TMB showed up today

Post by **VelvetGeorge** » Sat May 01, 2004 8:19 pm

There I was, all bummed out about Calgary beating the Red Wings. Yzerman took a puck right in the face, it doesn't look good.

On my way to the supermarket to get some supplies for taco night. Check the mail.........

My Time Machine Boost pedal has arrived!!!!!!!!!

SWEET!!!

I'm taking it to the gig tonight. Tonight I'm going to specify that I get paid by the note. And trust me, I'll be eating steak tomorrow.
I'm ready to rock.

I'll report back tomorrow with my impressions. I do a pretty good Rodney Dangerfield. What? Oh right. My impression of the pedal.

George

jkmcgrath · Post by **jkmcgrath** » Sun May 02, 2004 5:44 pm

Sick man Im tellin ya your certifiable!

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Sun May 02, 2004 7:13 pm

I recently got a Roger Mayer Concorde + treble booster. This pedal has only been out for a short while but as usual there's not a lot of hype around Roger's pedals, new or old, so not a lot of people seem to know about the Concorde. This is by no means a reflection on the quality of his stuff!!!

I use a Red Snapper as both a clean boost and OD for my Fender amps. On a Marshall, tho, it don't think it sounds all that good. It's not bad either, just a tad too bright and thin for my taste. It's funny how the Snapper sounds really thick and fat thru a Fender amp and it doesn't have the same effect thru a plexi. I decided I needed something else, something more 'Marshally' to boost the lead tone on my plexi.

I'd been in the market for a treble booster for some time and did the usual internet research. Usually that helps me to make a choice but it seemed the more I read about the many boutique treble boosters that are on the market today the more I came to the conclusion they're all more or less the same! Until I read Roger Mayer's description of his new Concorde +. Here's what he has to say about this on his website:

"The Concorde+ Treble Booster is housed in the new Vision Series enclosure design and uses both silicon and germanium transistors in a unique configuration to obtain the best tone qualities from the marriage. When I first started designing pedals in 1961 I produced a Treble Booster that was tried and used by my friends including Jimmy Page who then played in local bands. The circuit configuration I used was a standard textbook example but required careful attention to biasing and selection of transistors to obtain the best from this simple circuit. There were many subsequent commercial versions produced in the 1960's of this type of circuit that followed after the time I first designed mine and now I have designed and produced a much more flexible and enhanced version of my early design. The modern clones produced today of the ultra simple 1960 type treble boosters lack in flexibility and in my opinion are of very limited use. The Concorde + however departs from the clones and uses a unique approach of combining a low noise class A silicon drive circuit with passive tone shaping to drive a fully optimised germanium treble booster. This results in giving the simple circuit new life and explores its sonic boundaries to the maximum. It is now possible to add drive and distortion with EQ before the treble booster section .It is also possible to set the silicon drive section to drive the treble booster section much harder than any guitar pickup could ever do without any added distortion but with the added feature or having EQ prior to the treble booster. So if you want the qualities of soft germanium type distortion overload characteristics that this circuit will produce or you want to explore the more radical germanium distortion possibilities the Concorde+ will oblige. The front panels controls of Drive, Tone and Output control the many tone variations and brings the humble treble booster forward to the future."

Everything Roger says about this is true. The Concorde + has three knobs: output, drive and tone. With the tone all the way to the right it's a germanium treble booster just like the rest of them but with the tone to the left it's a silicon booster. And then of course there's all sorts of shades in between. With just the germanium sound, the drive on zero and the output on 1 or 2 o'clock it sounds perfect with a plexi. The germanium circuit keeps the sound warm and bluesy while also providing a clear treble tone. Beautiful and just what I needed to boost solo's, although it can be used for rhythm parts too (think Strange Brew by The Cream). The more you add of the silicon 'side' the thinner and treblier the pedal gets but in some situations that's not a bad thing either.

With a Fender it's a different story, tho. If that was all there was to the pedal this would be your typical Marshall-friendly pedal that sounds like dog pooh thru a Fender, like a fuzz face. That's where the silicon circuit comes in handy. I can now dial in quite a bit of added silicon boost by turning the tone control to the left. I found it sounded still warm with the tone at 12 o'clock (equal amounts of germanium and silicon) and with even more piercing highs on 11 o'clock (more silicon than germanium). Turning up the volume to 3 o'clock doesn't hurt either (well it does actually but in a good way...

).

I don't have much use for the drive control. This causes the silicon circuit to clip to 'boost the boost' so to speak with an overdriven signal. As you turn up the drive it sounds increasingly fizzy and lo-fi. Might be cool for a recording to produce 'garage sounds' but I prefer not to use it on stage. The strength of this pedal lies in its versatility which is pretty remarkable for the simple, one-trick-pony kind of deal that is the treble booster. There's no doubt in my mind this pedal is usable on various different amps. I'm glad I made the choice to go for Roger Mayer's take on the concept and if you're 'booster hunting' I suggest you take the Concorde + into consideration as well.

http://www.roger-mayer.co.uk/concorde.htm

Mike

flemingmras · Post by **flemingmras** » Sun May 02, 2004 7:58 pm

Hey George, any chance you'll let me borrow your TMB so I can make a schematic of it?

Post by **VelvetGeorge** » Mon May 03, 2004 1:36 pm

Actually, no I won't. It's not a hard circuit to design,but Dave did some unique things and it wouldn't fair for me to allow you to clone it.

There are plenty of boost pedal schematics posted online, you could easily develop one of your own. Heck, I'll even buy one. But as a proffessional courtesy, I can't allow you to reverse engineer Dave's.

Sorry.

George

gnugear · Post by **gnugear** » Tue May 04, 2004 9:20 pm

I love my Crispy Cream Treble Booster. I'd love to get a pedal like the Time Machine that has two functions. Until then, I'm also using a Duncan Pickup booster that I've been really happy with.

Can't wait to hear your impressions. I've heard great things about that pedal!

Post by **VelvetGeorge** » Wed May 05, 2004 12:56 pm

Gnu, I used it again last night. I really like what it does- slam the input of the amp. I get great violin like sustain without the limited dynamics of an overdrive. You could literally leave this pedal on all the time and control everything with your volume knob.

One thing I don't miss is that distictive diode clipping overdrive. I'm sorry, but I've never had a tube screamer sound right to me, except with a strat and a blackface fender. It just doesn't do it for me with a LP/Marshall setup.
I can hear diode clipping a mile away. And it's just not my bag.

***end rant***

Anyway, I really like this pedal so far. I haven't got to really mess around with it yet. I just through it on my pedal board and went with it.
I'll post more later.

George

gnugear · Post by **gnugear** » Wed May 05, 2004 5:06 pm

I've never been happy with tube screamers either ... they seem to alter the tone too much. In fact I got rid of a Fulltone Fulldrive II for the same reason. I didn't know about clean boosts back then, otherwise I probably would have kept it for that feature alone.

chris

Country Boy Shane · Post by **Country Boy Shane** » Wed May 05, 2004 7:35 pm

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on one of these! I hate how its so damn expensive though.... damnit. Must be because he's a private builder type d00d....

gnugear · Post by **gnugear** » Wed May 05, 2004 8:01 pm

I just got a Seymour Duncan pickup booster brand new for $70. I've been REALLY impressed with it ... 24db of clean boost, true bypass, and cheap! It also cleans up really well when you work the volume knob on the guitar.

Country Boy Shane · Post by **Country Boy Shane** » Wed May 05, 2004 10:04 pm

wow that sounds pretty cool! I'm gonna try some of that goodness over at guitar center!

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 9:13 pm

After purchasing my Roger Mayer Concorde + treble booster and toying with it for a while I'm happy to announce its successor on my pedalboard (if I had a board, that is, right now they're still all strewn around on the floor every time I gig): the Legendary Tones Time Machine Boost.

The TMB is three treble boosters in one: a '66 Dallas Rangemaster germanium boost replica, a copy of the '73 silicon variety, and a modern clean treble boost. The '66 ge boost adds upper mids to your tone which border on octave-up sounds. There's a dirty edge to it that I like. Very good for Clapton Strange Brew or Green's Oh Well sounds. The '73 si boost sounds similar to its ge cousin but it adds more fullness, especially in the lower mids. Power chords sound great using this boost. I have yet to try it out with a Vox to get Brian May sounds but the reviews on HC tell me it can do exactly that. The clean boost hardly changes your tone at all, except it adds a very subtle bell-like chime. I managed to turn a Telecaster into a strat using this boost. Very nice indeed and it can get dirtier as you turn up the volume of this clean boost.

The TMB is designed by David Szabados from Legendary Tones(www.legendarytones.com) and Robert Keeley. The pedal operates both on 9v battery and wall wart and it features two internal trimpots to shape the two vintage boosts. I haven't had a chance to gig the TMB yet but this Friday I will and I'll report back about it later. One thang's for sure, tho: the Concorde + has got to go!

Mike

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 2:31 pm

I gigged the TMB Friday night. What a great and versatile little box this is! Due to the size of the room I used it with a Super Reverb and it works but I could tell from the sound of the TMB that it will sound even better thru my Marshall Super Bass.

Both my SR and SB are dark-sounding amps so they can do with a treble boost here and there. The '66 ge boost gives you a mid honk that's almost wah-like. Bass notes sound 'woody' and the mids and highs get this dirty edge to them that cuts thru any mix. The '73 si boost has the same voicing but sounds fuller, thicker with more emphasis on the lower mids. Great for rock stuff. The modern boost is a kind of clean treble boost. Although I use ceramic Celestion speakers this boost adds so much ultra high end it makes them sound like alnicos. Used in combination with a chimy Fender guitar (maple neck strat) and amp (Super) you get 'chime on chime'. It has a definite 'cut' to it, all right. Other than that this boost is very transparent.

I can't wait to hear the TMB thru my Marshall, especially the two vintage modes. I'll have to get back to you guys on that one! Are there any treble booster users here on this forum?

Mike

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Fri Oct 01, 2004 7:18 pm

I had a chance to try the TMB thru my 100 w Marshall Super Bass today. Even better than thru the Fender! This pedal was MADE for Marshall! Although the TMB does sound good thru a Fender it seems to be added onto the sound of a Fender amp, whereas it becomes one with the Marshall.

Both vintage modes give you that late 60's/early 70's slightly fuzzy top boost sound, the '66 ge mode again being somewhat thinner than the '73 si mode. I still prefer the '66 boost. My amp and guitar sound thick enough and I like the upper-mid boost not only on the high strings but the low ones as well. It just sounds very 'honky'. Nice.

The '73 ain't bad either. Its thicker and fuller character makes it very usable for chords. The clean boost is fully transparent with the exception of the treble. In that sense it's more of a real treble booster than are the two vintage ones which alter the sound altogether and add mids. The modern clean treble boost sounds very chimey although not ear-piercingly high.

I'm very happy with the TMB and find all three modes very useful. This pedal is not only versatile in that it contains three different treble boosts but it also sounds great thru a variety of different amps. Well recommended for all you pedal whores out there looking for a different non-TS kinda distortion and/or overdrive.

Mike

Post by **VelvetGeorge** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 2:00 pm

Mike, you nailed when you said "non TS". I've never been happy with tube screamers, les pauls and marshalls together. There's something in the mids that doesn't sit right for me. Plus, I can hear the diode clipping a mile a way. Not that it's bad, just very distinctive.

The TMB is a great pedal, and it plays well with others.

George