So here is my review of the Rothwell F1 Booster pedal, which I think is just pure boosting awesomeness! I have tried one or two boosting pedals/methods over the years, mostly part of existing multi-fx pedals, rather than stand alone. I while back I tried out the Rothwell Hellbender Overdrive pedal in a shop, I was trying out and amp and wanted to see what it sounded like with an overdrive pedal, and I was well impressed with the quality of the pedal. So, scroll forward a few month, I am still on the quest of being able to boost my solos whilst maintaining an appropriate rhythm level, and with the band I am currently working with this is tricky as we cover everything from 60's soul to Bon Jovi! I thought that a pedal which could push the amp on a clean setting to get a fuller bluesy tone and then in conjunction with a distortion pedal get a gainy lead sound would be ideal. So in walks the Rothwell F1 booster. The thing which I instantly liked was the tone control, I have in the past (successfully) used a Boss GE-7 Graphic Equaliser pedal as a booster and with a boost in the mid frequency range to make a solo stand out.  The Rothwell gives you a fantastic 20dB of clean boost, which is ample and great for driving the front of a valve amp (it works fantastically well with my Cornford Roadhouse 30 W combo) where it pushes it into a lovely crunchy tone.

How easy is it to use?Very easy to use and very easy to get a great sound out of it. There are basically two knobs Level and tone and mid-cut switch, which are pretty self explanatory really. The level as mentioned gives a 20dB clean boost to the guitars signal, and tone control in the middle postion leaves the guitar tone untouched, but turning either way either cuts or boosts the treble tone slightly and in a lovely way. I have it notched up a bit to give me a bit more treble to cut through on a solo. The mid-cut switch is useful for creating a scooped sound, you could actually use the pedal inversely, where you switch it on and scoop the mids for your rhythm sound and the switch it off for a solo boost.The pedal is also true bypass.There is 9V and 18V input and it runs from a battery.Are there any nice touches?The pedal looks and feels very sturdy and gorgeous too! It is a bit strange that there are no little rubber feet on the bottom of the glorious metal box to stop it flying around all over the floor. The pedal feels and looks like a quality piece of kit.So most importantly what does it SOUND like?The idea of a boost isn't probably the most exciting of pedals, but actually the effect it can have on your guitar tone is immense. Depending on how you choose to use it, the pedal can give you a wide range of options. The thing I like most about this pedal is that it sounds transparent, it doesn't affect the original guitar, just makes it sound more awesome. The F1 words will beefing up single coiled guitar, edging a tube amp in to lovely distortion or crunch, working as a gain stage with other overdrive or distortion pedals and then adding the icing to a solo tone .It is well worth every penny. I would suggest putting it on your shortlistsWill it fall apart?Very ruggedly built with strong control knobs, can’t see them being a problemPros1)The sound and the amount of gain on tap.2)Build quality is outstanding4)It’s a very versatile pedalCons1)No rubber feet (yeah I know it isn't really an issue...but thought I had to put something!)Video review coming soon!