Pro Tone Pedals Thruster

One knob for gain. Easy as pie.

I play an ESP H200 with Seymour Duncan JB and '59 humbuckers into a '65 Ampeg Reverb Rocket. I use this pedal to really cream the front end of the Ampeg for some awesome organic tube breakup. I like this pedal but I find that what should be "fatness" as you increas the gain I find to be more like "mud" and the Ampeg is a very bright amp. So this is one gripe. Another is that unless you have the gain nearly all the way up, the volume of your guitar seems to drop when the pedal is switched on. Playing with a band, the guitar nearly disappears instead of being boosted when the unit is switched on. I'm going to expiriment with different cap values to try and rectify this problem. The circuit is simple enough for someone with very elementary knowledge of electronics to tinker with.

Wish it had a DC plug for use with a wall wart. The pedal responds very unfavorably when the battery begins to die. Muddy weak signal. Other than that it's simple enough that I wouldn't worry about anything but the battery. The switch is of good quality and I don't worry about that failing me for many years.

Never contacted the company.

In addition the above mentioned flaws. The paint job and graphics are hideous. The finish is wrinkled and smeared and the graphics look cheesey. Basically I'm disappointed because I feel I could have built a better pedal and probably for a lot less than what I paid for this boutique wannabe pedal. The finish and the appearance of the internals are so bad I can't take the company seriously and would definitely not buy any of their products in the future.

This is an update to my review below. After using the pedal for a while it didn't seem to want to click on. I email Dennis at Pro Tone and he told me to ship the pedal to him and he would fix it. It turns out the switch went bad. He fixed it and had it sent back to me within a week. Great service. He was really cool and helpful. That is the best service I've seen from a pedal maker. Thanks Dennis!

This pedal isn't too complicated. There is just one knob for boost and a footswitch. Pretty easy to figure out.

My setup is as follows: Les Paul into wah, EQ, Pro Tone Thruster, Boss SD-1, BD-2, DS-1, MT-2, envelope filter, Maxon Phaser, Tremolo, and delay. I have a looper to switch between my dirt boxes and my modulation. The Thruster is in the loop with the dirt boxes. I use it as a solo boost mainly. I have noticed that it works really well in conjunction with the SD-1 and the BD-2. It give the overdrives a little more grit and a nice volume boost. With the DS-1 and the MT-2 it just makes everything sound buzzy. It is probably where I have the pedal set in the chain. It is really a nice sounding pedal by itself as well. When I engage it by itself with overdrives the amp and sounds smooth, sometimes better than the overdrive pedal.

It seem sturdy and I would gig without a backup but I wouldn't gig without a backup battery. That is the major flaw of this unit...there is no power jack, just a battery.

Haven't had to deal with them.

I've been playing for over ten years now. This is the first boost pedal that I've purchased. This pedal could be better with the addition of a power jack. Also, the buzzing in conjuntion with my distortion boxes is a little annoying but not enough to where I'd take it out of the chain. It is probably just an issue with where I've placed it in my pedal chain. It is was lost, stolen, or broke I would consider a new model but would probably for out more money for a higher end booster. Don't get me wrong though, for $50 this is a really nice pedal that is very useful.

This is a very straightforward booster pedal. For my purposes the sound quality is a very subtle fattening... I'm not interested in punching an already overdriven amp, although this seems to work fine for that if you're running a very simple rig. At 12:00 or so it adds a little sparkle after an Analog Man Mini BiComp. Has replaced the Pharaoh Tone Machine that I had been using. To cut to the chase... Set it, stomp on it, it's easy.

Not too complicated... Analog Man MBC to this, to RMC-1, to Fulldrive II; loop contains Zoom 508, Ice Box, FX17 volume pedal, Everman "The Pot" for solo volume changes, Fender tuner. The Protone adds a bit of oomph after the MBC and a little fatness for clean and slightly overdriven tones. Noisy past 1:00 or so, but I'm looking for some fat but not an extra balls out gain stage. Using this mostly into a Rivera R55, but a Budda SD30 and '88 Mesa Mark III are also in the mix. Again, I don't care much for the sound of a clean or slightly distorted amp being pushed by this or similar pedals; I like the Fulldrive's blue channel for that much better.

I have to admit, I've gigged once with this. ot much of an opinion on internal construction. I WILL say that the paint job is probably the lowest quality I've ever seen on a "boutique" pedal (and keep in mind that one of ProTone's motivations is to produce "boutique" quality pedals at affordable prices... corners WILL be cut...); the paint itself is fine, but the fresh paint smell was obvious on this when I received it and I don't think it's any sort of baked on finish... Velcro takes the paint right off when removed. That said, I don't care how a pedal looks as long as it works. And I'll keep the Tone Machine just in case. As noted in earlier reviews, it's a simple handwired circuit, so most likely as dependable as anyone elses's gear.j

Never dealt with, although when I won it on eBay I was somehow either not informed that I'd won or zapped the email without thinking... I was checking eBay for unresolved transactions and realized, about 10 days after the auction's end, that I'd won this and had not yet paid. I immediately paid and apologised my ass off to them , and they apparently understood and even gave me good followup feedback. I have no issues right now to speak of with these guys, and thank them here for their understanding. A 9 simply because I've never had any product issues requiring their help. But very understanding.

Good match for about anything. I find that sometimes after compression I need that little bit of boost and sparkle to offset the tonal mash. I've played for 30 plus years, play weekly with one of two bands, need reliability and affordability. A nice little pedal, a nice little company idea (affordable, boutique quality gear); dreadful paint job though. Maybe just go the Pharaoh route and put 'em in brushed aluminum boxes, saving the player even more money and removing a possible bone of contention for the more aesthetically concerned of us. A tone control to attenuate high or low end might be a nice feature, but this is pretty good the way it is.

very easy to use, one knob, one foot switch

I checked into this pedal b/c I could not find overdrive and boost pedals that were fairly transparent and @ a resonable price.
I use it with mesa mark III, Mesa SOB and will use it with my Dr.Z heads as well. To my ears, it is fairly transparent, it adds to some degree fatness to the tone, at higher gain settings it is a formidable boost. I use it with the gain @ about 2oclock. I rate this a 9 due to it's perfarmance and low cost

Looks fairly reliable, the insides are hand wired and there is nothing to the circuit really. I am not sure as to what this catagory refers to. The performance aspect seems to be built simply and should be reliable. Now the only defect that I have had is with the 9 volt battery clip that has come unglued twice. I really don't care that it came unglued, I guess the reliability of this componant is suspect. I communicated this to dennis and he was receptive of my report and recommendations. I rate this sans the clip issue because the sound is not affected by the clip

Very good, No BSing required I give this a top notch rating

very high due to value, it does what I wanted it to do. There was a fit and finish issue I noticed, there are some runs in the paint, but I am not bothered by this. I bought it to be stepped on and sound the way I want it to sound. Furthermore the runs are proof that it is hand made. The clip thing of course is not a sound issue, but must be stated.
I have a lot of gear, I don't have time to sasy exactly what I own. Everything from Peavey to DrZ and Mesa Boogie and some stuff in between.

It couldn't be easier. There is only one knob. I love simplicity and it doesn't come any easier than this.

I'm playing an American Tele-->Keeley SEM Boss DS-1--->Ibanez Chorus--->Pro Tone Thruster--->Traynor YCV40 amplifier. I usually only use one effect at a time. This pedal is not noisy at all. I use it through the clean channel of my amp for a clean boost and I use it through the overdrive channel of my amp during solos. This pedal obviously adds volume but it also adds a little fatness and warmth to my solos through the overdrive channel of my amp. I keep the gain on my amp set fairly low for my rhythm work which sounds great for rhythm but when I go to play lead my tone is really wimpy. This is why I bought this pedal and it really delivers the goods. It adds a lot of sustain and harmonics jump out of my amplifier. This pedal is exactly what I've been looking for.

I opened the pedals enclosure and there's only a few components and they're wired point to point. I feel it's very reliable. I've only had it for a short time and I really don't abuse my pedals and it has a couple of tiny paint chips already. I could care less about the paint chipping. However, if you don't like tiny paint chips you should be very very careful. I would definitely gig without a backup

I've always received very quick responses from Dennis. Very friendly guy.

I couldn't be happier. Please realize. This is the first boost I've ever owned. There might be boost pedals that are out there that are 100 times better than this one. I'll never know because I'm perfectly content with this. It's made by hand in the USA, point to point wiring, fantastic price, simple design. I'm thrilled with it. I would definitely buy another one if it were lost or stolen. I play straight forward 70s and 80s rock n roll. Anyone looking for a boutique pedal at an affordable price needs to get this pedal.