The Metropoulos Amplification Supa-Boost is a clean boost pedal with a three-band tone stack, announced in April 2019 as the company's first pedal. It does not distort the signal: instead, its FET transistors add an additional gain stage to your chain, and its internal power supply runs the circuit at high voltage, converted from a standard 9V input.1
Metropoulos is known for its amplifiers, and the Supa-Boost carries that amp-building approach into pedal form. George, the company's designer, took the boost circuit from the Metro-Plex, expanded on the tube emulation and added a tweaked plexi tone stack with Treble, Middle and Bass controls.1 If you are new to boost pedals as a type, see the Boost Pedals page; players who want some grit added to the push can compare it with Overdrive Pedals.
What it does to your sound
As a clean boost, the Supa-Boost raises the level of your signal without adding distortion of its own, which is what separates it from an overdrive or a distortion pedal. Delicious Audio's description puts it plainly: "The Supa-Boost is a 'clean' boost pedal, it does not distort the signal."1
The three-band tone stack is what sets it apart from a simple volume-boost pedal. Because the Treble, Middle and Bass controls come from a plexi-style amp tone stack, you can shape the character of the boost, not just its level, before it hits the front of your amp.1
Delicious Audio describes the pedal's effect in amp terms: it "wakes up" dull amps or pushes great amps into new sonic territory, and the site's reviewer wrote of it1:
"It is like the best tube screamer ever for tightening up your tone and pushing it forward."
That comparison is worth unpacking for players choosing between circuit types: a Tube Screamer-style overdrive clips the signal as it pushes it, while the Supa-Boost keeps the signal clean and uses its FET gain stage and high-voltage internal supply for headroom.1
Controls and how it works
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Treble | Part of the tweaked plexi tone stack, shapes the high end of the boosted signal1 |
| Middle | Shapes the midrange of the boosted signal1 |
| Bass | Shapes the low end of the boosted signal1 |
The circuit is built around FET transistors, which Delicious Audio describes as adding an additional gain stage to your chain, together with tube emulation expanded from the Metro-Plex boost circuit.1
Power requirements
The Supa-Boost runs from a standard 9V tip negative, Boss style power supply, the same polarity convention as most pedalboard supplies. Its custom designed internal power supply converts that 9V input to high voltage to power the circuit, which is the point of the design: the tone stack and FET gain stage run with the headroom of an amp's internal rails while the pedal accepts an ordinary supply.1
The pedal draws 200mA, which is well above what many daisy-chain outputs supply. Give it its own outlet on a supply rated for the current, and do not plan on sharing a low-current output with other pedals.1
The published description specifies a 9V supply and does not mention battery operation, and at 200mA a battery would not be a practical option.1
Where it came from
The Supa-Boost was announced in April 2019 and was described at the time as "The first Metropoulos pedal!"1 Its circuit is derived directly from the company's amplifiers: George took the boost circuit from the Metro-Plex, expanded on the tube emulation and added the tweaked plexi tone stack.1 That lineage shows in the control layout, which mirrors an amp's tone stack rather than the single level control of most boost pedals.
Videos
Pete Thorn
Metropoulos Amplification
Metropoulos Amplification
Sources (1)
- Metropoulos Amplification Supa-Boost High Voltage Boost, Delicious Audio, 2019-04-24