“A quality tone conditioner to have in front of your amp”: Boss BP-1W Booster/Preamp review

The CE-1 Chorus Ensemble and the RE-201 Space Echo may be long-gone 1970s designs, but they live on – and perhaps not in their original, intended roles. 

While the CE-1 provided luxurious chorus and vibrato and the RE-201 offered mellifluous tape echoes, those effects were coloured and enhanced by the sound of the preamps in each unit, something that guitarists found that they favoured, at times using the units with the effects bypassed just for the extra that the preamp offered. 

Here, the new BP-1W uses analogue circuitry to recreate the sound of those two preamps, delivering them via Level and Gain knobs. You choose your preamp from a three-way toggle switch, and the central (NAT) position offers a natural transparent sound if you prefer to dial in a boost without the added colour. You also get the choice of two buffers: Standard and the slightly warmer‑toned Vintage.

The Level knob dials up the output volume with plenty of capacity for substantial boost, while a Gain knob adds in some dirt – and between the two of them you can set up your favoured tone, mixing a sufficient amount of volume with a dash of grit. 

When the Gain knob is maxed, it can actually add in quite an amount of drive/distortion, but that varies and is dependent on which of the three settings you’re using, with the CE setting getting the most distorted. 

That crunch is there to be called upon, but we preferred the sweet spots to be found further back on the dial. The RE and CE settings both add in a little extra midrange compared with the NAT sound, just right for adding a little girth.

However, both have their own character, the RE being softer/warmer in the top-end with more subdued transients to the CE’s glassier top and clarity in pick attack. All three voices work brilliantly, providing plenty to give your guitar amp a kick, bolster the sound of other dirt pedals or just generally providing that ‘more’ factor.

Verdict

The BP-1W is a quality tone conditioner to have in front of your amp. Couple it with the recently released IR-2 Amp & Cabinet to add switchable gain-changing options and you’ve got a truly portable rig that’ll get you through many scenarios. 

Specs

• PRICE: $169 / £259
• ORIGIN: Japan
• TYPE: Boost pedal 
• FEATURES: Buffered bypass
• MODES: RE-201, Natural, CE-1
• CONTROLS: Level, Gain, Natural/RE/CE switch, Buffer switch, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V battery or 9V DC adaptor 60 mA 
• DIMENSIONS: 73 (w) x 129 (d) x 59mm (h) 
• CONTACT: Boss