TC ELECTRONIC SPARK BOOSTER

Massage into rig to revitalise dull, lifeless tone
Slash goes back to basics – and it rocks
TC ELECTRONIC
SPARK BOOSTER
£105
THINK
of Slash, and
we’d wager
that nine times out of 10 you’ll
hear a wah-drenched solo wailing
away at the back of your skull.
Songwriting and chops come way
above tone in the pecking order, of
course, but there’s no doubt that
Slash’s wah tone had a part to play
in causing countless guitar players
to sit up and take notice.
It’s no surprise, then, that
Dunlop has been keen to keep
Slash’s boot firmly stuck on a Cry
Baby of his very own. The iconic
rocker’s original SW-95 model
notably included a distortion
circuit, but that has been dropped
for this latest version.
So, did Slash have his top hat
screwed on too tightly during the
design phase? Of course not! He
LIKE
all pedal makers
worth their salt, TC
Electronic tries to cover all the
bases. We witnessed this last year
with the MojoMojo Overdrive,
Dark Matter Distortion and the
Röttweiler Distortion – three
distinctive overdrives that each
held their own, and also worked
together as a team. A trilogy, if
you will. Unfortunately, the best
trilogies tend to go off the rails
once you introduce a fourth
instalment, so we’re concerned the
Spark Booster could be ‘the Dull-
tone Menace’ that spoils the fun.
Fear not, young Padawan. TC
has advanced its series with the
only addition that makes sense
– a booster pedal brimming with
versatility. The Spark Booster
DUNLOP SC-95 SLASH CRY BABY CLASSIC / TC ELECTRONIC SPARK BOOSTER
REVIEWS
works as both a coloured and a
clean boost, with the level knob
alone offering up to 26dB of clean
boost. The gain knob controls the
character of the boost between
clean and pushed, and when it
gets up really high, it starts to add
a soulful character similar to TC’s
MojoMojo drive. Bass and treble
fine-tune the frequencies, and the
toggle switch in the middle can be
set to Clean, Fat or Mid to boost
different bands of frequencies.
Playing with each control is
very intuitive and really does give
extra life and flavour to your tone.
Whether you’ve picked up any
of TC’s other drive pedals or not,
you’ll be in fine company with the
Spark Booster.
Alun Lower
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USEABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
AT A GLANCE
TYPE: Boost pedal
CONTROLS: Gain, level, bass,
treble, 3-way EQ toggle
SOCKETS: Input, output, power
BYPASS: True bypass
POWER: Battery, PSU (not included)
CONTACT: TC Electronic
0800 9178926 www.tcelectronic.com
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USEABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
154 AUGUST 2012
simply wanted something that
was more immediately accessible
and ended up with the SC-95, a
simplified pedal that has been
tuned to a lower frequency and
given a very wide sweep. Another
welcome change is that the pedal
no longer requires 18 volts to
operate. We approve.
Strap on a Les Paul, warm up a
decent lead tone, and this pedal
fits right in. With your toe down,
the wah’s wide sweep gives you
a cutting solo tone that keeps
every note high up in the mix,
without being too shrill. Rocking
back to the heel position doesn’t
muddy things up too much either,
which ensures that every tone in
the sweep is useable and, more
importantly, audible.
Alun Lower
DUNLOP SC-95 SLASH
CRY BABY CLASSIC
£181
AT A GLANCE
TYPE: Wah pedal
CONTROLS: N/A
SOCKETS: Input, output, power
BYPASS: True bypass
POWER: Battery, PSU (sold separately)
CONTACT: Westside Distribution
0141 248 4812 www.jimdunlop.com
TGR230.gear_halves.indd 154 6/22/12 3:29 PM