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Description & History
Bananaboost is a replica of the legendary
18V Power Boost by Colorsound. At the time Colorsound launched the first batch of their new booster units, the most commonly used boosters would be probably Dallas Arbiter Rangemaster and Electro Harmonix LPB (Linear Power Booster). Both of these models were very simple, minimalistic, one knob designs. A Booster is meant to boost the clean guitar signal with no distortion of its own, so it drives the amp and lets the amp do the rest of the job. Power-Boost was different - not only could it work like a fuzz (while turned up to the top gain setting), but it was also equipped with a dual-band tone filter.
You can pick from two color variants.
The first units were fed from two 9V batteries (18V), which guaranteed a plenty of room for the clean sound, but later on they were converted to the standard 9V, which meant the opposite - enhancement of the fuzz part. A master volume button must have been added by time, as the extremely loud output signal couldn't be handled neither by people, nor by windows. The pedal was also renamed to Overdriver.
Why was this thing so popular? It is basically
3 pedals in one - booster, fuzz and equalizer. None of them was a top-notch unit of its kind, but the fact that you were buying 3 in one surely worked, not to mention that there was nothing like true bypass at the time, and guitarists were constantly fighting a huge treble loss in their tone (caused by the low impedance pedals like a fuzz box or wah-wah). The Power Boost was the way.
70's David Gilmour had Wah and Univibe in his rig, so no wonder he grabbed one of the Power Boosts to bring the lost sparkle to his clean sound. That was in 1972, when Pink Floyd kicked up with their Eclipse tour (early Dark Side of The Moon). The legendary "Orange Treble Booster" was born - orange in colour, and treble booster because David removed the bass control completely. Many people have been searching for a treble booster by Orange, but nothing like that really existed. Only recently, the right picture from the tour has been published, revealing the simple solution for the long time mystery (for more information see the brilliant
Gimourish website).
Perhaps the most famous presentation of Power Booster itself is the cranked guitar in Shine on You Crazy Diamond.
The circuit inside actually very much resembles Fuzz Face, which results in its great dynamic response, and its guitar Volume sensitivity - it cleans up really nicely. These lovely musical features were the reason Power Boost was often used as a straight-through booster, always on, and controlled just on a guitar.
Original units used by: David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Jan Akkerman
Controls: Volume, Gain, Treble, Bass
Contemporary trend: LED, DC socket, True Bypass ON/OFF foot switch
Main features
Volume
(1) knob sets the output volume. The output level of the clean boosted signal can go up to 16-20 dB above the bypassed signal (depending on your pickups, and on the DC voltage used). This pedal can get very loud. The unity volume is obtained at about 1 o’clock on the volume dial.
Gain
(2) knob sets the headroom for the boosted signal. The clean signal starts breaking at about 9-12 o’clock on the gain dial (depending on your pickups, and on the DC voltage used), and gets completely fuzzy while turned all the way up. The Gain knob utilizes a reverse log taper, so as you can more precisely set the fuzzy sound by the end of the Gain path.
Bass / Treble
(3) knobs create the Equalizer part of the pedal. While the Treble knob is very sensitive, the Bass knob is a bit milder in its audible effect - as on the original units.
Bypass foot switch
(5) incorporates True Bypass switching that ensures that no portion of the signal is lost while the pedal is bypassed. It also doesn't pop.
Powering
- Although powered from 9-12V, the voltage doubler inside the pedal increases the DC voltage to 17-23V, which creates a plenty of headroom for the clean boost, before the signal breaks as the Gain increases. Bananaboost shall be powered either from a standard 9V battery, or a 9-12V power adapter.
While using the power adapter, the barrel plug used shall be 5.5mm / 2.1mm type, with the centre being negative and the barrel being positive.
- Warning: Please be aware that a higher DC voltage than 12V shall cause permanent damage to the pedal.
The main reason for feeding the pedal from 12V is that 12V creates a bigger headroom than 9V, and so you can amplify your clean signal to even higher level before it starts breaking (Gain knob).
- The battery life will be extended by unplugging the input jack when the pedal is not in use. Plugging in a DC jack also disconnects the battery and saves its life.
Due to the airport security restrictions, i cannot include a battery.
Please use any kind of 9V battery, preferably a common zinc–carbon battery (for example Green Cell) for the best results, but any type will do.
