The Battery-Free, On-Board,
BOOST and DISTORT circuits for your Guitar or Bass
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Black Ice Boost and Black Ice Distort are small, battery-free devices that can be easily installed in your guitar or bass. Use them separately or together to provide fingertip access to a variety of distorted, clean boost and dirty boost sounds, all without the need for a battery or any other power source. Black Ice products are compatible with all passive guitar pickups and electronics (not compatible with battery-powered active pickups).
The Black Ice Boost module provides 4-7db of battery-free boost that's broadly concentrated in the midrange frequencies. It can be used as a clean boost, or pair it with our Black Ice Distort circuit for additional dirty boost options – all battery free. It's two stages of boost have been fine tuned to add girth and volume to Strat, Tele and other types of single coil pickups.
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Partial Boost provides up to 4db of boost while retaining some of the high frequency sparkle that single coils are known for (it also works well with some low output humbuckers, P90s, Jazz Bass and other pickups that might benefit from additional midrange emphasis).
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Full boost provides up to 7db of boost with a darker humbucker-like tonality.
Several wiring options are provided including a simple stealth install that utilizes a single push-pull pot and a dual switch option that allows you to select between 2 different levels of boost. For those using the boost along with our Black Ice Distort module, a second push-pull pot or switch can be used to select a clean or distorted boost.
The small Black Ice Boost module (approx. 2/3 the size of a 9v battery) can be easily installed in most instruments with no routing or permanent modifications required. The tone of your instrument remains completely unaffected when the boost is bypassed.
The Black Ice Distort module can be configured for just a touch of grit, a more aggressive grind or 60's flavored fuzz. While it's battery-free circuit will never replace the more refined sound of a well designed pedal, it provides handy, there-when-you-need-it access to a variety of fun old-school flavors, and a great way to add additional textures to an already overdriven amp or pedal. Bass players especially will dig it's raw dirty grind.
Like the Black Ice Boost, the sugar cube sized Black Ice Distort provides a lifetime of tone with no maintenance or power source required. A variety of wiring options are included that let you activate the Distort via a switch or push-pull pot (with or without the boost circuit) or by easily converting your guitar's tone control into a control for the Black Ice Distort circuit.