ThroBak Electronics Strange Master Pedal

Product Description

In the early ‘60s English guitarists were obsessed with treble. We’re not sure why—perhaps there was an earwax epidemic in the UK at the time or those Mod haircuts knocked off 10dB at 6kHZ. Whatever the reason, those cats were just begging for more treble and Dallas Electronics answered with their Rangemaster Treble Booster. It was a happy accident for guitarists world-wide that not only did the Rangemaster boost treble to near fatal levels, it also provided a nice gain bump to the front end of their tube amps, making for some of rock’s greatest guitar sounds. Eric Clapton used one with his Les Paul and Marshall Combo on the Bluesbreakers' uber-classic “Beano” album, while Tommy Iommi cranked his SG through a Rangemaster on those proto-metal early Black Sabbath cuts like War Pigs.

Throbak Electronics couldn’t let this '60s tonal niche go unfulfilled, so they’ve made us really happy here at Vintage King with their Strange Master Treble Boost, a recreation of the Germanium Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster circuit—but with those user-tweakable mods that make Throbak pedals so tonally wicked.

First on the mod list, Throbak provides a switchable range control allowing guitarists to choose between the “ice pick in the forehead” treble boost of the original Rangemaster and a full range boost that kicks a tube amp into monster germanium distortion. Next they include a transistor bias adjustment control allowing you to change the character of boost from flabby to tight—a mod we’ve spent hours using to dial up nearly endless sustain to freaky gained out sputtering effects. As if that isn't nough to make the gnarliest booster pedal, Throbak added a switchable silicon transistor to the classic Germanium circuit so players can get higher gain silicon treble boost tones from one pedal!