The Electro-Harmonix Screaming Bird is a treble booster pedal, a reissue of a classic design from the 1970s, and Electro-Harmonix discontinued it in 20201. In the maker's words, "this Bird will scream nothing but highs and will make your guitar cut through any mix"1. It is part of the same circuit family as the LPB-1 Linear Power Booster, with capacitor values changed so that it boosts treble instead of the full signal.
An LPB-1 circuit with a smaller input capacitor
The Screaming Bird is not a new circuit. On the JHS Pedals YouTube channel, Josh Scott explained that the original Screaming Bird "is a treble booster and all that treble booster did is change these cap values" from the LPB-1 circuit2. The LPB-1 itself began as a small volume-boosting preamp built by designer Bob Myer, which Mike Matthews liked and turned into a product3.
The change is in the input coupling capacitor. The stock LPB-1 uses a 0.15 (150 nF) coupling capacitor at the input, with 0.1 also usable42. On a JHS breadboard demonstration of the circuit, swapping that input cap for a 0.1 (10 nF) value thinned out the low end:
"the smaller the cap value the less base gets through"
That is the whole trick behind the Screaming Bird: the same single-transistor boost as the LPB-1, but with input capacitors small enough that bass rolls off before the gain stage, so only the high frequencies get pushed. In the JHS demo, changing the input caps to 0.1s or 10 nFs "gives it less bass" and turns the clean booster into a treble booster4.
For a player, this means the Screaming Bird and the LPB-1 are close cousins with different jobs. The LPB-1 lifts the whole signal for a cleaner, louder push into the amp; the Screaming Bird pushes only the band from 1.6 kHz to 2.4 kHz, up to 20 dB, which thins the sound and adds bite rather than volume across the board14.
What the pedal does and how it is built
Electro-Harmonix describes the reissue as based on the classic 1970s design, delivering up to 20 dB of high-frequency gain to any amp over its 1.6 kHz to 2.4 kHz bandwidth1. It came in a tough and compact die-cast chassis measuring 2.75 (w) x 4.5 (l) x 2.1 (h) inches, with true bypass and a 9-volt battery included; the 96DC-200BI power supply was an optional extra1.
The Screaming Bird was discontinued in 2020, so it is no longer made. Players looking for a current Electro-Harmonix boost can look at the LPB-1 or the 2024 LPB-3 Linear Power Booster & EQ, which adds a 3-band active EQ to the same lineage.
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Questions
Is the Electro-Harmonix Screaming Bird discontinued?
Yes. Electro-Harmonix lists the Screaming Bird as discontinued in 2020. It was a reissue of the classic treble booster design from the 1970s, built on the same circuit family as the LPB-1 Linear Power Booster.
Is the Screaming Bird true bypass?
Yes. Electro-Harmonix lists true bypass among the Screaming Bird's features, so with the pedal off the signal passes through without active circuitry in the path.
What power supply does the EHX Screaming Bird use?
It runs on an included 9-volt battery, and Electro-Harmonix offered its 96DC-200BI power supply as an optional extra. No other power specification is given by the maker.
How much boost does the Screaming Bird give?
Up to 20 dB of high-frequency gain into any amp, with a bandwidth of 1.6 kHz to 2.4 kHz. Because the boost is limited to that band, it pushes treble rather than lifting the whole signal like the LPB-1.
Sources (4)
- Screaming Bird, Electro-Harmonix, 2020
- EPISODE 1: How To Breadboard An Electro Harmonix LPB-1 Boost Pedal, JHS Pedals (YouTube), 2024-05-01
- The Big Muff History of All Versions Part 1, Kit Rae (kitrae.net), 2020-03
- EPISODE 2: Modifying An Electro Harmonix LPB1 Boost Into A Fuzz, JHS Pedals (YouTube channel), 2024-05-09
