Fryer Sound Ltd.
BRIAN MAY
Treble Boosters
Treble Booster Plus
Though the blue one has the most gain of
the three at 36dB, the Plus has a very different sound from the other two, and because
it hits the amp in a different way will probably sound like it has less gain than the other
two pedals with many guitars. It is easily the
most “vocal”-sounding of the three. Parked-wah tones and rich, sweet string sustain
with violin-like qualities are not difficult to
produce with humbucker- or P-90-equipped
guitars. It’s this pedal that most clearly demonstrates how closely zeroed-in Fryer is to
the precise elements of Brian May’s rig, since
my humbucker-equipped guitars were all a
little too much. Each produced fat growls,
harmonic-laden overdrive and thick sustain
when cranked, but not a lot of the gorgeous
clarity and sparkle of the AC30; my Strat- and
Tele-type single coils lacked the robustness
for those fat, creamy mids.
The combination of the Deusenberg’s neck
P- 90 and bridge humbucker actually produced fairly good approximations of some
of the less gain-heavy tones heard on News
Of The World, like the smooth, chiming ring
of “We Are the Champions,” “Spread Your
Wings,” and “It’s Late,” while rolling up the
guitar’s volume and leaning into it produced
the meat-eating, power chord crunch of…
well, the same songs, actually. But that
capacity likely also has something to do with
the Deusy’s unique middle-position wiring.
Treble Booster Touring
The bright red one is the one May himself
has been using since 1998. At 31dB of boost,
it offers the least gain of the three, but its
characteristics are quite similar to those of
the Treble Booster Deluxe. With P-90s, this
pedal also produced the closest thing to the
rangy crunch and woolly thickness of May’s
early-70s work on songs like “Modern Times
Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “Son & Daughter.”
If you’re not chasing May’s tones, these pedals are still a good bet. The Nash’s Lollar
pickups through an Orange Tiny Terror
Combo with the gain set moderately low
engendered a superb, raw British bluestone: plenty of hair on the top end and a
smoking crunch that was fully saturated but
still retained the string detail.
The Final Mojo
Keep in mind that these boosters are
designed not to mask the subtleties of your
technique, so they won’t mask your mistakes either. Having said that, neither a lack
of subtlety nor a the lack of a Red Special
replica kept us from a very instructive tone-chasing experiment, and the chase led us to
some very satisfying guitar/amp/Fryer Brian
May Treble Booster combinations that didn’t
invoke shades of “Keep Yourself Alive.” Even
if you’re not about to dive into the back catalog in your current Queen cover band, any of
these three pedals will likely give your tube
amp a very musical kick in the teeth. If you
want the advantages of a great treble boost
in a very simple signal chain, these are worth
a listen. Fryer promises top-quality performance and 500 or more hours of continuous
use from each, so it’s really down to which
flavor takes you closest to the tones you’re
chasing. For me, the Plus (blue) is the clear
favorite, or maybe it’s the Deluxe (purple), or
possibly the Touring (red).
Buy If...
You want a very sensitive,
great-sounding boost that will
also help you achieve a very
precisely targeted tone.
Skip If...
you’re happy with the way
your modeling amp handles
your Queen covers.
Rating...
4. 5
ONTHEWeb
Click on the speaker button to
download sound clips of treble
boosters. For a description of each
clip, head to
premierguitar.com
Fryer Sound, Ltd.
List $185 each
fryerguitars.com
spheresound.com
