RatingsPros:Immaculate build quality. Very versatile tone settings. Excellent mid boost. Cons: DIP switches are difficult to change on the fly. Street: $120 Xotic Super Sweet Booster xotic.us
| Tones:  Ease of Use: Build/Design:  Value: |
If there was ever a pound-for-pound ranking of the most useful pedal designs, Xotic’s Super Sweet Booster would likely be near the top. It looks like a simple one-knob booster, but the magic really resides on the side, where four DIP switches allow you to shape the EQ and boost certain frequencies. The switches control high cut, low-mid boost, high-mid boost, and bass boost. Depending on your amp and guitar, each one of these could be a lifesaver—especially if you’re rolling into a gig with an unknown backline.
The default setting is with all switches in the down (off) position. With 20 dB of gain ready to go, I kept the gain knob around noon, and with a clean Fender amp it breathed some life into my sound. As I pushed the gain to around 3 o’clock, a hint of dirt would come in when I dug in, but the sensitivity allowed me to easily control it without affecting the volume. Inside the SSB resides a class-A preamp with a JRC4558 chip, which gives the pedal a Tube Screamer vibe with the gain cranked and the hi-mid boost engaged. I A/B’d it with a TS808 at a lower gain setting and the SSB didn’t flinch. Some of the EQ controls were a bit more subtle than I would have expected, but I’d chalk that up to the individual idiosyncrasies of a particular amp/guitar setup. Very few boost pedals can change their spots as easily and authentically as Xotic’s Super Sweet Booster.
Test gear: Schroeder Chopper TL, Gibson Les Paul Custom, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe IV
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Once the news of the Oasis reunion got out, Sadler Vaden hit YouTube hard on the tour bus, driving his bandmates crazy. The Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit guitarist has been a Noel Gallagher mega-fan since he was a teenager, so he joined us to wax poetic about Oasis’ hooks, Noel’s guitar sound, and the band’s symphonic melodies. What are Sadler’s favorite Oasis jams? And if he ever shares a bill with Oasis and they ask him onstage, what song does he want to join in on?
Check out the Epiphone Noel Gallagher Riviera Dark Wine Red at epiphone.com
Keith Urban has spent decades traveling the world and topping global country-music charts, and on this episode of Wong Notes, the country-guitar hero tells host Cory Wong how he conquered the world—and what keeps him chasing new sounds on his 6-string via a new record, High, which releases on September 20.
Urban came up as guitarist and singer at the same time, and he details how his playing and singing have always worked as a duet in service of the song: “When I stop singing, [my guitar] wants to say something, and he says it in a different way.” Those traits served him well when he made his move into the American music industry, a story that begins in part with a fateful meeting with a 6-string banjo in a Nashville music store in 1995.
It’s a different world for working musicians now, and Urban weighs in on the state of radio, social media, and podcasts for modern guitarists, but he still believes in word-of-mouth over the algorithm when it comes to discovering exciting new players.
And in case you didn’t know, Keith Urban is a total gearhead. He shares his essential budget stomps and admits he’s a pedal hound, chasing new sounds week in and week out, but what role does new gear play in his routine? Urban puts it simply: “I’m not chasing tone, I’m pursuing inspiration.”
