Xotic RC Booster: The OD Pedal Alternative (for Rectos)

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Silverwulf

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So by now, I think everyone and their brother has started using OD pedals on occasion to boost the front end of their Rectos. It's a great way to tighten up the amp on the heavy channel and "modernize" the sound a little. However, some people don't like how the OD pedals color the tone, or the mid hump, or they don't have switching systems and don't like tap dancing the OD on and off along with switching channels on the amp. So, I give you the OD alternative...the Xotic RC Booster.

rc_booster.jpg


The RC Booster is basically a clean boost that's extremely transparent. You can boost up to 20db and have active treble/bass controls for boosting or cutting by 15db each. Unlike most OD pedals, there is no associated mid boost or (much) coloration of the tone, leaving the core tone of your amp as it is. Unlike most OD pedals, the RC Booster (or "real clean") is just that...it's really clean, meaning there's virtually no gain in the pedal. If the gain knob is cranked, you can get a little grit, but it's not the true purpose of the pedal. If an OD pedal isn't quite your thing, but you still wish to juice the front end of your amp and tighten it up, this just may be the pedal for you.

For the Recto, the RC Booster works extremely well (and I find it's exceptional with 2 channel Rectos). To tighten up your amp and slam the front end harder, try settings similar to:

Volume - Max
Gain - 9 o'clock (no "real" gain, just opens up the pedal a little).
Treble - Dial in to taste (I'm usually around 1 o'clock for a slight boost).
Bass - Off to around 9 o'clock (varies depending on how much low end you like).

The interesting thing is that you're EQ'ing before you hit the preamp stage in the Recto, so it allows you to dial in your amp a little different and use settings that may look a little odd with a Recto. Because you're cutting off so much of the bass going into the amp, you can dial the bass up a little more on the Recto itself. The lack of sub-lows also makes it possible to add gain on the amp without it flubbing out. With an OD pedal in front, I usually run the gain on the Recto around 12 Noon. You don't want to use too much so the amp stays tight. with the RC Booster, so much of the lows have been stripped away up front that you can dial in more gain on the amp without it flubbing out. I've ran my gain as high as 3 o'clock with the RC Booster in front and the signal stayed tight and punchy. Some amp adjustments you may have to make:

Treble/Presence - If you boost on the RC, you will need to cut here accordingly on the amp.
Mids - If you're used to using an OD with a mid hump, you'll want to boost your mids accordingly on the Recto to compensate.
Gain - Can be cranked higher without flub. Try it around 3 o'clock and notice the signal still stays tight and articulate.

Dialed in appropriately, you can get the Recto sounding eerily similar with an OD or the RC Booster, though you'll have to use different amp settings to do so. One of the other advantages of using a pedal like the RC Booster is that it works just as well on the clean channel! for those complaining that the Recto clean doesn't have enough power, isn't bright enough, etc...this will add a lot of power and chime to your clean channel, and because you're using it on both, it means you'll no longer be tap dancing because you'd never have to turn it off! You could leave it on 100% of the time.

Why the RC Booster instead of some of Xotic's higher gain offerings like the AC Booster and BB Preamp? Simple, because it's clean, transparent, and it keeps the raw sound of your amp with minimal alternation. I feel the others are great pedals, but they start introducing some added compression and grit, and I was wanting to offer up an alternative to an OD, not another pedal that was similar to an OD.

I'm not advocating everyone dump their OD's and go buy RC Boosters, haha... :lol: I'm just putting an alternative out there in case you're looking for something different or don't like using OD pedals. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised with the RC Booster and the tonal possibilities it gives your Recto.
 
Hi there,
combining a AC Booster with a II C+ works pretty well too.
Setting the gain around 3/4, plugging the AC Booster into the fx loops with neutral settings,
tone is creamy, warm; not aggressive , a kind of Gambale/Holdsworth like tone.
Strangely, so far I never managed to get that kind of tone when plugged into a MK IV.
:eek:
 
Huh. This was one of the only boosts I didn't try when I was in the market for one. I wanted something that would dirty up my clean channel a bit or act as a boost on an already-dirty channel. I eventually settled on the OCD. Kick *** pedal. But I will def. give this a shot. Good enough for Paul Gilbert, good enough for me. :lol:
 
fluff191 said:
Huh. This was one of the only boosts I didn't try when I was in the market for one. I wanted something that would dirty up my clean channel a bit or act as a boost on an already-dirty channel. I eventually settled on the OCD. Kick *** pedal. But I will def. give this a shot. Good enough for Paul Gilbert, good enough for me. :lol:

I think you chose right with the OCD. I love Fulltone products, and the OCD is a great OD pedal. I use the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe as my wah these days too. The RC Booster probably wouldn't dirty up your clean channel as much. You'd have to crank the gain to around 3 o'clock to really get anything noticeable out of it.

It's actually very similar to the TC Electronics Integrated Preamp pedal that guys used to use in the 80's all the time, though it also has a separate gain control. The guys in Meshuggah used the TC on both their "Destroy Erase Improve" and "Chaosphere" albums with Rectos, to give you an idea. Works great with 7 strings and lower tuned stuff.
 
I could do that, just have to wait until I get to my practice spot. I can do an A/B with the Maxon OD808 so you can hear the difference and show some different settings with it.
 
I love this pedal on the gain channels of the IIC+ and Recto and on clean channels for every amp I've tried. It adds a sort of natural sounding compression that gives more sustain and body to clean sounds, and it is transparent on high gain sounds, in essence a slight amount of saturation that gives a little more dimension to the gain that the amp already produces.
 
It's a key part of my signal chain no matter what I use. I use it with my Mark III and both my Rectos. Can't beat the sound. I A/B'd it against an OCD trying to use the OCD as just a boost, and I didn't care for the coloration the OCD gave the tone. I was running into a Recto into a Mesa 4x12. The RC on the other hand didn't color my tone so much as give me more of what I had. It tightened everything up and just gives more. If you've got a good sound that you like already, you'll have that much more of it. And it feels much more alive. Best pedal I've ever bought.
 
Also - what is the difference between this and the bb-preamp other than the bb giving an additional 10dB boost?
 
I think the BB is basically a tweaked Bluesbreaker design. So that means fairly transparent and loads of gain.
 
Great review. Thanks
Silverwulf said:
So by now, I think everyone and their brother has started using OD pedals on occasion to boost the front end of their Rectos. It's a great way to tighten up the amp on the heavy channel and "modernize" the sound a little. However, some people don't like how the OD pedals color the tone, or the mid hump, or they don't have switching systems and don't like tap dancing the OD on and off along with switching channels on the amp. So, I give you the OD alternative...the Xotic RC Booster.

rc_booster.jpg


The RC Booster is basically a clean boost that's extremely transparent. You can boost up to 20db and have active treble/bass controls for boosting or cutting by 15db each. Unlike most OD pedals, there is no associated mid boost or (much) coloration of the tone, leaving the core tone of your amp as it is. Unlike most OD pedals, the RC Booster (or "real clean") is just that...it's really clean, meaning there's virtually no gain in the pedal. If the gain knob is cranked, you can get a little grit, but it's not the true purpose of the pedal. If an OD pedal isn't quite your thing, but you still wish to juice the front end of your amp and tighten it up, this just may be the pedal for you.

For the Recto, the RC Booster works extremely well (and I find it's exceptional with 2 channel Rectos). To tighten up your amp and slam the front end harder, try settings similar to:

Volume - Max
Gain - 9 o'clock (no "real" gain, just opens up the pedal a little).
Treble - Dial in to taste (I'm usually around 1 o'clock for a slight boost).
Bass - Off to around 9 o'clock (varies depending on how much low end you like).

The interesting thing is that you're EQ'ing before you hit the preamp stage in the Recto, so it allows you to dial in your amp a little different and use settings that may look a little odd with a Recto. Because you're cutting off so much of the bass going into the amp, you can dial the bass up a little more on the Recto itself. The lack of sub-lows also makes it possible to add gain on the amp without it flubbing out. With an OD pedal in front, I usually run the gain on the Recto around 12 Noon. You don't want to use too much so the amp stays tight. with the RC Booster, so much of the lows have been stripped away up front that you can dial in more gain on the amp without it flubbing out. I've ran my gain as high as 3 o'clock with the RC Booster in front and the signal stayed tight and punchy. Some amp adjustments you may have to make:

Treble/Presence - If you boost on the RC, you will need to cut here accordingly on the amp.
Mids - If you're used to using an OD with a mid hump, you'll want to boost your mids accordingly on the Recto to compensate.
Gain - Can be cranked higher without flub. Try it around 3 o'clock and notice the signal still stays tight and articulate.

Dialed in appropriately, you can get the Recto sounding eerily similar with an OD or the RC Booster, though you'll have to use different amp settings to do so. One of the other advantages of using a pedal like the RC Booster is that it works just as well on the clean channel! for those complaining that the Recto clean doesn't have enough power, isn't bright enough, etc...this will add a lot of power and chime to your clean channel, and because you're using it on both, it means you'll no longer be tap dancing because you'd never have to turn it off! You could leave it on 100% of the time.

Why the RC Booster instead of some of Xotic's higher gain offerings like the AC Booster and BB Preamp? Simple, because it's clean, transparent, and it keeps the raw sound of your amp with minimal alternation. I feel the others are great pedals, but they start introducing some added compression and grit, and I was wanting to offer up an alternative to an OD, not another pedal that was similar to an OD.

I'm not advocating everyone dump their OD's and go buy RC Boosters, haha... :lol: I'm just putting an alternative out there in case you're looking for something different or don't like using OD pedals. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised with the RC Booster and the tonal possibilities it gives your Recto.
 
Ive got the RC boost as well as the BB preamp. RC = Rig Conductor, not Real Clean although it is very clean. The RC will give you gain if that is what you are looking for. Its good to push the front end of an already overdriven amp. It sounds awesome in front of my Express. Or, you can use it by itself on a clean amp to get just a hint of grit. There is a gain control and you can get that barely broken up tone with it. The BB preamp is voiced a little differently, it has a bit of compression and a lot more gain. Yes, think blues breaker as someone mentioned before. The AC boost has a bit more gain than the RC (less than the bb) as well as a slight mid hump. If you are into overdrives and boost and you own all three of those pedals (RC, AC and BB) you will never need to buy another OD pedal!!!
 
I concur with those who like using an OCD with their Roadsters. That pedal seems to work really well with the Roadster. Honestly though, for what I do I don't really need to boost the Roadster any. I just use the OCD to boost my Brit mode settings on channel 2.
 
Imma necro the **** out of this thread. I recently picked up an Xotic RC Booster (the more recent version with 2 gain stages) and, yeah, this is a great alternative to a tubescreamer/OD808 or anything else that has a built-in EQ curve. If, like me, you often clone Red to Vintage to get a nice smooth grind, this pedal can really give it a little wakeup to take over the front of the mix when you need to but without changing the tone at all. I love my Metro Supa-Boost but it has a *sound*. The Xotic is really transparent.

If you like playing more technical riffing with tight bass but you don't want to go full saturated djent, this can really set you up. It has all that Recto harmonic spread and ballz but you can dial out as much of the low end chub as you want.
 
I use the RC when I split the Humbuckers to bring the signal back up to the same level and still get that single coil bite.
 
I definitely want to try this to drive my ROV25.

Also considering:
Wampler db+: https://www.wamplerpedals.com/products/boost/db-boost-independent-buffer/

Suhr Dual Boost:
https://www.suhr.com/electronics/pedals/boost/suhr-dual-boost-pedal/
 

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