The Tech 21 Boost Comp is an all-analog compressor pedal that features FET-based circuitry and built-in boost.
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This pedal is designed to help guitarists have a fatter tone without sacrificing dulling up your sound, and it does so via old-school analog FET technology and the addition of tone shaping controls.
Compressor pedals are normally used by guitarists to help with volume consistency across the strings, however the downside of this effect is that too much of it will reduce if not all together remove the dynamics of your playing. Tech 21 designed the Boost Comp to provide compression while minimizing the drawbacks by utilizing a transparent sounding circuit and providing extra EQ controls.
This is what the company says about the Boos Comp, “When you want to fatten your guitar or bass tone, increase sustain and punch up your sound, a compressor is a way to go. But compressors can dredge up feelings of compromise, confusion, frustration and intimidation. So we set out to make a player-friendly pedal utilizing old school, all-analog, FET-based technology, which is inherently warmer, more transparent, and more musical than other methods.”
Tech 21 designed the two tone shaping pedals to be separated in the signal chain, with the Presence knob being pre-compression, and the Tone knob placed at the post-compression position. The Presence knob lets you adjust the upper frequencies right before your guitar signal enters compression, this will be useful for taming or boosting your guitar signal as needed, or for matching the type of pickups you are using. On the other end of the signal is the Tone knob, which lets you boost or cut the treble after compression is applied, you can use this to mellow down your tone or add some brightness when needed.
The other two knobs let you adjust basic settings that include output level, and compression. You can use the level knob to ensure that the signal going in and out are of the same volume level, while the compression knob lets you set the compression from subtle to funky tight.
Finally, Tech 21 equipped the Boost Comp pedal with a boost circuit that gives you up to 21 dB of clean boost. This boost increases your output level without adding more compression, and can be considered as a separate boost pedal that is connected after the compression effect. Because of its two footswitch controls, you can use both the Boost and Compressor simultaneously, or you can pick just one of them.
Wrapping up the features of this pedal are the 1/4-inch high-impedance input and low impedance output, and silent-switching design with custom footswitch actuators. You can power it using a 9V battery or via an external DC power supply.
The Tech 21 Boos Comp pedal is currently retailing for $149. Visit Tech 21 for further details.
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