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Mike Rice
March 12th, 2006, 02:35 PM
Some time ago, during a discussion about the Bad Bob, RC Booster, and other boost pedals, I mentioned the TopHat Wonderboy. Seems a few had heard about it, none had tried it, and at least a few were curious. I managed to find one last week and it was here by the weekend, in time for one of my jams!
You can learn more at tophatamps.com, but this is a dual sided pedal described as a FET boost on one side (doesn't specify JFET or MOSFET) and a dual stage gain boost on the other. It gives a nice boost and, for those that like overdrive, it is at least a decent overdrive though not saturated with gain like a Rat or even close. It is far, far from transparent, especially if you're used to pedals like the Bad Bob and RC Booster. When pedal colors the tone it becomes a real crapshoot as to who will and won't like the colorazation. I don't.
The first thing you notice when clicking on the OD side is a drop out in the bass. This seems to be teamed with a slight boost in mids, but I'm not sure if it's real or perceived due to the drop in mids. I just don't like the fact that it seem to lose so much clarity, and I have to think other fans of the BB or RC will feel much the same.
The boost side doesn't affect the tone nearly as much, but I also wouldn't call it transparent. Actually it kinda makes your guitar/amp sound more like a TopHat, or other high gain combo, being pushed. Being a black face Fender kinda guy, that's not particularly good. There were a couple at the jam that thought it was anywhere from just fine to great, especially to use selectively based on the scenario. i.e. with a room full of BF Fenders and Teles it could provide a nice change of pace to keep your ears from sparkle overload.
Bottom line; it does what it purports to do and probably even does it well. I mentioned that the OD isn't super saturated, but keep in mind you can cascade the boost into the OD to get more. lt's really tough for me to be totally objective and even conduct a really comprehensive test simply because it does things to the tone that I don't want done.
Built like a tank, very boutique in character, just not a Mikey pedal.
You can learn more at tophatamps.com, but this is a dual sided pedal described as a FET boost on one side (doesn't specify JFET or MOSFET) and a dual stage gain boost on the other. It gives a nice boost and, for those that like overdrive, it is at least a decent overdrive though not saturated with gain like a Rat or even close. It is far, far from transparent, especially if you're used to pedals like the Bad Bob and RC Booster. When pedal colors the tone it becomes a real crapshoot as to who will and won't like the colorazation. I don't.
The first thing you notice when clicking on the OD side is a drop out in the bass. This seems to be teamed with a slight boost in mids, but I'm not sure if it's real or perceived due to the drop in mids. I just don't like the fact that it seem to lose so much clarity, and I have to think other fans of the BB or RC will feel much the same.
The boost side doesn't affect the tone nearly as much, but I also wouldn't call it transparent. Actually it kinda makes your guitar/amp sound more like a TopHat, or other high gain combo, being pushed. Being a black face Fender kinda guy, that's not particularly good. There were a couple at the jam that thought it was anywhere from just fine to great, especially to use selectively based on the scenario. i.e. with a room full of BF Fenders and Teles it could provide a nice change of pace to keep your ears from sparkle overload.
Bottom line; it does what it purports to do and probably even does it well. I mentioned that the OD isn't super saturated, but keep in mind you can cascade the boost into the OD to get more. lt's really tough for me to be totally objective and even conduct a really comprehensive test simply because it does things to the tone that I don't want done.
Built like a tank, very boutique in character, just not a Mikey pedal.