Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster

The Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster was an effects unit made for guitarists in the 1960s. Its function was two-fold: to increase the signal strength of the guitar going into the amplifier, and to increase tones at the high end of the spectrum (a treble booster). It was the first such effects unit.

The need for a treble booster arose in the mid-1960s since many guitarists were using Gibson Les Paul guitars with Marshall and Vox amplifiers, a combination that, especially given the limitations of the PA systems of the time, tended to produce a dark, muddy sound. A pre-amplifier that also boosted treble proved a solution.

History and description

The Dallas Rangemaster was first made in 1966 by John E. Dallas and Sons of London, founded in 1875. It made guitars and amplifiers under different brand names, including Dallas, Shaftesbury, and Rangemaster. The Rangemaster's engineer is unknown.[1]

The unit is simple, and consists of a grey metal box with an on/off switch, a potentiometer for the booster setting, and an in- and output. It is made to stand on top of an amplifier rather than on the floor. Its circuitry is simple, and contains (besides the potentiometer--usually 10K, sometimes 20K--and the on/off switch) only a germanium transistor, four capacitors, three resistors, and a battery. The transistor was a Mullard OC44 or NTK275; some units shipped with an OC71.[1]

By the 1980s the Rangemaster had gone out of fashion, though a number of copycats had been made by other companies. How many were built is unknown, though it is certain that the number of small.[1] In Premier Guitar, Kenny Rardin describes his quest for one of the effects, which started with puzzlement over how Eric Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore achieved their tone; he spent years finding a Rangemaster, which he describes not so much as a treble booster, but as "a frequency selective boost. The higher frequency you put in, the more DBs of boost you get".[2] Highly collectible, it is one of the most expensive vintage guitar effects on the market.[3]

Eric Clapton supposedly used one around the time of John Mayall's Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton album, in combination with a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Marshall Bluesbreaker to create his "woman tone".[4] Other notable users include Rory Gallagher, Brian May and Tony Iommi.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Dregni, Michael (September 2014). "The Dallas Rangemaster". Vintage Guitar. pp. 46–49.
  2. ↑ Rardin, Kenny (19 March 2007). "The Rangemaster". Premier Guitar. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  3. 1 2 Hunter, Dave (2013). 365 Guitars, Amps & Effects You Must Play: The Most Sublime, Bizarre and Outrageous Gear Ever. MBI. p. 139. ISBN 9781610587945.
  4. ↑ Lawrence, Robb (2008). The Early Years of the Les Paul Legacy: 1915-1963. Hal Leonard. pp. 248–49. ISBN 9780634048616.
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