Analog Man Beano Boost

Doesn't get much easier with one volume and a 3-way high-mid-low switch.

I can't believe how much this pedal affects my sound. So many variations. Fender Strat-Fulltone Wah-Beano Boost-Fulltone Fulldrive-Analogman Boss Distortion-Analogman Boss DD3 Delay-Dr Z Maz 18 NR! with Z-Best 2x12 Cab. Where the beano is located is key. Experimentation is paramount! Talk about making solo notes sing. And the touch of overdrive is ear candy. Sweet. In fact, currently I have the Fulldrive in compressor mode and can now turn down the distortion on the Boss due to the excellent boost of the Beano. Do not think of it as a treble booster but as a tone booster!

No problems!

No issues!

I play modern rock, classic rock, blues, and country. The Beano was bought on a whim. Typically I study pedals by playing them, reading reviews, etc...but this pedal was bought purely by analogman's reputation and my past experience with his pedals. And it paid off!

My review is for the version with the three-position switch (Mid, Hi, Low).

The Beano Boost is very easy to use: There is one knob to control volume/gain and the three-position tone switch.

I have a Mesa Stiletto Deuce head (kind of like a Marshall), 2x12 Mesa 3/4-back cab with Mesa Black Shadow speakers. Main guitars are a Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Custom w/ stock Classic 57 pickups and a American '57 Reissue Stratocaster w/ stock Fender 57/62 pickups. Effects in addition to the Beano Boost are a Keeley Compressor and a Catalinbread Super Chili Picoso (clean boost).

For the next bit, keep in mind that I am starting out with a basic tone without effects that I like then adding on the effect without changing anything. I haven't built my tone around the Beano Boost and mainly use it to boost up my Strat for a heavier tone. If you're looking for that Clapton/Bluesbreakers sound, I can't help you because that's not what I'm going for. But, the premise of the pedal is that it is a Rangemaster clone like what Clapton used on that album.

Stratocaster: A treble booster seems like an odd thing to use with a guitar that is so bright sounding and it is too bright with the normal/middle position of the Beano Boost. I mainly use the Low position to beef up the sound of the Strat when using high gain settings on the amp; this knocks the bridge pickup down to a range that is much more usable with the thin sounding pickup. Using the BB's knob set around 9-10 o'clock gives a relatively clean boost to the amp for a pretty chunky tone. Raising the knob up more causes the BB to start overdriving and making the tone a bit more "fluid." Either way, the overall tone set this way gives sort of an early '80s metal sound. Very cool! (Well, *I* like that sound!)

Les Paul: The Low setting is usually too dark (more on that later) with the humbuckers. I generally use either the Mid or normal setting with this guitar in a medium to high gain situation. In the normal setting with the knob around 9 o'clock the guitar cuts through very nicely; raising the knob more gives a more saturated tone that sounds great for solos using the neck pickup.

Here's where things get funky...

The Beano Boost is sensitive to where you put it in your pedal chain and the ideal place for it is right after your guitar. If you put a buffered pedal before it, the entire frequency range is shifted up much higher giving you much brighter highs and less lows. You can view this as either a plus or a minus - I look at it as a plus as it gives me more tone possibilities. Using my Les Paul neck pickup with the clean channel of my amp with the Keeley compressor in front of the Bean Boost and the BB switch set to the Low position and the volume/gain knob set to about 9 o'clock, it gives me sort of an old Chuck Berry sound that is *really* cool. I don't think that was the intention of the design, but it's a great accident.

The Beano Boost sounds great and I gave it a 9 rather than a 10 only because *my* personal preference would have been to have the Low setting just a little brighter.

I don't know much about electronics and I've had this pedal for only three months, but the inside looks pretty sturdy and the footswitch feels solid. The case looks *very* strong. It hasn't failed yet!

I've been in contact with Mike several times and he's great about answering questions (as well as patient) and I'm sure he stands behind his products.

I've been playing for around 20 years or so and play rock and roll - classic and hard rock. The Beano Boost gives me a lot more tone options to play with; great, *musical* tone options. If it were lost or stolen, I could get along without it, but would miss it and definitely replace it.

Mine is the push pull. One knob, pretty easy.

Les Paul-Beano-Bacino 18. I put the Beano at 3:00 pulled out. The Bacino at 5:00. I work with my volume and tone controls on my guitar. It's the tone I've been wanting it has sustain and grit. I am a Peter Green fan early Billy Gibbons and Clapton. This set up will get you there tone wise.

So far so good.

Mike has always been fair to me. I have sent him other pedals for repair and he has returned money to me and always fixed my pedals. Show me that from any other gear site.

I play blues and rock. I've been playing for 23 years (yikes I'm gettin old). Fantastic pedal but you got to turn that amp up.

Very easy to use. A volume switch, a 3-position toggle switch between Normal (bright), Low and Mid. That's it!

I was looking for a vintage sound, but I was suprised at how much more the pedal can do. It adds a grit and an edge to the sound that's very musical. It's not a distortion pedal, but it adds distortion. It's not an overdrive pedal but you can overdrive your preamp section with it by turning up the volume knob.

It's a hard pedal to explain, but when I place it in my signal chain after Analog Man's Juicer compressor into my Bogner Shiva, well, let me tell you, it's something special.

I play a homemade teakwood strat with EMG pickups and put the BB volume down at 9 o'clock and set the toggle switch into the "low" position, and it screams like nothing else. Heaven.

Seems to be built very solidly. Only a few months on the odometer.

Mike's a nice guy. It DID take a while for him to mail my order but he makes these things in batches, he's a small business and the sound quality is fantastic, so it all works out. Would have been unhappy with the delay of it were a bigger company.

If you have an amp with great distortion already (i.e. a Bogner), this will launch you into heaven. It has a distrotion-pedal-like effect, but is very organic and sensitive to pick attack. Best pedal I have bought yet.

Just dime the knob n go! Mine is the puch pull model with options for treble boost or fullrange mode.

I use an Orville by Gibson Les Paul Standard into the beano boost into my Orange ad15/12. I also on occasion use a boss chorus (ch-3 i think) and a 959Q Dunlop wah, and I'll use the two outs of my chorus n use that to go into my ad15 n my music man hd130. I finally am 100% satisfied with my tone as of now! This unit is not as bright and has a lil bit more gain on tap compared to the HBE germania i own. I deffinatley get some Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton. and Jimmy Page sound out of my amp(s) with this pedal. It took a little while for me to finally settle on settings that are perfect now. If you get this pedal and think it doesnt work well try n play with your amp n guitar settings. I can even get some strat like tones because of the brightness and clarity added. I knew what I wanted to sound like in my head and I have a couple other nice pedals including a Zvex 2 in 1 n a fuzz factory...those are collecting dust now! They never got me to where i wanted to be tone wise, I never use them. I set my guitar up with the volume half way n tone on the neck full, n for the bridge i cut the tone in half. If i didnt set it up this way it wouldnt make sense, i role up the vol for solos n man if it doesnt sound heavenly! Basically if your thinking of getting this pedal stop reading n go order one, they really are something special.

oh, deff. very well made

Mike is a great guy that always gets back to me when I've emailed him before. A pleasure doing buisiness with.

I play blues/classic rock...u know the drill. Im surprised more people havent discoverd what a beautiful effect the treble booster is. Ive been playing 3 years. Id def buy this unit again if it was lost/stolen. I love it because it helps me sound like me. If I didnt have this pedal in my setup right now id probly just go play my acoustic. Thats how much I need it...it should be built into my amp, i never turn it off.

Very easy to use it. i ordered it with the mini toggle switch with 3 positions so you can choose a middle axed in the treble,the mediums,or the bass
there is just one volume know which determines the amount of gain

here is my setup ibanez js1000 with paf pro and paf fred into a BJF Dyna red distorsion >>> Analog man beano boost >>> memory man delay deluxe into a all tubes amp Laney VC30 ( 3 12AX7, 4 EL84 ) 1x12 which is clearly a amp inspired by the Vox AC30
so , from the moment you activate the pedal , you can't desactivate it !! it's a pedal which is essential from the moment you tasted it . You can really get THE Jimmy Page sound combined with a fuzz box or an overdrive.The pedal gives more brightness and more gain in an incredible way.more gain, more organic sound, more brightness, more definition, in short , more of all.i forgot to say that you can really get an easy feedback with it :) !!
So, i can tell you that tis pedal always sounds great.one more thing which is amazing is the fact that this pedal doesn't produce any noise , as Mike of analogman says in the description of the pedal ( i use only high quality proco cables , maybe it helps the fact )
i 'll just add that you can get an amazing effect combined with a warm analog delay like the memory man deluxe,so you'll get a sound with is very close of the sond Dazed and confused ( led zeppelin ) when jimmy page activates his echoplex delay

this pedal has a very light weight and is well-built.i didn't use it yet on a gig but i'm sure that the beano boost will fulfill its function.

Mike from analogman is a very cool personn , who replied to the mail VERY VERY VERY quickly , so you can be sure that you'll talk with a very qualified personn

i play rock/bluesrock/hardrock music, i love pink floyd , led zeppelin and all the bands from the late 60's
if it were stolen, i'm sure that i'll buy it again, i really love all about this treble booster and i haven't got any defects to be reproached.

Very simple to use just turn the knob up for more volume boost. There is also a push pull pot for either treble boost only or a full range boost whatever YOUR chioce may be. This is what you need especially if you use both single coil guitars and humbucker equipped guitars.

I am using both humbucker and single coil equipped guitars. I use several amps, Budda SD30, 69 Marshall 50 watter and Fender twin. The great thing is that it has true bypass switching which works great, your tone doesn't suffer just by plugging into the effect. The boost not only ads a big boost but also adds some CRUNCH. The treble boost adds a nice brightening to the sound and it just sustains like crazy through a well overdriven amp, that is how it works best.If your a lead player looking for a boost to get your solos heard this will do the trick.I found the treble boost to really cut through but it's not to trebly. With a tele it's a bit bright but that's what the full range boost is for it really makes single coil pickups fatter and makes them sing.When the boost is on it also helps your playing in a big way. When you are soloing and the notes are sustaining you just feel like you're working with the guitar and amp and it's not fighting you. There is some noise with it up full blast but your just gonna have some noise when your boosting like this.

Very well made pedal with GREAT workmanship. Analogmans reliability for his pedals are well known!!

When I was looking for a booster I had four different pedals in mind. I e-mailed Mike and within one hour he had responded with dead on honesty of my choices and what he thought would work best and he was right on! He wants his customers to be happy and is very patient and helpful.

I play modern rock and classic rock. This is not just for the vintage player at all. This booster is great for ALL kinds of music. It is especially helpful at brightening up British type amps. Humbucker guitars with Vox amps or Marshalls will just LOVE it. It also sounds great in the FULL range boost mode with Fender guitars and amps!! Very well designed pedal for lots of players and situations. I would definately get another if something happened to this. This has just made my playing more enjoyable. I almost forgot to mention drop d tuning sounds even better with this pedal.

It doesn't get any easier than this! The amount of treble boost is determined by a single knob, with a push/pull option switching the unit to full boost mode.

I use a Les Paul Standard into the Beano Boost, then into the normal channel on a Vox AC30tbx. The treble boost pushes the normally "dark" amplifier into the most inspiring overdrive I've ever had! What's more, when I switch to my Tele, I simply pull the knob up to activate full boost. Of course the treble boost mode is equally suited to single coils too, you just have to be carefull with your tone control. If you're using a British amp, this is the missing link to all those tones you were dreaming about when you bought the amp, I promise!

Mine's only a few weeks old, but it looks to be almost indestructable. The work inside the pedal is excellent too, neat and tidy. Battery drain is minimal. It's replaced my Z Vex 2 in 1 Super Duper in a heartbeat. Mike at Analog.man has a great reputation for building reliable stuff.

I've had every mail answered within a day or two, first class service and knowledgable advice. I wish every pedal manufacturing specialist instilled me with the same confidence as Analog.man.

This pedal has to be heard to be believed. It does exactly the job I needed, brightening my tone and adding spit and sizzle to my signal. If, like me, you find clean boosts to be sterile, then try a Beano Boost and you will not be disappointed. It offers excellent value, over $100 cheaper than the Keeley Java Boost. For true vintage and retro tones ranging from Jimmy Page to Brian May and Ritchie Blackmore to Rory Gallagher, this is the mojo. Do your Vox or Marshall a favour, give it some Beano!

This device is pretty easy to get a good sound out of if you're going for a crunchy sound. You must use a tube amp that you can crank a bit. The manual is short but informative.

I use this effect with a Clapton Strat, Vox Wah and various fuzzes into a Fender Pro Jr. It can get noisy here and there but nothing anyone couldn't deal with. I have a few different setups and I don't use this pedal all the time but when I do, it does the trick. I can get a real nice searing blues tone out of it.

I've had it a few months and never had a problem with it. I don't use it enough to need a backup.

Analog Mike was very helpful. When I first got it, I didn't understand the nature of the thing. You need to get your amp cranked so it's breaking up a little to get it to work right. And you must have a tube amp. It sounds great with the Pro Jr. 'cause it's only 15 watts so you can turn it up without going deaf. Unfortunately, I have to mike it up at gigs or it can't be heard.

I play a little bit of everything and this effect doesn't fit everything I do. But for the right music, it sounds fantastic. If it were stolen, I probably wouldn't bother getting another one just 'cause I don't use it all the time. The sound it gets is really useable. It gets a really good crunch out of my guitar and amp.

A true bypass on/off switch and a volume knob - pretty basic. However, the volume knob is a pull up affair which allows 2 subtly different voicings. One is the traditional Dallas Rangemaster treble boost (best suited for guitars with humbucking pickups) and the other is a more full range boost for guitars with single coils. At about 9:00 o'clock the volume of the effect matches the unaffected signal - after that, anything goes - this can get really loud and gives the front end of your amp a battering! Nice!

I'm using a Fender Squier Silver Series Stratocaster loaded with a set of Kinman blues pickups through a Peavey Classic 20 all valve amp. So things are usually running pretty warm to start with in this setup. This pedal is like having another gain stage in your amp. For rhythm work it gives you lovely crunchy distortion with astonishing chord definition. You can definitely hear the likes of Brian May and Rory Gallagher in this pedal. For lead work it gives you sustain 'til next Tuesday and wonderful controlled feedback. But this is not a total 'anarchy' pedal - nor do I think it is intended as such. It gives you a lovely edge that is transparent enough for your original setup to not get lost in the overbearing personality of some mega overdrive/distortion pedal. It's always musical in its tones whatever setup you have or whatever setting you use on the pedal. Even using the treble boost voicing on a single coil guitar sounds very good I think - both live and definitely in a recording situation. It's nice and quiet too given that it uses a germanium transistor. People will ask you how you 'got that sound' when you come off stage...

I looked inside this pedal and it's extremely well made - hand wired at that! It's simplicity and sturdiness means I have no hesitation playing without a backup. The battery lasts for hundreds of hours!

Analog Mike seems like a thumbs up guy. He replies promptly to emails no matter how trivial and stupid your questions might be. When you deal with Analogman you're treated like a rock star! Well, I have been, anyway...

I play 60s British freakbeat stuff like the Yardbirds, The Who, Pretty Things and I've been either pretty disillusioned or disgusted with all the woolly 'fuzzboxes' I've tried so I needed a 'mojo' for maximum power during solos and general sonic mayhem. This is pretty good considering it's not specifically suited to the style of music I'm playing. I hear it now comes with a third 'bass' setting which would be cool! If anything happened to this pedal I'd just have to get me another one....