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MODEL
RM
BSM would like to congratulate you on the purchase of your RM Treble Booster!
The RM is based on the British Range Master unit produced between 1965 and
1969, as used by Eric Clapton in John Mayall´s Bluesbreakers. Eric also used
the booster when playing in the legendary group Cream. Its biting, powerful sound
is clearly in evidence on the Bluesbreakers îBeanoî album. Blues rocker Rory
Gallagher, Glam rocker Mark Bolan, Heavy Rock pioneer Tony Iommi and Brian
May from Queen were also heavy users of the original Range Master unit.
The long yearned for new edition, now issued under the name RM from BSM,
includes the same OC44 germanium transistors as the the original 1965 version.
Almost all British rock guitarists using single coil pickup guitars used a germanium
Treble Booster from the late 60‘s to the mid 70‘s. By the end of the seventies, the
Treble Booster was replaced by a new circuit from Japan, the so called Tube Screamer
and other similar overdrive circuits. These were based on the old Treble Boosters
and therefore had a very similar frequency response. The germanium boosters on
the other hand, sadly fell into oblivion despite their unique and inimitable sound.
The RM Treble Booster has been specifically designed for single coil and humbucking
pickups with a relatively low/medium inductance, such as pickups in Fender, Gretsch,
Burns or Gibson guitars. On these pickups, the RM produces (with the volume control
of the guitar turned up to the max) a fat, biting and penetrating lead sound, minus any
shrill characteristics. By lowering the guitar’s volume control, many shades of crunch
can be easily dialed in. Another thing to consider is that when a guitar amp’s volume
is turned up (reaching saturation), the power amp normally begins to mute the highs,
which results in a duller sound. At an amp’s full tilt, the RM Treble Booster allows a
more transparent tone (covering the entire frequency range) to shine through. The
presence control on the amp need only be minimally used (if at all). When vintage
amps are used (such as the Fender Deluxe, Fender Bassman, Vox AC30, Marshall JTM
45 or Marshall Plexi) it is amazing what effect the use of a good treble booster has.
Made in Germany
It is also of interest to note that Eric Clapton used a new 2 x12 Marshall combo
(Model # 1962 with KT66 output tubes) with the Bluesbreakers, and 100 Watt Plexi
heads with Cream. Brian May used a couple of VOX AC30 combos with the RM in
front of the ”Normal” channel.
The Treble Booster is inserted between guitar and amplifier, not into the FX loop. The
magical tone is achieved by the interaction between guitar pickup, treble booster
and amplifier. The unit is powered by a 9V battery with a current consumption of
aprox. 250 µA. The average output level is 10dBm, the maximum output voltage
when the strings are struck really hard is 7V max.
Note: The positive pole of the battery is ground.
------By turning the volumepot, the specially circuit design makes noise –
------like the orginal!
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