Diamond Pedals Boost / EQ

The Diamond Pedals Boost / EQ is a boost pedal that combines clean boost, tone shaping and overdrive in one box. In its default mode it is a clean boost with up to +20 dB on tap, and a Boost/OD switch flips it into a low-gain overdrive built on soft clipping¹². Tone shaping comes from a Tilt EQ knob and a Mids control, the same tone-shaping approach Diamond uses on its compressor pedals¹².

The pedal was released on 15 May 2025 as the second new overdrive of Diamond Pedals' reissue series, priced at $209². It revamps an older version of the pedal from circa 2007, and the current model is made in Canada¹³.

A clean boost with soft-clipping overdrive and a tilt EQ

Diamond describes the Boost / EQ as "combining clean boost, tone shaping, and overdrive into one powerful and versatile pedal," and says it delivers "a punchy, dynamic sound molded for any scenario"¹. The two modes are selected by a Boost/Overdrive toggle: one side is a straight clean boost, the other a soft-clipping diode drive²³. Diamond calls the overdrive mode "transparent, yet full of character"¹.

For a player, that means one box can serve two jobs. In Boost mode it pushes an amp or another drive pedal harder without adding its own character, up to +20 dB². In OD mode the soft clipping adds a low-gain overdrive texture that Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson grouped with the pedal's boost function as "essentially a boost / overdrive with a Tilt EQ control and Mids sweep"².

The controls: Level, Gain, Mids and Tilt

The control set is four knobs, one toggle and one footswitch³:

The Tilt and Mids pair is the heart of the tone shaping. Diamond pitches the Tilt knob as the way to add sparkle, with the Mid control sculpting the body of the sound around it¹. Gearnews made the point in practical terms: "With the tilt and mid control you can control your sound like have it sound exactly how you need it," adjustable live on the fly⁴.

Built from the Comp / EQ gain circuit

The Boost / EQ's circuit has a direct lineage in Diamond's best-known pedal. Diamond says the concept began in the early 2000s with a request for a "compressionless" version of the Diamond Compressor, combining a clean boost circuit with that pedal's Tilt EQ¹. Nearly 20 years later the idea was re-imagined on the same platform as the Comp/EQ's current version¹.

Guitar Pedal X put the circuit relationship plainly: "this pedal is very much based on the Gain engine / circuit from the Comp / EQ - minus the compressions element"². There was also a 1590BB-size version of the same circuit around 15 years ago, and Guitar World's review notes the 2025 pedal revamps an older version from circa 2007²³.

The Comp/EQ itself is a compressor pedal that augments Diamond's original yellow-box design with a Mids boost/cut control, an Attack switch, custom-spec'd opto-isolators and modern quiet switching⁵. So the practical difference between the two current pedals is simple: the Comp/EQ compresses your signal and shapes tone, while the Boost / EQ keeps the gain engine and tone controls but drops the compression and adds the overdrive mode¹².

The circuit has a lineage worth knowing. The Boost / EQ concept began in the early 2000s with a request for a "compressionless" version of the Diamond Compressor, combining a clean boost circuit with the Compressor's Tilt EQ¹. A 1590BB size version of the same circuit was released around 15 years ago², and the current Boost / EQ is a smaller version of that circuit².

What reviewers said

Guitar World's Trevor Curwen reviewed the pedal and listed "Boost and EQ in one pedal" among its reasons to buy³. In Guitar World's boost pedal buying guide, the verdict on it reads:

The buying guide also lists its gain as 20 dB⁶. Among press voices, Stefan Karlsson at Guitar Pedal X said he personally prefers the Tilt + Mids tone stack of this pedal to the Diamond Drive's 2-band EQ tone stack².

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