Details, Specifications and Testimonials

The Dingotone HZD Boost pedal is the world’s best clean booster. Period.

It will give you clean boost and transparent EQ – it absolutely will not mess with your tone.

The HZD is a reinvention of the concept behind the vintage Boss FA-1 FET amplifier**. It is not a “clone”. It is far superior.

CONTROLS:

  • Boost – from zero up to about 30dB of boost.
  • High and Low EQ – give maximum control allowing you to shape the tone to your needs.

TRUE BYPASS: The HZD has proper (3PDT) True Bypass. We have worked hard to minimise the inevitable true bypass clicking.

PREMIUM COMPONENTS: The HZD is constructed from premium components and we hand measure and select components where needed.

EXTERNAL POWER UP TO 24VDC: The HZD operates from internal battery or external DC power (standard “center negative”).

The amount of boost can be increased by powering the pedal with an external supply up to 24VDC. Higher supply voltage gives more headroom before break-up, which allows a boost of up to 30dB (depending on your rig).

Current draw is less than 10mA so it won’t load down your power supply and an alkaline battery lasts 20+ hours.

PEDALBOARD FRIENDLY: The HZD comes in our pedal-board friendly small enclosure (approx. 4½ by 2½ inches).

What does it sound like?

Demos can be found at the bottom of the page… (please scroll down).

The HZD adds nothing but clean boost and transparent EQ until you run out of headroom – about 7V peak-to-peak output with a 9V supply. Pushed out of the clean region, the HZD breaks up with traditional “4558” opamp distortion.

The tone stack allows you to dial in anything you need – from subtle tweaking of the tone, to searing treble, to huge bass, to cut bass, to scooped mids, to mid-hump. Or leave the EQ at noon and the response is flat with a hint of highs.

What can it be used for?

The HZD is a “milky smooth” clean booster that absolutely will not mess with your tone.

If you have a tube amp and single coil pickups, place the HZD first in line and you can expect an increase in crunch, an increase in punch/quack, and improved highs and note definition.

If you have a tube amp and humbuckers, place the HZD first in line and you can expect an increase in crunch and “growl”, plus improved highs and possible increase in note definition.

Place the HZD just in front of your tube amp to overdrive the input tube and get some tasty crunch out of the amp!

A number of HZD users have their HZD set to equalize guitar volume for guitar changes – when you swap from your Les Paul to your Strat kick on the HZD. Saves you from messing with your amp controls mid-flight.

And the HZD is ideal for tweaking your EQ in new venues without having to mess with your amp or your sound engineer’s settings.

The HZD is perfect for any genre of music at all…

How was the tone for this pedal developed?

Years ago we built some clones of the old Boss FA-1 belt-pack FET amp (as used by The Edge from U2). They were excellent pedals, but didn’t give everything we wanted.

So we spent two years reinventing the concept and have produced a pedal that far surpasses the old FA-1.

The re-invention was from the ground up. We covered everything from opamps (the JRC4558 sounds best), to minimisation of stray capacitance (the cable layout in the pedal is critical), to capacitor selection (we use Italian metallized polyester coupling caps), to resistor selection (we use hand-matched 1% metal film for critical parts of the circuit)… to RF rejection… to re-running the mathematics around the tone-stack and updating it… and the list goes on.

This is vintage clean boost – reinvented! We love this pedal!

What will this pedal do for you?

Tone: Many users comment that it “makes my amp come alive”. Many users leave their HZD permanently on. HZD pedals are in use in live venues, studios, and basements around the world.

Flexibility: manage your tone as you change guitars, amps, and venues.

Value: You can’t beat the value. You receive a hand-made North American pedal for an excellent price!

Quality and reliability: Every pedal passes over twenty quality tests before it is shipped. We haven’t had a warranty claim in over three years. Dingotone pedals stay on your pedal board – where they belong!

Are you ready to try one?

Try a pedal RISK FREE with our no-questions-asked satisfaction guarantee! Visit our Store now and add one to your cart – we’ll ship it to you the next working day! If you wish to return it, simply send it back intact within seven days and we’ll refund your purchase price (all of it), without asking a single question!

If you have any questions for us, please feel free to email support@dingotone.com

 

Specifications

Size 4½ by 2½ inches (115mm by 65mm)
Weight 8.5 ounces, 250 grams pedal
12 ounces, 340 grams packed for shipping
Power 9VDC, center negative. Less than 10mA.
Input impedance Approximately 1MΩ
Output impedance Approximately 1kΩ


Testimonials

“I love it. Some very tasty crunch there”

“…excellent is too small a word to use for it”

“(the HZD) sounds gorgeous through my Tiny Terror”

“I’m considering selling my BD-2 because the HZD eclipses it by miles”

“…the HZD booster into a slightly dirty tube amp is starting to become a favourite”

“I have been playing most of the day and coupled with two very good cables it brings distinct clarity and improvement of tone. Very Nice!”

“…it got me out of a serious hole before Christmas when the amp died in the middle of a wedding gig…!! I used it to drive my signal into a line input on of the channels on the desk as was able to adjust the tone without going to the desk…”

“This is the first pedal I’ve had as far as I know that has the JRC4558 chip in it and I can really hear the difference… makes everything sound much fatter and clearer at the same time… I did a gig in a hotel on Saturday night and it was a big room so was able to push the Marshall a bit… the sound with just using the HZD as a boost to the front end was class…..this thing loves valves….!”

“I thought I’d drop you a line to let you know that I used the HZD at a big gig last night and it was superb. This was a high volume show through a really top quality pro PA. I’m never 100% happy with my clean sound but when I kicked in the HZD the change was amazing – so lively and clear – the Tele that I used for a couple of numbers just sang and the PRS’s were full of rich harmonic goodness! I also run a whole bunch of mod pedals through my amps effects loop and they just came alive. As for the OD channel – I’ve never really nailed that just breaking up but clear Les Paul / Marshall tone – but with the HZD – it was spot on and the rest of the band couldn’t believe the change in clarity of the crunchy chords.”

“…seriously though i cannot stress enough, how badly everyone needs one of these pedals”

“…the pedals are awesome…”

“Excellent craftsmanship!”

“…its money well spent…”

 

** Boss is a trademark of Roland Corporation

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