Picking the best boost pedal to boost the signal going to your amp without adding any type of distortion or fuzz is kind of tricky. There are a ton of different booster preamp stage effect pedals out there, so how are you supposed to choose between them all?
Whether you are looking for a boost to make your solo stand out or something to increase our clean signal, there are a bunch of different options.
That’s why we’ve made this list. We’ve reviewed all of the top-rated booster pre-amp pedals including their specs, features, pro, and cons, so you can find the one that is right for your pedal board.
Let’s jump in and look at some of the most popular boost guitar pedals on the market today!
Click Below to Compare the Best Preamp Booster Pedals of 2020
Contents
- 1 Click Below to Compare the Best Preamp Booster Pedals of 2020
- 1.1 Xotic RC Boost Guitar Pedal
- 1.2 ZVEX Effects Super Hard On High-Impedance Preamp Boost
- 1.3 MXR M133 Micro Amp Boost Pedal
- 1.4 Electro-Harmonix LPB-1 Linear Power Booster Preamp Pedal
- 1.5 Xotic EP Booster Mini EQ Effect Pedal
- 1.6 Rockett Audio Designs Archer Overdrive and Boost Guitar Effects Pedal
- 1.7 TC Electronic Spark Mini Booster Guitar Pedal
- 1.8 Donner True Bypass Boost Killer Guitar Effect Pedal
- 2 What We Recommend and Why
Here is a list of the best booster pedals on the market that will give your tone a nice preamp boost to make your guitar scream.
- Xotic RC Boost Guitar Pedal
- ZVEX Effects Super Hard On High-Impedance Preamp Boost
- MXR M133 Micro Amp Boost Pedal
- Electro-Harmonix LPB-1 Linear Power Booster Preamp Pedal
- Xotic EP Booster Mini EQ Effect Pedal
- Rockett Audio Designs Archer Overdrive and Boost Guitar Effects Pedal
- TC Electronic Spark Mini Booster Guitar Pedal
- Donner True Bypass Boost Killer Guitar Effect Pedal
Xotic RC Boost Guitar Pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
If you are “clean” guitar player, playing without distortion, this pedal is perfect for you.
If you play distorted guitar, this is perfect too! Very simple to use.
Definitely one of the best boost pedals out there.
The Xotic RC Booster has four control knobs: Gain, Volume, Treble and Bass.
The Gain, Volume, Treble and Bass controls are all active, meaning you can add or cut some of the Eq from your amp and letting you have lots of control over your tone.
Pros and Highlights
- Active Controls – They are letting you control your sound, whether it’s clean or not
- Boosts a lot! – The Xotic RC Booster can boost 20db+ on your clean sound and not mess with your original sound
- It will help you with your big pedalboard – We all have experienced some sound decrease due to using multiple effects at once, this box gets rid of that!
Cons and Potential Flaws
- There are none… – This pedal is truly one of the best, if not THE best boost pedal ever made!
Bottom Line
The Xotic RC Booster pedal has the reputation of the best booster pedal out there. In fact, it’s really rare to find a guitar player that doesn’t stick to this booster once he has tried it.
It’s a true bypass pedal, that lets’ you have a huge amount of control in your sound.
The price may be a little higher than the other boosters on the market, but definitely it’s worth every penny.
ZVEX Effects Super Hard On High-Impedance Preamp Boost
Specs, features, and benefits
Super Hard On by ZVEX is an amazing pedal!
Famous for both its transparency and for its ability to produce high-gain “uber” distortion sound, this pedal is making it easy to fall in love with it.
The circuit is put in a hard, metal casing which has a very interesting picture on the front.
The pedal has one control knob, the “Crackle Okay”
This pedal is a booster pedal, but can also add a variety of colors to your guitar sound, from a nice and crisp clean crunch, to very dirty Grit.
Pros and Highlights
- High quality – Yes, this pedal is maybe pricey, but the quality you will get justifies every dollar spent
- Transparent – Its great sound will make you love it. With both low and high gain setup
- Awesome performance – Due to the high impedance, this pedal will sound great with every single guitar and amp out there
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Pricey – Yes, the price is a bit higher than the other boost pedals, but this one is for life!
Bottom Line
This is a legendary pedal. It’s a bit pricey, BUT there is hardly another high-quality booster pedal like this on the market. With its versatility, this is a no-brainer for the guitarists that really want to play the
big-boys game. Great pedal with great sound.
MXR M133 Micro Amp Boost Pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
Small, yet very powerful. The MXR Micro Amp is simple, little pedal that can make huge difference. If you need to boost the signal when soloing, or you have a “drop-off” on the signal because the use of other pedals, this little beast can help you out.
The pedal has very compact design and is built with a classic boost circuit.
The MXR M133 Micro Amp has only one potentiometer, Gain. And a footswitch.
Pros and Highlights
- Compact – this is a small size pedal, and will fit into every pedal board
- Simple and easy to use – has only one “gain” control knob on it
- Affordable – This pedal is very affordable, won’t break the bank and will do its job
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Maybe this is not a pedal for everyone – Some players want to have EQ controls on their boost pedal
Bottom Line
The MXR M133 Micro Amp is very simple, small, sturdy built and affordable boost guitar pedal. Works very well. If you need to boost your gain a bit for soloing, or to match the volume between your single coil and humbucker, this pedal will do the job with a single stomp on it.
Electro-Harmonix LPB-1 Linear Power Booster Preamp Pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
The LBP-1 Linear Power Booster by Electro Harmonix is a very simple pedal to use.
Actually, this pedal is a recreation of the original LBP-1 circuit from the sixties.
The box has only one control knob – “boost” and a footswitch.
If you are into big and fat guitar tones, this pedal is the right fit for you.
It will overload any tube or transistor amp. Works best with passive pickups.
Pros and Highlights
- Simple to use – Many guitar players love this pedal and don’t even think about gigging without this booster
- Heavy duty metal casing – This pedal looks like it can survive a lot of beatings without letting any tear come out
- Big, Fat Sound – This pedal can make Your amp sound Huge!
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Not for modern-day guitarists – Not very good with active pickups or any digital guitar gear – becomes noisy
Bottom Line
If you are more of an old-school guitar player, you know, the one that plugs his guitar in the amp and starts rocking, this pedal is the right fit. It will boost your tone for the solo parts.
However, this pedal is not very suitable for the modern-day guitarists, because it tends to cut some of the high frequencies and makes the sound darker. Also, it can get noisy when it’s used with digital gear and/or active pickups.
Xotic EP Booster Mini EQ Effect Pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
The Xotic EP Booster Mini is a small size pedal, but it can make your sound HUGE!
This box was designed to catch the pre-amp sound of the Maestro Ep-3 echo machine.
Yes! The Maestro Ep-3 machine that Jimi Page used over and over again… How cool is that?
With just one control knob and a footswitch, it is amazing how this little box can make your guitar sound much bigger and beautiful. It’s certainly that this pedal has some magic in it.
This might be due to the internal switches for bass boost and bright.
Pros and Highlights
- Beautiful Sound – This doesn’t need to be explained just go in your local store and try it out… You will be amazed!
- Cheap – This pedal is very cheap for the quality it delivers
- Great design – This pedal is very small, and with a good amp, this might be the only pedal you will need for the whole show
Cons and Potential Flaws
- You might end up with an active booster all the time – You will like the sound of this pedal so much, that you won’t even think about turning it off. Also, once you start using it, it will make you aware that your sound was never this good and always sounded boring!
Bottom Line
The pedal that comes in a really small box and makes a really big difference! This pedal can fit in every pedalboard in the world. It can boost up to 20db! It will make your tone darker or brighter depending on what you want. Sounds great with every possible setting.
Is this the best boost guitar pedal ever? Probably it is.
Rockett Audio Designs Archer Overdrive and Boost Guitar Effects Pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
This pedal is one of the best “two in one” guitar pedals ever made.
The “Archer” can be used as a boost pedal with crystal clean sound and as a dirty distortion pedal too.
The box has three control knobs: Output, Gain and Treble.
The Output, well we all know what the output does.
But what is interesting in this pedal is the Gain control knob. When it’s turned completely to the left, this pedal is clean, and it serves like one of the most-cleanest boosters out there, and when you start turning it up to the right, something interesting happens.
The Gain knob actually works as kind of a switch between clean and distorted sound worlds.
When it’s completely turned to the left, the pedal is clean sounding. When you start moving the knob on the right, it starts to add more and more distortion.
The treble knob is a great EQ control, that goes from dark forest to bright and shiny.
Pros and Highlights
- Two in one! – With the price of one great pedal, you basically get two great pedals packed in one box…
A booster and distortion! - Great control – The three knobs on the box give you great control over Your sound
- Quiet – This pedal is non-true bypass, but is still very quiet when it’s not used
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Does not work good with some pedals – This pedal brings a lot of noise when it’s been used with fuzzes that are built with germanium diodes, because it’s a non-true bypass pedal
Bottom Line
This is a great pedal for some players, and not so great for others… If you use vintage fuzz boxes, this is certainly not for your pedalboard. But If you don’t use them… Well, then you should definitely go and try one for yourself. Many guitarists can’t imagine playing a gig without this box.
TC Electronic Spark Mini Booster Guitar Pedal
Specs, features, and benefit
The simplicity of this pedal is what many guitarists will fall in love with.
Only one control knob on the tiny box is enough to spark great guitar sound.
But this pedal has one feature characteristic only for this pedal from this list.
The footswitch on this pedal has two options, the one is just stomping on it just like any other pedal, and for the other you should press and hold the switch – this will activate the pedal as long as you are pressing on it. You can use this when you have a solo or some short lick to be boosted. This is great thing for playing live.
The pedal is very small and has beautiful looks. It can go up to +20db, and will sound nice in whatever setting you put it in.
Pros and Highlights
- Super-Quiet – This pedal is super-quiet, whether used as a clean booster or as a distorted one
- “Umph” – The box gives you great boosting up to +20db
- The Prime-time Technology – The footswitch on this pedal has two options
Cons and Potential Flaws
- There are none – Some guitarists are complaining of the pedal breaking after few minutes of playing. However, we should be aware that there is a possibility to get a “dud” from every pedal company out there. Mistakes happen.
Bottom Line
The TC Electronic Spark Mini is a great sounding pedal with an analog circuit. It’s true bypass pedal, its super quiet and has very modern footswitch. It has great look too.
This could be a great fit for many guitar players.
Donner True Bypass Boost Killer Guitar Effect Pedal
Specs, features, and benefits
With its affordable price and steady performance, the “Boost Killer” slowly becomes one of the hottest pedals on the market. Small by size, yet big in sound.
The pedal has one big Gain knob, and three little ones, Bass, Volume and Treble.
With this control options on the pedal, you have a lot of versatility when it comes to tone.
Some players say that this pedal is a clone of the Xotic RC Booster, while we think it’s just similar. Sounds great with both clean and distorted signals.
Pros and Highlights
- Great performance and sound – With this pedal you have the control in your hands, you can make a full boosted clean sound and distorted one too!
- Very Cheap – Even if you are not satisfied with the performance of this booster, you won’t be angry, it’s a very cheap one
- True Bypass
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Clicks loudly when engaged – Some users have reported that after some time of playing with it, it starts to click loudly when is engaged
Bottom Line
This box is cheap, and with that said, it has a good quality to it. Maybe this is not for musicians who play gigs very often, but more for somebody that plays guitar like a hobby.
However, the sound you can get with this pedal is promising and deserves a try.
What We Recommend and Why
This is a tough decision.
After a lot of thinking between the Xotic EP Booster Mini EQ Effect Pedal and Zvex’s “Super Hard On”, We decided to go with the first one.
Why? Because it’s the best out there. It’s both cheap and professional.
It’s a great sized pedal, with awesome sound and everything a booster pedal should be.
Both beginners and rock-stars will find a good use for this pedal. Affordable, yet high quality.
