The BearFoot FX Baby Pink Booster is a clean boost pedal, designed to be an always-on pedal that provides a consistent and natural lift to your signal, suitable for a variety of amps and playing styles from clean to overdriven1. It is a booster and nothing more: Guitar FX Layouts describes it as a booster with clean transparent boost, with no overdrive or distortion options, built so that it does not color your tone at all2. If you want dirt, Bearfoot recommends pairing it with the Baby Blue OD or the Dyna Red Dist for distortion2.
What it does to your tone
The design brief is transparency. Guitar FX Layouts puts it plainly: "Baby Pink Booster was designed to do just the transparent natural clean boost, there is no overdrive or distortion option"2. There is no Tone knob, and the reason given is the same idea: the unit does not alter your tone, it just boosts your signal and does not color it2. In practice that makes it a pedal for pushing an amp harder, lifting a solo, or compensating for long cable runs, while leaving the voice of the guitar and amp where you set it.
An independent review at AMZ Guitar Effects (muzique.com) found it held up well against other boosts: "This one has good amount of gain and retained the original tone balance of the signal best, and maintained the sound of" the amp and guitar with the top end intact and a slightly sweetened tone balance3.
Controls and circuit
Because the pedal has no tone shaping, the control set is minimal: a boost level covering unity up to approximately 8 times or +18 dB2. Under the hood it is a common source amplifier, which means the output is 180 degrees out of phase with the input, something worth knowing if you run it alongside other phase-sensitive pedals2. The circuit centers on a 2N5952 transistor, with a 2N5457 noted as a substitute that should work ok, and a 1N4002 diode, with the 1N4001 and 1N5817 also fine2.
Versions: buffered and true bypass
There are two versions, and the difference is what happens when the pedal is off2:
- Original version: not true bypass. Instead it has what Guitar FX Layouts calls "a very well designed Line Driver (buffered output)", a circuit that keeps driving the cable even in bypass position2.
- True Bypass version: adds a Boost/Buffer toggle switch, so you can choose between true bypass and the Line Driver buffer2.
Which version you have changes how the pedal behaves when switched off: the original keeps its Line Driver buffer in the signal path, while the later version can be set to true bypass with the toggle switch2.
What builders and reviewers said
The pedal has been well received by the people who have built and played it. On the Guitar FX Layouts build thread, one builder reported it "sounds real nice and clean on boost. just like the demo"2. Another found "This sounds very nice--lots of headroom with little coloring"2. A later build called it a nice booster, though its builder added "Maybe boosts the mids to my ear but could be wrong. Worth the effort"2. Another builder summed it up as "a really nice addition to my board. It is a easy build and fired right up"2.
A demo by Anarchy Audio is available on the maker's product page1.
Where it sits on a board
As a boost, the Baby Pink Booster belongs to the boost pedal family, and its closest neighbors are overdrive pedals and distortion pedals, which it deliberately is not: it adds level, not grit2. Its buffered output also puts it in the same territory as a buffer pedal, since the original version's Line Driver keeps the signal strong through long cable runs even when the pedal is bypassed2.
Videos
BearFootFX
Anarchy Audio
TheBluefieldstv
Questions
Is the Bearfoot Baby Pink Booster true bypass?
The original version is not true bypass. Instead it uses what Guitar FX Layouts describes as a very well designed Line Driver, a buffered output that stays in the signal path when the pedal is off. A later version added true bypass together with a Boost/Buffer toggle switch, so which version you have determines how the pedal behaves when it is switched out.
Does the Baby Pink Booster have a tone knob?
No. According to Guitar FX Layouts, the pedal has no Tone knob because it does not alter your tone: it simply boosts the signal without coloring it. The design intent is that whatever balance of highs, mids and lows your guitar and amp produce going in is what comes out, only louder.
How much boost does the Baby Pink Booster give?
The boost range runs from unity, meaning no louder than your straight-through signal, up to approximately 8 times the input level, which Guitar FX Layouts gives as about +18 dB. That is enough to push an amp's input stage harder or to lift a quiet part in a mix.
Is the Baby Pink Booster an overdrive?
No. It was designed purely as a transparent natural clean boost, with no overdrive or distortion options. Bearfoot recommends pairing it with the Baby Blue OD or the Dyna Red Dist if you want distortion from a separate pedal.
What transistor does the Baby Pink Booster use?
The circuit is a common source amplifier built around a 2N5952 transistor, with a 2N5457 noted as a workable substitute. Because it is a common source amplifier, the output is 180 degrees out of phase with the input.
What does the Line Driver do on the Baby Pink Booster?
The Line Driver is the pedal's buffered output stage. In the bypass position it keeps driving the signal down the cable to your amp, which is why the original version does not need true bypass. Guitar FX Layouts calls it a very fine Line Driver.
Sources (3)
- Baby Pink Booster by BearFoot FX, RockBoard PedalPedia, 2026
- Guitar FX Layouts: Bearfoot Baby Pink Booster, Guitar FX Layouts (tagboardeffects.blogspot.com), 2013-03-20
- Reviews of boost pedals, muzique.com (AMZ Guitar Effects)
