ANALOG MAN Bad Bob Booster – Drive Knob Mod Analog Man

In 2010 Analog Man started making this pedal ourselves. They have been available but we are still working on graphics so for now they will be in white (or other colors may be available) with hand stamped graphics like our switch boxes.

The Bad Bob pedal is a booster based on the famous and much copied mini-booster “JFET mu-amp” design of Jack Orman (check out his site to learn more). This design was also used as the basis for most other boutique boost pedals.

It is a class A booster that is capable of driving your favorite tube amp into tonal nirvana! With well over 20dB of gain, the Bad Bob fattens up even the cleanest high powered tube amp.

Do you use a lower wattage amp already on the verge of breaking up? The Bad Bob pushes it over the edge to obtain rich sustain.

Do you like a vintage or modern 30 Watt Class A tube amp cranked to the hilt? If so you will love the Bad Bob..

Here are some of the features:

• Cast aluminum enclosure with baked-on silver hammertone finish.
• Metal Switchcraft 1/4″ input and output jacks.
• High quality double sided PC Board.
• True bypass switching with special wiring to minimize external noise.
• LED indicator.
• 2.1mm DC power jack for use with most standard regulated 9VDC adaptors (Boss PSA-120 or Voodoo Labs PP2 recommended).
• Low power consumption! Under 1mA when off, under 3mA when on, no IC chips, so battery will last a LONG time.
• Capable of running at up to 18VDC for a cleaner, punchier tone with more headroom!!
• Metal Film resistors and coupling capacitors for optimum tone.

Here is a comparison of the Bad Bob to my other favorite Clean Boost pedals:

KLON : The KLON Centaur is not as clear as Bad Bob, it is more compressed, even at minimum gain. Also the KLON is not nearly as loud at it’s clean boost setting. The tone difference is really noticeable with the guitar’s volume and/or tone turned down a bit – it makes the KLON sound dull in comparison.

Z Vex Super Hard On : This pedal is much cleaner than the BB, if you need just a totally clean booster the SHO is probably better. The Bad Bob has nice grit/drive even at the same volume setting as OFF. But the sound is not very useful at a unity gain setting, so it’s not a great buffer pedal like the SHO. At medium boost, the SHO is sharper and cleaner sounding, the Bad Bob is not as bright, has a thicker, richer tone. The SHO is just as loud when turned up all the way, and the two pedals sound more similar when cranked up loud as the amp is really running overloaded by that point. The Bad Bob has a bit less hiss when cranked, I was surprised by this but maybe due to some high end rolloff. The Bad Bob is sort of like a Rangemaster clone (our Beano Boost) but without the tone change and emphasis of certain frequencies.

Beano Boost (not really a clean boost) : The Beano Boost is a rangemaster clone. It will make an amp nice and bright and add a ton of crunch, depending on how high you have the knob set on the pedal. The Rangemaster pedals change your tone a lot, boosting the selected frequencies. If you are going for a Queen sound or classic British rock tone, it could be awesome.

The Bad Bob is a clean boost, and does not change your tone. It may cause your amp to overdrive more depending on how close the amp is to breakup, and how high you have the knob on the pedal.

The optional DRIVE knob (on the right) is exactly the same as before when turned up all the way. You can turn it down to get a cleaner sound. Down all the way is a totally clean boost. Like many pedals, the drive knob has a voltage on it, so it will make noise when you turn it. You won’t be turning it while playing so it’s not an issue.