Crush the button ! Boutique effects reviews

[Fast Bebop]

Hi guys,

I recently owned an Xotic AC booster, witch is fantastic by the way, but also discovered this absolute gold mine for the "boutique effects" lovers : Crush the button !

Dozens of brands you've never heard of. But damn, they are weird, handmade, rare, expensive, and sound exceptionnaly good !

I was wondering if some of you knew one or a few of these brands, and what you think of it...

I tried the Xotic AC booster, BB preamp and RC booster. In a few words :

The RC is the more transparent, cleanest boost i've ever heard. With an archtop, it's perfect to add volume and presence for your solos. It respects the sound of your guitar. Controls : Volume, Gain (very, very slight, you barely hear the peaks while it's all on), Bass and Treble. Very active EQ.

The AC is less transparent, but can deliver a warm TS9 type overdrive. It's all creamy, and hugely dynamic, mostly at high volume on a tube amp. It's also a very good boost. You can set the gain at 0 and still get a lot of extra dbs. Same controls as the RC

The BB is basically the same, but is more aggressive, with a lot more of treble, brilliance and presence. It was very hard for me to choose between BB and AC ! I loved RC, but I was looking for a boost that can be slightly overdriven. These 2 are perfect for this !

P.S. : For the site, copy/paste the effect reference on youtube, and you have some good chances to fall on a test.

Cheers,

FB

[jorgemg1984]

hi!

That store is famous here in Lisbon, all the gear heads buy stuff from there, by far the best pedals store in Europe. I am not sure I ever tried anything from that shop but some things have very high reputation like Xotic, Wampler, Empress, Eventide, Zvex, Strymon, Neunaber, Barber.. others are really small companies that I had never heard about before.

You may find some reviews on this forum (TGP being the other obvious choice although its not the best spot for reliable opinions for me)