Bigfoot Engineering Trouble Boost review

Boost like the Rev Gibbons himself

  • £129
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Bigfoot's original Treble Booster was built into a 35mm film can, the Trouble Boost is more conventional

MusicRadar Verdict

If you are looking for extra richness, harmonics and sustain, this delivers in two distinct flavours - a front-end boost with a bit of Texan raunch.

Pros

  • +

    Works brilliantly with a dirty valve amp. Nice build. Easy operation. Two types of boost.

Cons

  • -

    Price.

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West Sussex-based Bigfoot Engineering made its MusicRadar review debut at the tail end of last year with a roundup that included the excellent Octo Puss Prime pedal.

"If your valves are already cooking away, this is a pedal that will take things further"

Now, following on from its limited edition Treble Booster, inspired by Brian May and built into a 35mm film can, the new Trouble Booster features a more conventional housing, and is apparently inspired by the guitar sounds of ZZ Top legend Billy F Gibbons.

Sounds

In the tradition of the classic Rangemaster treble booster, the Trouble Booster is a Germanium transistor design. It features a volume knob and two switchable modes: normal, with a full frequency response; and bright, with reduced bottom end.

Unity gain seems to be somewhere around the nine o'clock position, where you get no volume jump but a little bit more dirt. Winding up the knob adds more overdrive - which we felt worked best with an already dirty amp.

This is where the Trouble Booster finds its true forte: if your valves are already cooking away, this is a pedal that will take things further and enhance the tonality with a saturated richness, laden with harmonics.

The normal mode offers a fat sound with an enhanced top end, while the bright mode doesn't push your amp quite as much, but offers a defined bite to the note that cuts through. All this with a sensitivity that responds well to variations in pick attack and guitar volume.

Trevor Curwen

Trevor Curwen has played guitar for several decades – he's also mimed it on the UK's Top of the Pops. Much of his working life, though, has been spent behind the mixing desk, during which time he has built up a solid collection of the guitars, amps and pedals needed to cover just about any studio session. He writes pedal reviews for Guitarist and has contributed to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Future Music among others.