BYOC Triboost Review

Longing for a hand wired, reasonably priced, versatile Dallas Rangemaster clone? Own a soldering Iron? Look no further than the BYOC Triboost. As I mentioned previously in my BYOC Confidence Boost review, Build Your Own Clone are one of the top players when it comes to the DIY stompbox market. The Triboost is a step up in difficulty over the Confidence Boost but is a real stompbox rather than a practice PCB / springboard to greater conquests.

The Triboost is more complex than the original Dallas Rangemaster, but it is a lot more versatile. BYOC's Triboost infact has three different boost circuits hiding with it; a Mosfet boost, a Silicon boost and ofcourse the Germanium boost. I bought and built it for the Germanium boost so my review will be based on that particular portion of the pedal, but the two other boosts are a nice addition and both have their own characteristics.

As previously mentioned, the Triboost is a step up in difficulty over the Confidence Boost kit, but it's still a relatively simple solder-the-components affair. BYOCs instructions are as ever clear and easy to read and their forum community happy as ever to look over your gut shots to help you trouble shoot any problems. My kit came together in under two hours and aside from me positioning my transistor incorrectly to begin with, it worked flawlessly from the get-go.

The pedal has two knobs and a 3-way switch. The left knob controls gain and the right selects between Mosfet, Silicon and Germanium. A central LED changes colour to allow you to quickly tell which circuit is engaged. The 3-way switch is only functional when using the Germanium selection and switches between the classic "Treble Boost" in the central position, "Mid Boost" to the right and "Full Range Boost" to the left.

My kit came stock with a NOS OC75 transistor. Some people prefer the OC44. I have tried both and have stuck with the OC75. Here's how I have it mocked up now, in the classic Dallas Rangemaster livery, which differs from what I have in the following demo video where it's in a purple swirl.

Without further adieu here's what it sounds like in the Germanium setting.  

BYOC Build Your Own Clone Confidence Boost

When it comes to DIY guitar effects Build Your Own Clone / BYOC is at the top of the food chain. Their kits come neatly packaged with all the required components, the instructions are hosted online and viewable before hand and are easy to follow. BYOC also has a vibrant active forum community who are always there to give you a helping hand building and troubleshooting your creation.

For those wanting to get their feet wet and find out what guitar effects building is all about the BYOC Confidence Boost is the place to start. It's a simple kit and does exactly what it says on the wrapper - boosts confidence!.

There are no pots or switches included, just a simple exercise in soldering components and jacks then wiring it up. The kit, once completed is a simple linear boost and buffer. Alls you will need to complete this kit is: A soldering iron and a screwdriver to adjust the trimpot. I would also recommend a solder-sucker and some way of holding the PCB in place, I personally use one of these:

  You plug your guitar into one jack and plug the other jack into the front of your amp, or the next effect in your chain! A trim pot soldered to the PCB allows you to adjust the amount of volume it adds - It's a linear boost, it just makes the signal LOUDER! With the trim pot low it simply gives your pickups a little more power, wind it all the way up and it can really dirty up the front end of a tube amp.

Obviously by itself the kit isn't much use as an effect on anyone's pedal board - it's got no enclosure, stomp switch or adjustment knob! But that isn't the point of the kit. The kit gauges your interest, if once you're finished you're left dying to get the next kit started - then you know it's a hobby for you. If you don't finish it up, maybe you need to rethink and atleast you didn't drop serious cash on one of the more expensive full kits.

I personally loved building the Confidence Boost..... so much so that as soon as I'd wired it up I went straight down to the local electronics store and bought myself a stomp switch and potentiometer. I stuffed it all into an old mints tin and made a fully functioning pedal out of it. The simple guide for upgrading the confidence boost can be found in the BYOC forum.

To conclude: Really inexpensive and simple way to get into effects building, highly recommended.