Vintage Guitar Magazine Nov 2005
GEAR Reviews

Green Envy No More

Xotic Effects BB Preamp

The folks at California-based Prosound Communications Inc. recently introduced an addition to their lineup of Xotic pedals, and it very much falls in line with their philosophy that an effect pedal should never overpower the real source of tone in one’s signal chain.

The new BB Preamp distortion booster was designed to 1) retain the original attack sound and tonal spectrums; 2) produce a variety of gain structures, and; 3) be flexible.

The diminutive BB (it measures just 4-1⁄2" x 2-3/8" x 1-1⁄4") is housed in heavy-duty cast aluminum, painted orange with black silkscreen print. It features controls for Volume, Gain, Bass, and Treble and true-bypass switch with LED indicator, has mono In and Out jacks, and can be powered with a 9-volt battery or AC adapter.

Like all Prosound pedals, the BB is hand-made in the U.S. Its innards are highlighted by very clean work, though the major components are covered in a black epoxy (take that, copycats!).

Another key shared element among Prosound pedals is their interactivity. So even if you have to compensate your amp settings for a pedal that has limited control, you can adjust the BB for tonality, using its two-band EQ.

To sample the BB’s sounds we used a Yamaha AES620 solidbody with a Duncan JB humbucker in the bridge and Duncan Alnico in the neck, and an all-original ’70s Fender Stratocaster. Our amps were an all-tube Peavey Delta Blues 115. With the Yamaha plugged into the BB and the Delta Blues set to squeaky clean, we set the BB’s Volume at about one-third and Gain to about half. We set the tone controls to straight-up 12:00 and immediately were greeted with fat, juicy British-type overdrive that sounded very natural, with a recognizable high-end British snap – very smooth. Dialing back the treble and bumping up the bass, the tone fattened up like an Easter pig – it exhibited fantastic fullness with tons of low-end. Pushing the gain knob produced very nice tone that stayed firm, with great note separation and just the right amount of compression for a smooth overall texture.

The BB is impressive in its transparency and natural sustain. In fact, if you didn’t actually see the box in your chain, you’d be apt to believe you were running straight into the amp. We ran it through various pickup settings and it treated all of them equally. Most overdrive units will soften up considerably running through the neck pickup. Not the BB. And you don’t have to overdrive your amp to make it sing; even if it’s set to “dry and lifeless,” the BB will rock it.
Backing off the BB’s Gain control, we got an incredible blues tone that, again, was very natural. It’ll produce anything from slight overdrive to balls-to-the-walls gain. As we increased the gain and backed off the guitar’s volume, the signal cleaned up nicely.

Through the Strat, the BB produced a pleasantly fat tone with as much gain as you please. Backing off the BB’s treble and pushing its bass, the Strat sounded like we’d dropped in a pair of P-90s, and with further tweaking you’d swear the BB endowed the Strat with humbuckers!
Most distortion pedals cut bass signal, but again, not the BB. Its two-knob EQ actually lets you dial in low-end. Regardless of how we set the volume and gain controls, we got great tone, with all frequencies very much present and accounted for.

The BB Xotic Effects has created a very worthy addition to its humble, but powerful, line of pedals. Its is certainly one of the best overdrive pedals we’ve reviewed. And it’s simple to operate. Grab one, and you just might feel your jones slip away for one of those little ol’ green boxes from the ’70s.
Bob Tekippe/Ward Meeker
Vintage Guitar Magazine

XOTIC BB Preamp
Features: Controls for volume, gain, bass, and treble; true-bypass on/off switch with LED indicator; AC or DC operation; heavy duty cast aluminum chassis.
Price: $195.

Vintage Guitar Magazine Mar 2004
GEAR Reviews

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