Anyone try Xotic booster pedals?

Log Out | Topics | Search Moderators | Edit Profile

Author Message Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 - 8:27 pm:    All 3 of their boost bedals, the AC, RC and BB sound great in the videos at Prosound Communications. I purchased both the AC and RC boosters today on ebay. The RC is a clean boost, which appears to have magical sound qualities when used clean or with a little breakup. And the AC is similar to a Tubescreamer. Scott Henderson, Paul Jackson, Dean Parks, Allen Hinds, Greg Howe, the list goes on.... quite an impressive list of what appear to be voluntary endorsers. Anyone try their products? Wildfield Username: Wildfield Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 2:29 pm:    Sven, I purchased an AC booster a few months ago, but have not had time to hook it up. I'm trying to make a pedal board first, to help me manage the few pedals that I use. I think I may have gotten a lemon though. The guy who sold me the pedal modified the switch. The new switch he used does not allow you to install a 9 volt battery. Also, it came with a blown IC. I replaced it with the one recommended on Prosounds website. It works now and preliminary messing around indicates it may work out fine. Have you seen Paul Jackson Jr's demo of the AC and RC booster? Here's a link in case you haven't: http://www.prosoundcommunications.com/english/video/paul_jackson/index.html I'm embarrassed to say that I had never heard of him 'til seeing that demo on prosound. And, although I'm not a fan of American Idol, I did enjoy tuning in from time to time just to hear Paul Jackson Jr's tasty guitar playing from the band. Anyway, hoping my AC is not a lemon. Hope to finish my pedal board this weekend so I can finally experiment with the AC booster. Darryl Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 4:14 pm:    Darryl, Are you using a switching system, or are you just going to velcro them down and switch using the pedals? Yeah, Paul is great, as is every other player in the video section. How about Oz Noy? And Scott Henderson is always amazing. I saw him play in that very club 2 weeks ago and it was tremendous. I'm hoping to catch Allen Hinds there as well. I knew of Paul Jackson Jr. I have a tendency to write off many of those Adult Contemporary artists but the fact remains that some of them are top notch musicians. Wildfield Username: Wildfield Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 4:27 pm:    Sven, I'm new to the world of foot pedals. I have a Boss chorus pedal, a tech 21 sans amp and now the ac booster. The reason I am building a pedal board is because it's a pain in the rear to setup and break down, even with just 2 or 3 pedals. I figure the board will allow me to keep everything intact including the a/c power source (Dunlop power brick) for easier setup and break down. I plan to just velcro them to the board and switch using the pedal switches. Didn't realize there were alternatives. I do not know Oz Noy or Scott Henderson - I'll have to check out their clips when I get home. I'm sure there is a whole world of great guitarists that I've missed out on. My head has been narrowly planted in old world jazz guitar until fairly recently. Anyway, let me know how you end up liking the AC booster and any tips you may come up with. Oh, by the way, I visited your local shop a few weeks ago - B Street. One notable change since I last visited them (in the mid 80's). They are no longer on B Street. Darryl Sixvsix Username: Sixvsix Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, June 29, 2006 - 12:31 am:    I have the RC, the AC, and the BB and also the Robotalk. They are great! I can honestly say that I have found no colouration with any of these pedals. They sound good with either vintage amps or with modern boutique amps. On the AC and the BB, I never use the gain above 12 o'clock but that's me. I like the AC with a STrat or Tele and the BB sounds thick and juicy with a Les Paul. I use my RC as a booster for the other two pedals. Saying that, the RC is great for a cool, not so in your face overdrive. six Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Thursday, June 29, 2006 - 8:25 pm:    Six, when you use the AC or the BB, do you run it into a clean channel or an OD channel on your amp? I guess I'm wondering if they produce distortion themselves, or if they just boost the amp into overdrive. Sixvsix Username: Sixvsix Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Friday, June 30, 2006 - 4:11 am:    Yes, I run these into a clean channel. For example into a DrZ Z28 top with a 2x10 celestion loaded cab. You can push the DrZ to make it distort but the amp is still pretty loud for small venues without miking the kit. Therefore you need a bit of extra gain to solo with (if you want to). The AC and the BB produce their own "gain" if you like. It's pretty natural though. I also have a SIB Varidrive that is a nice pedal too. SIB recommend a 12AX7 but I run my one with a NOS Mullard ECC82. It doesn't produce as much gain as the 12AX7 (ECC83)but for me, it's just enough for the tone I like. six Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Saturday, July 01, 2006 - 12:15 pm:    I got my pedals in the mail yesterday. They both work well with my VHT GP3, which on it's own is very expressive and sensitive, but can get a smidge nasal and thin in the rhythm channel at lower gain settings. The AC does a really nice overdrive and sounds great either going into the Clean or Rhythm channels. It has a fuller, thicker sound, not quite as dynamic - a little more compressed, but serves it's purpose. I guess a lot of the endorsees say it is similar to a tube screamer but with out as much of a midrange signature. For me, the RC is the real standout here. It is a "clean boost" - I'm not entirely sure what that is. But it does what it is advertised to do: It fattens up and fills out your tone without altering it's personality too much, without even adding any gain to the signal. It is almost more of a tone shaping tool. Works well with clean, crunch, or lead channels. It adds a little too much breakup to use for crystal clean tones, but is perfect for getting those slightly dirty clean sounds. Between the 2 pedals, and the amp distortion, there are endless possibilities. Using both pedals together was a little too hot for me. And running both pedals into the Lead channel was totally obliterating, the background noise was almost as loud and when I was playing. So anyway, Xotic has done quite a marketing feat here, but I think I'll have to jump on the bandwagon and get the BB so I have the complete trio of booster pedals -Sven Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 - 8:23 pm:    An update. I mentioned I was getting a lot of noise from the Xotic pedals, an untolerable amount when using both the AC and RC. Turns out it was a ground loop problem. I lifted the ground from the amp, and the noise vanished, and the tone got even better! Wildfield, I'm working on a pedal board now too. I've always used rack processors for time based effects, and I've never felt the need for pedals, because of all the impedance and bypass switching issues, and general mess they create . But I can't imagine living without the AC - it's like a secret tone weapon! I have a few other pedals and wahs and am considering adding a BB, and a compressor pedal or 2. The bypass switching thing is really important to me. The Xotics are all true bypass, but for some of the others that arent, I need a solution. So I'll probably be looking at a velcro board with a power supply and some kind of switching system. Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 - 8:27 pm:    Edit: " But I can't imagine living without the AC - it's like a secret tone weapon!" I meant the RC, not the AC. The AC has it's uses, but the RC is the kind of pedal I could leave on all the time. Wildfield Username: Wildfield Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Thursday, July 06, 2006 - 10:57 am:    I started my pedal board last weekend. Basically the wood work is done and the subassemblies are assembled. I covered the base with the same tolex as a speaker cab I built last year. Not sure I like that look...I may start over on the base. I built two small pedestals to mount to the base - one for a Boss Chorus (CE-20) and one for a Tech 21 Tri-AC and the AC Booster. The pedestals angle down like a ramp at about a 7.5 degree angle. I painted them black and then will cover with something - still shopping for the appropriate material. I only painted black what will not be covered by the material. The pedestals will be spaced about 5 inches apart, making room for the A/C adaptor (Dunlop Power Brick). It's a sort of split level condo. I'll take a photo once I'm done. I had a chance to mess around with the AC Booster last weekend. It's a little redundant with the Tech 21 but gives a different sort of distortion; different texture I guess you'd say. Being a pedal newbie, I have to experiment around some more. I do like it, so I'm sure I'll use it. I hope I don't get a craving for more pedals later...I'll have to build a wider board. "Secret tone weapon!" That's Great! In my hands, it is not weapon yet; more like marital aid. Ha, ha... Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Friday, July 07, 2006 - 12:34 pm:    I'm planning on cutting a 5/16" piece of plywood to around 18" x 12" and covering it with loop carpet or velcro material, and sticking the pedals down with velcro tape. I'm looking at the Godlyke power supply. The board will contain compressors, booster/OD pedals and a wah. I'll run the board in the switchable low level buffered effects loop of my VHT GP3, which is actually before the gain stages of the amp. And I'm running my TC Electronic G Major after the GP3, for noise gate, delay, reverb, and chorus/flange - and the occasional special effect: pitch shift, whammy, phase shifter. I also use a Rocktron Midi Mate controller, which I use to control the the GP3 and the G Major. I don't like a lot of weird radical special effects, I don't even really like chorus that much, other than with a clean sound. But it's great being able to switch between all the tasty distortion flavors Wildfield Username: Wildfield Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Friday, July 07, 2006 - 1:01 pm:    "I'm planning on cutting a 5/16" piece of plywood to around 18" x 12" and covering it with loop carpet or velcro material, and sticking the pedals down with velcro tape." - Funkle Where do you purchase the loop carpet from? Is there any supplier locally, or is only available on the internet? Darryl Sixvsix Username: Sixvsix Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Saturday, July 08, 2006 - 11:23 am:    There is a company in the UK... "Kleins" that supply good quality black 100mm wide velcro that does the job perfectly. I've used it on my boards but it ain't cheeep! I use the wooly side to cover the entire board and put the nylon hooky type on the bottom of the pedals http://www.kleins.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=65 six Wildfield Username: Wildfield Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Saturday, July 08, 2006 - 4:09 pm:    Thanks for the tip Six. Went to my local fabric store today. The lady pointed me to the bolts of felt...which I didn't think would be a very good material. Went to a few other places including my local guitar shop to see what they recommend. They suggested the fabric store. I ended up at Home Depot and found some carpet material that has a texture very similar to loop velcro. I grabbed some hook velcro from another aisle to test it and sure enough. Hopefully I'll finish the board today. Getting back to the original topic, I checked out Prosound's website and listened to all their endorsers playing the RC Booster. Cr*p...I think I need a RC Booster too...which means I may have to make a new pedal board. Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Saturday, July 08, 2006 - 4:34 pm:    Wildfield, This place has it: http://www.stompin-ground.com/ Look under hook and loop supply. As an alternative, you can use a piece of loop type nylon rug. Like the stuff used on PA cabinets or low pile commercial loop carpet. You can grab a sample or remnant from a carpet store. And I have stacks of them (I'm an architect) if you want a piece. You can also put them down on your workbench to protect your guitar when you're working on it. Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Saturday, July 08, 2006 - 4:36 pm:    Yeah, the RC is really the pedal to have. It's amazing how it fills out your sound. Wildfield Username: Wildfield Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Sunday, July 09, 2006 - 1:42 am:    Okay, I finally finished my pedal board. It took me a while to figure out the design and what material to use as the covering. I finally settled on a loop type carpeting purchased for $6 at Home Depot. The carpet works fantastically. It is basicaly constructed out of 5/8" birch plywood. It is 27" wide and about 9" deep. The time consuming part was applying the carpeting. I'm new to pedals so who knows? I may acquire a few more...which will require me to be build a bigger board. We'll, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Side View Back View With Pedals Whole Setup pedal board with A/C Booster, Tech 21 Tri AC, Boss CE-20 Chorus, homemade 2 x 10 speaker cab w/Eminence Delta Demons, Acoustic Image Clarus 1R. Sixvsix Username: Sixvsix Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Sunday, July 09, 2006 - 8:01 am:    Good job mate. Looks a lot snazzier than mine six Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Sunday, July 09, 2006 - 11:43 am:    Good job Daryl! looks really pro. -sven Wildfield Username: Wildfield Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Wednesday, October 11, 2006 - 12:37 am:    Sven, Have you had some time to mess around with the Xotic RC? I bought one today off of e-Bay. Can't wait to get it. Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Wednesday, October 11, 2006 - 11:36 pm:    D, It's pretty much always on. It greatly improves my tone in any case where there is any sort of distortion - mild crunch to full OD. The only time I don't use it is for jazz. It breaks up on chords, and I want them to be clean. But some of the guys in the demo video use it for jazz too.

Add Your Message Here Post: -Color- Black Red Green Blue Yellow Purple Orange Cyan Gray White -Font- Arial Courier Symbol Times Verdana -Size- Smallest (-2) Small (-1) Normal Large (+1) Largest (+2) Enter Item number: Username: Posting Information: This is a private posting area. Only registered users and moderators may post messages here. Password: Options: Enable HTML code in message Automatically activate URLs in message Action: