Analog Man Bass Beano Boost

The Analog Man Bass Beano Boost is a bass version of the Analog Man Beano Boost, a germanium treble booster that Analog Man describes as "an awesome, improved recreation of that pedal," meaning the Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster¹. Where the standard Beano Boost is voiced to push treble and upper mids into a guitar amp, the Bass version shifts its tone switch range downward so a bass signal keeps its low end while still driving an amp harder.

Analog Man made the first Bass Beano Boost for Tony Levin in late 2007, and offers it as a version of the standard pedal². Like the rest of the Beano line, it is hand made in the USA².

A treble booster set up for bass

The original Dallas Rangemaster was a treble booster, and JHS Pedals describes the Beano Boost plainly: "The AnalogMan Beano Boost is a really nice germanium treble booster"³. Treble boosters cut low end and lift highs, which is why they became associated with players pushing dark British amps into breakup. Analog Man notes that Rory Gallagher and Brian May used Rangemasters with VOX AC30 amps, and that Brian May "used one or a modified version on nearly all his guitar parts in Queen"².

That voicing is a problem for bass. A stock treble booster thins out the fundamental frequencies a bass player needs. The Bass Beano Boost answers this by moving the tone switch range down rather than changing the pedal into a full-range clean boost. Analog Man explains: "The tone selections start about at the normal LOW setting and get lower, the lowest setting has no low end loss at all but also not as much CRUNCH"². So the trade-off is explicit: the lowest position preserves the full low end of the instrument but gives up some of the grit that makes a treble booster into an amp driver.

Analog Man also points to a practical use that applies to the family as a whole: when a small amp is cranked and the low end turns flubby, "a pedal like the Beano Boost tightens it up and makes it work a lot better"². For a bass player pushing an amp into distortion, that tightening effect is the main reason to reach for one of these rather than a clean boost pedal.

The tone switch and volume

The standard Beano Boost carries a three-position toggle tone switch, with up as MID, middle as TREBLE (the standard Rangemaster setting), and down as LOW⁵. A push/pull switch on the volume pot, offering treble or full range boost, is available as an option instead of the toggle⁶.

On That Pedal Show, Dan and Mick described the switch on the Beano family in similar terms: "this switch on here gives you lots of bass or at least a lot more low mid... the middle position is the original"⁷.

The volume knob sets how hard the pedal pushes what follows it:

• At 9:00, the pedal has about the same output level switched on and off, so it behaves close to unity gain².
• At 12:00, there is a 13dB boost².
• All the way up, it is about an 18dB boost, which Analog Man notes is nearly twice as loud as it was at 11:00².

That range is the working tool of the pedal: set low it fattens and tightens, set high it slams the front of the amp into distortion.

Power and connections

The pedal runs on a 9V internal battery, which is disconnected when the input cord is removed or when the optional power jack is plugged in⁵. A Boss style power jack is optional for $10 on the standard pedal and standard on the Beano Boost Mini². When the jack is added, Analog Man also adds power filter circuitry to reduce power supply noise².

Connections are straightforward: Switchcraft input jack on the right side and output jack on the left, with a 3PDT stomp switch for true bypass⁶.

Where it came from and what reviewers said

The Beano Boost's circuit follows the Dallas Rangemaster, and Analog Man notes one design choice that separates it from boosters like the Orange and Apollo: "we left that feature off, like the original Dallas Rangemaster," meaning there is no tone control knob, and tone shaping instead comes through the input capacitors selected by the tone switch². The name and the Rangemaster lineage tie the pedal to the British blues-rock era the original served.

The Bass version has its own origin story: Analog Man made it for Tony Levin in late 2007². Steve Hackett is another documented Beano Boost user, using his for clean picking².

Reviews of the standard Beano Boost give a sense of what the bass version builds on. Pedal of the Day's reviewer wrote⁴:

That reviewer's verdict was aimed at guitarists, but the same logic, a pedal that adds punch and drives an amp, is what the Bass version offers a bassist who does not want the low end carved away⁴.

Players comparing versions within the family have a few options: the standard Beano Boost, the smaller Mini introduced in 2013, and the Silicon Beano Boost, whose sound Analog Man describes as "a bit more open, and clearer, with a bit less of the 'cocked wah' sounds" than the germanium version².

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