Which Xotic Pedals Are Awesome?

monquixote

I'm a huge fan of the SP comp as I've drivelled on about at great length on here. 

Recently I'm all about the AC Boost which despite it's name is actually a pretty gutsy OD pedal which sounds loads better than any of the demos I've heard on YT where it just seems to be really barking and boxy. 

I had an SL Drive at one point which just didn't do it for me despite the demos sounding amazing and GG using one.

So which other Xotic pedals are awesome or horrible?

My love of the AC Boost suggests an AC+ would be worth a look, but I have heard people say it sounds nothing like the stock AC.

spacecadet

The AC+ is indeed very different. You can get them to sound the same but you have spend a while dialing and ignoring what the knobs say. At one point I had the BB hitting an AC hitting an RC. I'd swap them around a bit but that was the order that I kept going back to. Covered loads of ground from low gain to high gain solo's. The highest gain wasn't a really fuzzy gain either. The kind of drive that plays itself but is still clean. The other one to look at is the EWS Brute Drive if you need a bit more filth.

JohnPerry

IMHO the BB is a decent overdrive now bettered by others. The RC remains a fantastic clean boost and mine is never off. The EP is similarly great as a tone fattener

noisepolluter

If you can, have a try of the BB Preamp MB. I find the mid control (more like upper-mid) works really well for adding a bit of bite. What I also find quite good about it is the clarity - definitely more sparkle in the basic sound than the AC, so for instance it's great for the stratty in-betweeny sounds where you want plenty of jangle to come through. 

The AC and BBMB do complement each other very well, I find.  

  

mark_jwedge

I have the ep booster as an always on at the end of my chain. Just somehow adds an extra bit of something to the tone. The bb pre amp is my main overdrive and have the rc booster in the loop as a solo boost. They are all awesome but the rc is indispensable forme

monquixote

Does the rc produce much drive?

I was surprised how much filth the ac produces for something called a boost

spacecadet

Very little indeed. If you're using it to push an already on the edge amp, it works better than the others. Much easier to get the gain set just right. I found the AC actually had more gain than the BB which is supposed to be the dirtiest. All very different sounds though.

TimmyO

The BB MB (mid boost version) is brilliant. Avoid the BB+ though - totally different and horrid

JMP220478

check out the Mooer Pure Boost for an RC alternative ( clone ) and the Flex Boost as an AC alternative ... Im running them together pure into flex on my valve board and they work on lowly n high end valve amps

Kebabkid

I've had the RC (my fave), BB and AC. The RC hasn't got a lot of drive and just imparts something really nice and livens up a sound. On cleans it adds a little bit of substance and sustain. I didn't think much of the AC and couldn't get the Allen Hinds' tones he was getting and thought of it as TS-type pedal but with less mid-hump. The BB was very good too and is pretty versatile and has 30dB of boost, so it can be used as an RC-type pedal or full on overdrive and I found the older ones (led is in the middle rather than the top) have a better, more natural sound. However, the footswitch on those, well, any of the Xotics that had the LED in the middle, used to crap out. The tone controls on all these pedals are very useful too for cutting frequencies or boosting them.
The only Xotic pedal I now own is the EP Booster. You need to experiment with it to see if you prefer it hitting your amp's front end or before or after your overdrive pedals, or even in the FX loop. It is more of a thickener than a volume boost, although you do get some of that too. A really useful pedal for adding just a little more to solo or clean sounds and you really need to try one to see what I mean.

monquixote

I did some reading apparently the RC and AC boost are both very similar pedals. 

Both essentially tweaked Boss SD1 circuits with more advanced EQ. The RC just has most of the clipping removed so it's more of a clean boost. 

The more I use the AC the more I like it.

guitarmangler

I've have the bb, ac and rc. My favourites are the rc and the bb, infact I would run the rc into the bb for more gain for solos. The bb was the first distortion box I played that could be controled by the guitars volume knob.
The rc is very useful as well as some type of tone shaper as well as a boost.
I had to ape a jazz box sound on a strat and managed to convince the guy recording me. I think the treble and bass controls are a
parallel bandax ( is that how its spelt?) type cut and boost a la car stereos of
yester year.
Would love to try out an sp and the xc, though don't really need them....
Allen Hinds on an AC though. Woah! Amazing sound.

JDE

Baxandall. I believe the RC.AC and BB all have Baxandall EQ's.
I really liked the RC and used one instead if an EQ pedal for ages. Never tried the AC, didn't really like the BB. I keep meaning to try more Xotics but there's not much lure for me at the minute.

dindude

Had the BB mid boost for awhile, 'twas pretty good but in the sea of OD's I've tried, not very memorable. Also had the EP Booster, liked this one, added a bit if girth, but just don't need it with current set up.

menamestom

TimmyO said:

The BB MB (mid boost version) is brilliant. Avoid the BB+ though - totally different and horrid

I remember trying the BB+ in sounds great and I got the best lead tone I've ever had.  I wanted a BB+ for ages but when I went back to the shop to try it again I couldn't get a decent sound out of it at all, I tried for about 20mins.  Could just be one of those pedals that are hard to dial in.....

hywelg

TimmyO said:

Avoid the BB+ though - totally different and horrid

Agree. I got one a few years back, not long after the BB, and they are completely different, Neither side of the BB+ sounded like the BB. Sold it quite soon after.

I still have a BB and an RC on my board, AC has been gone a while now. The RC is brilliant for pushing the first stage of a valve amp. Love it. Works very well for juicing an amp with the master volume low.

welshboyo

to the EP users on this thread - how do you use yours? - end of chain or as a boost into another drive?

Struggling to find that elusive "always on" spot for mine on my 'board...

Kebabkid

@Welshboyo - as I found mine worked better for me as thickener rather than a true volume/solo lift , I use it after an Keeley TS808 on low gain and before a Fulltone OCD V.4 on medium gain. As part of this set up, it lifts the 808 ever so slightly but adds some body. With it feeding the OCD, the sound just sings and thickens up. All 3 together work too for a great 80's AOR tone or if less gain on the OCD, more of a Robben Ford "Talk to your daughter" tone.
The internal dip switches are the factory default settings i.e. both switches up toward the ON sign.

mark_jwedge

@welshboyo I used to use my ep boost as an always on 'fattener' at the end if my chain. It sounded awesome at home but I found when it was with the band a gig volume the sound was a bit too compressed and I lacked a bit of punch. So now I used a Fredric effects zombie klon as my end of chain always on clean boost and have the ep into it when I need a bit more power. Might be different if you powered the ep with 18v instead of 9v for more headroom tho? Thegigrig make an adaptor for this purpose

JCA2550

welshboyo;240478" said:

to the EP users on this thread - how do you use yours? - end of chain or as a boost into another drive?



Struggling to find that elusive "always on" spot for mine on my 'board...

I have an EP boost early in the chain after fuzz but before everything else to fatten up single coil pickups and add the occasional touch of oomph. I have a Kl*n buffer at the end of the chain to polish things up before the signal hits the amp.

ChrisMusic

A great comparison video of various BBs  (with thanks to hubobulous for posting this in my Andy Timmons discussion)