Brett Kingman | 1 decade ago

http://www.freethetone.com/en/products/effects_custom/final_booster.html

Folks, you will see a strong resemblance between the FB-2 from Free The Tone and the Providence FBT-1. They were, in fact, designed by the same engineering guru, Mr Yuki Hayashi. Yuki splintered off from Providence amicably some time ago but remains active within that company in terms of his designs and legacy. Free The Tone is Yuki's own venture. He has taken and freshened up many of his designs and now offers them with improvements and variations in a Custom Shop package. I am lucky enough to be one of Free The Tone's (and Providence's) ambassadors and I am VERY proud to fly both flags.

As you can see, this pedal carries personal detailing and the killer sound that you would expect from Yuki and Free The Tone. Yuki's work is well above average and coveted by many of the greats. Just check their artist roster.

Enough from me. Here is the news from FTT's site:

"The Final Booster uses discrete transistor circuitry with no ICs and it has a natural high-end harmonics sound. The sound of the old model was highly appreciated, however I was asked by a user if it was possible to reduce the switching noise level. A true bypass circuit was used to switch the effect on/off so it was difficult to reduce the switching noise.

In the summer of 2012, I developed the HTS circuit when I designed the GIGS BOSON and IRON FOREST pedals. (Please click here for for further information about HTS circuit.)
I thought the HTS circuit may solve the problem with switching noise, and it worked well for the booster too.
The switching noise level was reduced thanks to the HTS circuits and it preserves the sound quality whether the boost is turned on or off.
If there is sufficient headroom in the amp being used, the FINAL BOOSTER can be connected directly to the amplifier's input and used for straight volume boost. If you're using a tube amp it can be used for drive boost. The reason for the "FINAL BOOSTER" naming should now be clear... it will normally be the last pedal connected in an effect chain. Of course you could also connect it before an overdrive pedal in order to clip the overdrive input stage and create new distortion effects, for example.

A booster is essentially nothing more than a volume-increasing device, but in actual use it goes much deeper than that. Different sonic nuances can be achieved by connecting it in different ways. Using it in combination with overdrive or distortion pedals can produce some really interesting new effects. With a little ingenuity and trial-and-error testing it can be a source of unexpected new sounds."

Today's rig:


Guitar : 2013 Smitty Custom Guitars 'The Hog' T-Style with Brierley Vintage/Modern Pickups.
Amp: Laney L50H head and L412 cabinet (Greenbacks).
Other Pedals: Free The Tone Gigs Boson and Matt Schofield Overdrives
Cables : Providence
Mic : Violet Design 'The Amethyst Standard' (amp) Samson Airline77 (me)
Camera : Canon 60D (me) and Sony HDR CX150 (pedal)
Soundcard : AVID Mbox Pro 3
Computer : Apple iMac 27" i7 3.4 GHz 16 GB RAM
Software : Pro Tools 10 LE, Waves CLA Guitars (slight comp over input track), Waves L3-16 Limiter (to keep levels in check at output), Apple Final Cut Pro X (video editing and Youtube compression).