Free The Tone CC-1B Crunchy Chime Booster

The Free The Tone CC-1B Crunchy Chime is a clean boost pedal with a built-in two-band equalizer, made by Free The Tone. Where a plain clean boost only raises or lowers the level, the Crunchy Chime adds separate Treble and Bass knobs plus a Mode switch that shifts the bass band, so it can shape tone while it pushes an amp or another pedal harder¹².

Free The Tone describes the pedal as a booster with an equalizer function, and press coverage agrees on the same framing: Delicious Audio calls it "a versatile clean boost pedal with separate Bass and Treble knobs"², and Pedal of the Day calls it "a boost unit that adds in equalization functionality"³. The pedal became available worldwide on November 15, 2021, released alongside the Silky Groove SG-1C compressor³.

A clean booster with an equalizer

The core of the pedal is a boost circuit that Free The Tone says generates rich higher harmonics. According to the maker, that voicing is the result of research into the harmonic components of vintage guitars and amplifiers, which is where the "Crunchy Chime" name comes from²³. Pedal of the Day describes the result as "abundant and brilliant harmonics" from the boost circuit³.

Because the Boost control covers -16 dB to +17 dB, the pedal can pull level down as well as push it up, which is useful for taming a hot pickup or matching levels between guitars¹². The equalizer side is a two-band design: Delicious Audio describes separate Bass and Treble boost/cut knobs², and with both knobs at the 12 o'clock position the characteristics become flat, so the pedal works as a straight clean boost with the EQ effectively out of the way²³.

The two bands can also be flipped around into a different tool. Free The Tone says that using both Treble and Bass on the cut side turns the pedal into a mid booster¹, a point Premier Guitar repeats: "The Crunchy Chime can be used as a MID booster by setting both the treble and bass knobs to the cut position"⁴. That gives a player three voicings from one box: flat boost, treble or bass shaping, and a mid push.

The controls: Boost, Treble, Bass and Mode

The Mode switch is the detail that sets the CC-1B apart from a simple two-knob EQ booster. Free The Tone equips the pedal with a Mode switch that selects the frequency band the Bass control boosts or cuts¹. Pedal of the Day explains the practical benefit: "A Mode switch boosts/cuts the frequency range provided for the equalizer's Bass control," and notes that "this works well for the lower register of a 7-string guitar or bass guitar"³. For a bass player or an extended-range guitarist, that lower band puts the EQ where it is actually needed instead of shaping frequencies above the instrument's range.

Pedal of the Day's overall verdict on the pedal was positive:

One further detail from the same review: the output signal is in the same phase as the input signal, so there is no need to worry about phase reversal³.

Power and buffer

The CC-1B runs on a 9V 006P-type battery or a DC9V center-negative AC adapter, the standard arrangement for pedalboard power supplies¹. Connection is straightforward: one 1/4-inch input jack and one 1/4-inch output jack¹.

Inside, the pedal carries Free The Tone's HTS (Holistic Tonal Solution) circuit, the company's original buffer design, which is also implemented in the companion Silky Groove compressor³⁴. Free The Tone says the HTS circuit differs from conventional buffer circuits: it performs impedance conversion while preserving the sound of guitar and bass, combines high sound quality with low noise, and prevents sound quality degradation when the effect is off¹. For a player deciding where the pedal sits on a long board, that buffered bypass behavior is the relevant point, since the buffer stays in the signal path rather than dropping out.

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