I thought it would be a good idea to start experimenting with making some really good but cost effective guitar effect units, because I tend to think that some people who make them are doing a rip-off job. I have seen things like treble boost units being sold for £200, and more, which I think is a bit thick despite the fact that certain famous guitarists are using them. It's nice to be able to produce the standard pedals such as fuzz and wah, but what I am looking at is including some different pedals into the list

If I look at an creating an effects unit I think to myself "What do I want out of it?", then I look at what other guitarists want out of it either by asking them or reading reviews. One of the most vital things about an effects pedal is that it doesn't induce unnecessary/unwanted noise into the amplifier, so low noise is moved to the top of the priority list. The Treble Boost is the first of the effects unit that I am planning on producing, and this will be followed by some others which are not so usual and some that are just as usual.

Treble Boost unit
In my opinion a treble boost pedal is a great little effect to use with a guitar but it is only really needed on a valve amplifier to lift the treble and make it sing and bite. To my mind, the treble boost is wasted on a solid state amplifier because they already have good cutting treble responses and mid boost anyway. But having said that, I have a solid state amplifier and I find a lot of use for a treble boost/cut unit in the line up to model the sound I want, and there are some solid state amplifiers that do have a bassier sound than others. I suppose whether you use one or not on a solid state amplifier depends on what sound you want.

The treble boost pedal that I make is low noise, it can both boost and cut treble by means of a variable control, and it runs for ages on a single PP3 battery. To switch the unit on you insert a jack plug into the input of the unit, to switch it off you take the jack plug out of the unit. I thought it would be important to include an adjustable control in the unit because there will be times when more or less treble is needed to be boosted depending on the amplifier and/or the guitar it is being used with, or on the kind of music one is playing on the guitar.

A couple of points in question. I have used this treble booster to feed a guitar into a bass guitar amplifier with some really good results. I have also used the unit to produce a a treble cut on an Ovation electro/acoustic guitar to create a really good acceptable sound through a solid state amplifier - the Ovation guitar that I have has quite a toppy sound and a rasping treble, and this little treble boost/cut unit really does temper it down and makes it purr. It makes an undeniable improvement to the sound of this guitar to the point of difference between chalk and cheese.

Using this unit together with the controls in the amplifier, some very interesting sound variations can be created. I haven't designed any swish case for it. The prototype is housed in a plain pressed alumuninum box.