Jesse Honig's 4th 29 Pedals creation is the super handy and versatile JFET 3-way Boost

Readers will have noted that the 29 Pedals FLRW Overdrive - or Gain-Staging Overdrive as I called it - occupied slot #13 for the first half of this year - in place of the usual Strymon Riverside. I really like that pedal - it has a very unique grit and texture to it and quite a lot of range through those 5 controls. While the nature of the 3 x 3 toggles and tiny knobs made it a little fiddly and imprecise to adjust on occasion. It nevertheless produces some killer tones. And it was a good sub for the Riverside for an extended period - but the Riverside has long been one of my favourites - and is a little more granular and wider-ranging than the FLWR, while it doesn’t necessarily capture the unique grit of the FLWR - but overall is a more useful pedal for my day-to-day pedal-chain operation.

Its new sibling in that same enclosure has just a single one of those tiny knobs - a Level / Boost control - which is not quite so potent as that on the FLWR - delivering +18dB of Gain versus the +45dB on the FLWR.

It does however have the handiest of Boost Modes / Types - essentially giving you Shaped Full-Frequency (Rounded), Treble Boost, and Flat Response Boost profiles - so in some way behaving more like how I use my Strymon Sunset. A really useful Gain utility which pairs well with the FLWR. I’m still considering whether I have use for the 29 Pedals JFET - interestingly its pricing is very much the same as for the more varied and capable FLWR - or at $269.99 USD.

Controls - L (Level +18dB), B (Boost Type / Mode) : F (Full Frequency) / N (Normal - Treble Booster) / X (Flat Response).

BOOST MODES

• N (Normal)- Emulates a Treble Booster, reminiscent of the vintage RangeMaster design that adds a high end sparkle to the signal while slightly cutting lows
• F (Full Frequency) - Enhances the frequency spectrum for a more rounded sound
• X (Flat) - Maintains a near Flat Response down to 10Hz and below

There’s much to recommend the 29 Pedals JFET Boost - not least the onboard proprietary ’Whatever’ Power Circuit - which means that all 29 Pedals can accept 7.5V to 35V power supplies - both AC and DC - a really clever core feature - which can also deliver really high headroom should that be required.

A significant part of the $269.99 price tag goes towards that super smart power handling circuit. The 29 Pedals JFET Boost is available from the Believable Audio Webstore, and is already in or imminent at most international dealers.

It is urrently down as a nice-to-have for me, while I may of course upgrade my status on that at any time.