Are you looking for the best treble booster pedals? Then, you’re in the right place.
Treble booster pedals have staged somewhat of a revival after falling out of trend throughout the 1980s. Now, many guitarists use overdrive pedals instead. However, treble boosters offer a more dynamic, focused, and louder sound without a dark, saturated tone of overdrive pedals.
Treble boosters boost treble, that’s pretty simple, but they do so in a pleasant way despite their high-end drive, which can often get ear-shatteringly tinny if not done appealingly.
Top 3 Best Treble Booster Pedals:
| Image | Model | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Catalinbread Naga Viper Treble Booster Pedal (Editor's Choice) | Check Price |
 | Keeley Electronics Java Boost Guitar Effect Pedal | Check Price |
 | EarthQuaker Devices Tone Pedal | Check Price |
Catalinbread Naga Viper Modern Treble Booster Guitar Pedal (Editor’s Choice)
This Catalinbread Naga Viper Modern Treble Booster has a too-long name and a long history of positive reviews to match, making it a stalwart amongst treble boost pedals.
It’s been extensively modeled on the Dallas Rangemaster, one of the most influential treble boosters used by plenty of top guitarists throughout the 70s and 80s.
This pedal brings all the classic frequency boosting of that original and combines it with a couple of extra controls for many sweetening effects.
Features and Build
The Naga Viper looks exactly how you’d expect a top boutique pedal to look with fantastic styling, sturdy structural design, well-made controls, and a durable switch. It’s bright and healthy and features knobs named Heat, Boost, and Range. These different effects give the pedal some extra juice for your cash while still retaining the ability to shape the high-end of your guitar with that elusive classic tone.
Tone and Performance
Reliable, stable, and adaptable, the Naga Viper has a real quality to its tone. There are no unwanted shrill or digitalized artifacts, all proper transistor sweetening that can juice up your tone to deadly levels or provide that subtle push that turns your guitar and amp into a real vintage combo.
The Heat knob allows you to control gain level saturation, while the Range knob allows you to select what part of the frequency spectrum you boost, ranging from the bassier bottom to the classic top-end. When placed in your chain with a tube amp, this pedal’s effect on your tone is undoubtedly one which can elevate your tone to that of a real 80s rocker, layering all manner of sweetened harmonics to create a dense yet penetrating tone.
The designer’s notes say that the pedal was designed exclusively to mirror the tones of British classic rock guitarists like Brian May and Tony Lommi. Having bought rangemasters, the designer looked at what was going on to replicate that pedal’s characteristic precisely. With a featured extended version of that pedal’s classic circuit, the Naga Viper seems to honor the Rangemaster with extra modern juice.
Keeley Electronics Java Boost Guitar Effect Pedal
This treble boost pedal by Keeley isn’t just a pure treble booster. That means you get a bit of value out of the pedal’s extra features – there isn’t any need for manufacturers to confine themselves to old pedals’ streamlined settings.
It can boost each section of the frequency spectrum individually or boost the whole signal. Boost bass for extra low-end, mid frequencies for extra warmth, and the highs for extra treble loudness.
The pedal uses the famous Mullard OC44 transistor to provide its gain, and it provides a proper authentic and vintage boost to your guitar. It’s a classically designed booster pedal that flavors any rig, especially those which are already vintage-inclined.
Build and Features
It’s a simple pedal with a reliable, high-quality metal case that can easily take brutality from the road. There are a couple of rotary knobs, a 3-way switch for frequency selection, and a footswitch. The knobs control the tone and level. It provides simple and effective boosting of frequencies, which are achieved pleasantly using its famous transistor.
Performance and Tone
This pedal isn’t cheap, but neither is its tone. It turns your guitar into a classic snarling beast, delivering fairly balanced gain that you can pump up to clip slightly. You can adjust this to provide heavier gain effects with plenty of drive or clearer, tighter, and more focussed tones, which allow your solos to soar through dense mixes.
If you pair this with a dark tube amp then, you’ll get the best results, adding a bite to a dark and vintage tube amp tone. Many people report this to be more like the ‘real deal’ classic treble boosters than any other pedal. So if you love that classic rock tone and can’t quite get there, you may well now know what the missing piece is.
EarthQuaker Devices Tone Job EQ and Booster Effects Pedal
The EarthQuaker Tone Job EQ and Booster Effects pedal is a bit of a toolbox pedal and allows you to shape your tone in many different ways. As a small company, EarthQuaker put time and effort into their extensive range of pedals, and they’ve sure come up with some reputable models.
It is a versatile pedal, and while not a true treble booster, it certainly does that job and others proficiently. Unfortunately, it weighs in cheaper than its competition, and it doesn’t provide the highest quality tonal sweetening as its competition here. The audible difference in most guitar rigs is low, though, and it packs extra features.
Build & Features
Strong, simple, and versatile, the Tone Job has four knobs, including Level, Treble, Mids, and Bass. Acting as an EQ/booster pedal, these can all be adjusted individually so you can attenuate or boost the signal in each range. It’s a simple box that features tried and tested built quality. Roadworthy and compact, this pedal can slot into most effects boards, but beware, the input and output are placed on the top of the pedal, which can inconvenience some pedalboards.
Tone & Performance
The EarthQuaker Tool Job’s reviews are generally highly positive. It’s a tremendous adaptable pedal that you can use to drive or attenuate cleanly, transparently, and in a linear fashion. Don’t expect accurate vintage tones, but expect what it says on the tin – a proper job for your guitar’s tone. For example, with plenty of gain available to work with, you can boost that treble without harshly affecting the rest of the spectrum.
Extra mids can be pumped in for a fatter, warmer tone and low-end shaping cleans up muddiness while bringing fatness to the table. You can boost up to 20 dB per range, and the level control can boost up to 5 times the input. Stick this pedal at the end of your chain to shape the overall sound. Or do that at the beginning to juice up your signal before or hits other effects.
How to Find the Best Treble Booster Pedal
The volume is kind of the point to a treble booster: you get a louder, more focussed, and heavier tone that is perfect for rock, metal, solos – all sorts. Treble boosters have been used famously by guitarists like Brian May and Richie Blackmore, allowing them to shred right through a rich mix of live instruments with blistering solos.
They’re undoubtedly more effective when combined with dark amps, particularly dark British amps or Marshall tube amps, etc. That gives a tone a fat bottom with plenty of cut and just the right amount of overdrive that doesn’t overly compress the signal, allowing it to retain a dynamic range, which lets your guitar and playing skills cut through with articulation.
Now, treble booster circuits have been rediscovered by various manufacturers and boutiques who have turned them into appealing kit pieces. Providing a less compressed and more dynamic tone to your guitar, the treble booster pedal could be the piece of kit that you’re looking for and have never found, so here’s some of the best!
Conclusion: What’s the Best Treble Booster Pedal?
There are three great pedals here, two of which are designed with a more streamlined purpose in mind – vintage shaping.
One designed with a broader purpose in mind – generally tonal shaping and EQ. The first two pedals generate a tone that die-hard classic rockers will appreciate but work best with setups that already lean towards this with tube amps and guitars with great vintage pickups, etc.
They can still add authentic juice to cheaper equipment, and their effects aren’t lost in any setup. The EarthQuaker isn’t a true treble boost pedal, but it does the job well, and for its price, it offers tons of extra bits and bobs that guitarists love indulging in.
Treble boosters are bespoke little bits of kit and are often overlooked by guitarists in their quest for tones. However, suppose you’ve drawn inspiration from the classic rock tone, particularly the classic British rock tone excised by Deep Purple and Queen. In that case, you’re going to need one of the faithful Dallas Rangemaster re-designs.
The Naga Viper and Java Boost will undoubtedly fit the bill. The Naga Viper’s designer’s interest in Rangemaster most surely indicates that it’s a real snug fit to that original classic rock tone. Maybe it rates the best choice!