gone and brief, but customer service is superb.

I play Phish, Grateful Dead, Iron Maiden, Guns 'N' Roses, and then loads of classic rock. Mainly Phish. I love strat tones and I love the tones on the website... I love Lemon song and Crossroads. I c ouldn't really find any decent tones honestly. I've been playing for 8 years. The standard setting on the three-way toggle is best. The bass is too bassy, and the treble makes it even worse.

As said below: one knob (intensity) and a three way toggle switch Mid (classic Dallas Rangemaster mode), High (full frequency mode) and Low (obviously emphasizing the lower range).

I am using it for 4 months now. (Honeymoon is over.) I do not want to exaggerate but this is simply IT if your looking for a classic treble booster!! My 20 year long search is now finally over! No, really! I've never had the original Dalllas Rangemaster, only some unsatisfying clones (I know the sound I am looking for).
Mainly I am playing a Les Paul R7 goldtop and a Nocaster closet thru a 1971 Vox AC30 with SilverDogs, Denis Cornell Plexi 18/20 and a 1964 Fender Tremolux Piggy-back. With that I get all those classic tones I want and more out of it.
Finally the boring normal channel of my AC30 comes to life. (Brian May lurking around the corner. I don't got his special guitar but with the Beano in High position, with a sixpence as pick and the PU selector of the LP in middle position playing around with the PU volumes to get different blends, I get darn close. But I don't got his fingers ...).
On the Cornell there was always a lack of grit. Now it blows. I was very suprised that with the LP and the Beano in Low position (High works too) I got some pretty delighting kind of Tony Iommi sound coming out of that combination. I wonder what if I had a Laney... and a set of thimbles on my playing hand fingertips ;)? (You'll need a 1971 Strat (yes, with the scary 3 bolt neck, NEVER USE THE MIDDLE PU), obviously a Plexi, (a black suit, a terrible hate for your lead singer ;)) and the Beano in High position and you got Richie Blackmore).
Not that the Beano is for a "cloning guitar hero contest". It's just for give you an idea were the sound goes.
Even with the Tremolux I got a nice tone despite the fact that a treble booster normally makes more sense on a vintage british amp that's tone-wise more on the dark side.
Oh I forgot: this thing is not an overdrive/distortion pedal, it's a booster (dooh...) so you need to really crank your amp to get those sweet tones (maybe an attenuator would be advisable (I use Mark Greggs Ultimate Attenuator, pretty cool.)) I remember the very first time I went to a store to check a treble booster, playing on an amp at a really decent volume, I hardly couldn't hear any effect.
BTW True Bypass on this thing REALLY works!

I would use it on a gig without backup. Makes a pretty rugged impression to me. But as said I got it only for 4 months now. You never know, so a nine for that.

Mike replies on e-mails in my experience normally in 1 to 4 hours!!

The only thing that would be nice would be something to control the toggle switch with my foot. I like to play with those differnt sounds. Enough said. If you started reading here, read above! The $205.- was inclusive shipping costs to europe.

One knob and a three position toggle switch - pretty simple. The knob is for setting the level and the switch is for selecting the range - mid (full), treble (high), low. I dial the knob to 3 o'clock and set the switch to low.

I play a Les Paul through a vintage Marshall. I don't use a lot of effects. My amp sounds pretty good as is, but it's only got one channel. When I take a solo, I need a little extra juice to cut through the mix. This pedal delivers it - and then some. It really pushes the front of the amp nicely. Talk about tone in a box. Take your favorite tube amp and imagine it how it would sound with some extra gain.

It doesn't add too much noise - not nearly as musch as a fuzz or a distortion box. I wouldn't leave it on between songs, but if you dial it in right, it won't cause any feedback.

N/A - I haven't had any problems thus far. I don't have a back-up for anything. It's all in the fingers, baby....

Mike is the man. He got back to me right away and he knows what he's talking about.

I play rock & roll and this pedal takes my leads to a new level of tone. I swear - it's magic in a box. I've got one of Mike's Sunfaces with the nos germanium transistors and I love this thing way more. I just gigged last night - ran my Les Paul into the Beano Boost into my Boss tuner into my JMP. When I ripped my leads, I couldn't help but look back at my amp and think to myself, "This is sick tone." This has got to be some of the best tone I've ever achieved.

I have a vintage MXR Micro Amp. There's no comparison. I also have a Barber Direct Drive. Again - no comparison. I've got an Aramat Soul Patch (another really good pedal) - it's like comparing apples and oranges. Both are really good, but they serve different purposes. It depends on the application.

If it were stolen, I would most definitely buy another one.

One knob, one 3-way toggle, one foot switch. Real easy.
Sounds are specific, it boosts one range of frequency. This is limiting, yet that's what it's supposed to do, boost a dark amp. It does this. At first you might think it's a bit thin, like a loss of low end. But it works better with other music, in the mix you can get a sonic and volume boost out of an overdrive pedal or push a tube amp a little or alot.

American standard Strat with Lace's and DrZ Mazerati. True bypass, for real. Adds just a bit of noise, come on it boosts highs and volume. Can't hear hiss unless it's a pretty loud boost. Sound by itself at low volume is thin and bright. But your amp should be loud and this will do it's job. My amp is a little dark, so is my overdrive. The Beano just before the overdrive is great. The boost is very noticable and my high end is dynamic and alive. There is some subtle harmonic tones that follow chords that aren't as present whrn the pedal is off.

built like it will outlive me.

Mike is the best. I email alot and he always answers, real nice guy. I returned a Nano Head and he exchanged it for some pedals with no problems.

Does what it does real well. I've never even heard John Mayall and the Blues Breakers and the "Beano" album with Clapton. I got the effect because maybe I've lost a bit of high end in my hearing and maybe my amp is a little dark. The Mazerati only has one tone knob, so I can't just crank the treble up, the Beano does it for me. Really cool before my overdrive. Gives my tone an aural and sonic boost that I could live without, but I'm very happy to have it.