Phil Jones Bass Boosterooster PE-2

The Phil Jones Bass Boosterooster PE-2 is a compact preamp, EQ and clean boost pedal built for bass. Phil Jones Bass, a maker better known for bass amplification, introduced it in May 2026 as a precision two-band EQ, preamp and clean booster for electric and upright bass¹². It packs up to +18dB of clean gain, which the maker says drives amplifiers into their optimal operating range, compensates for passive or low-output instruments, and maintains signal strength through long cable runs or complex pedalboards with no distortion, no compression and no coloration².

Bass Magazine's reviewer, Jon D'Auria, summed up the idea behind it:

What it does for a player

The PE-2 is aimed at two jobs at once. As a clean boost, its +18dB of gain can push a passive bass or a quiet pickup up to the level an amplifier wants, without adding overdrive or compression²⁴. As a preamp and EQ, it shapes tone at the fundamental frequencies that matter to bass, and Phil Jones Bass positions it for connecting to PAs, recording interfaces or unfamiliar backline, situations where you cannot predict what amp you will be playing through³.

The two-band EQ allows up to 12dB of cut or boost, which D'Auria found gives "a wide range of dynamics regardless of what bass you're playing"⁴.

The controls

The pedal carries four large knobs plus a switch⁴:

The EQ frequencies are worth noting for bass players. The bass band sits at 60Hz, in the region of a bass's low fundamentals, and the maker says it adds weight without boom or overloading the speaker. The treble band at 6kHz is about articulation and string definition rather than high-end sparkle¹.

Magnetic and piezo inputs

The MG/PZ switch is the feature that sets the PE-2 apart from a generic boost pedal. D'Auria describes it as "one button that switches the unit from MG to P2, which shifts it from magnetic to piezo sources"⁴. Piezo pickups, common on upright bass, want a much higher input impedance than magnetic pickups to sound full. The 4.7MΩ piezo input extends effective bandwidth to approximately 30Hz, well below the 41Hz low E, which the maker says restores the full character of the instrument¹².

That makes the pedal a practical choice for a player who moves between an electric bass and an upright with a piezo pickup, since one switch adapts the input to each¹³.

Power and size

The PE-2 uses 9 to 18V DC power via an external supply and has no battery compartment². D'Auria's review unit ran on a 9V DC power cable⁴. Running it at the higher end of its voltage range is an option for players whose pedalboard supply offers more than 9V.

It is a small box: 60 x 112 x 52.5mm, about 2 by 4.4 by 2.3 inches as D'Auria measured it, and 209g¹⁴.

What reviewers said

Bass Magazine's Jon D'Auria reviewed the PE-2 and framed it as portable tone shaping, calling it a preamp, booster and EQ that "gives you tone on the go"⁴. He noted the gain range of −6 to +18dB and the ±12dB of EQ cut or boost on each band, and his overall verdict was that the pedal preserves your sound whatever you plug into⁴.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

Questions