What it is
Thank you for choosing the Scorpion Pepper Sting. It’s a transparent boost: it enhances the harmonics of your guitar without changing its tone. One knob, one job, and it does it with a lot of level on tap.
Instead of the traditional transistors, this one uses a JRC4558D chip, the same one that’s in the Jalapeño Screamer. That chip is what gives it its stability and its increased output.
Boost pedals are underrated, but you can’t live without one once you understand how they work. They help you stand out in key parts of a song, drive your amp without turning it up, drive other pedals and push their overdrive or distortion further.
One warning, and it’s a real one: this pedal is very loud and it can damage your speakers if it isn’t used with care. Turn your amp down before you step on it for the first time.
Controls
One knob and one footswitch. There are no toggle switches.
| On the pedal | What it does |
|---|---|
| The single knob — the Sting knob | Sets the level of boost. Turning it clockwise increases it. The enclosure carries no printed label for it; “Sting knob” is the name used in the manual Rolf wrote for this circuit. |
| Footswitch | Turns the boost on and off. True bypass: with the effect off, your signal passes straight through the pedal untouched. |
Hooking it up
- The jacks aren’t labelled with words, they’re marked with symbols on the top of the enclosure: the one marked ∧ is the output — that’s the one that goes on to your amp or to the next pedal — and the one marked ∨ is the input, where your guitar plugs in.
- Power: 9V DC, 2.1 mm barrel plug, center negative. It’s the same adapter that runs every other Spicy Pedals pedal.
- Do not use a supply with a higher voltage rating. That can damage the pedal.
- Turn the knob down before you first switch it on, and bring your amp volume up afterwards, not before.
- Unplug the power supply when the pedal isn’t in use. It’s easier on the components.
Getting the most out of it
Where you put the Scorpion in the chain changes what it does. These four placements are the useful ones.
| Placement | What you get |
|---|---|
| Straight into the amp | Drives the amp without having to turn its volume up. |
| Before your overdrive pedals | The clean boost drives the overdrives harder, which gives you more saturation and more sustain. |
| After your overdrive pedals | The overdrive tone stays as it was and the overall level goes up. This is the one for solos, or for lifting your signal above the mix. |
| Between two overdrive pedals | Either a clean level jump or extra drive into the second overdrive, which makes for a richer, more complex tone. |
| In your amp’s FX loop | A clean volume boost, perfect for solos or for raising overall volume without touching preamp gain. |
Rolf’s own preference is to put this pedal after a Big Ancho Fuzz and before a Jalapeño Screamer. That way he can boost the fuzz when he needs it, or turbo-drive the Screamer.
- Set your amp first, then add the pedal. This one is loud enough to hurt a speaker, so start with the amp lower than usual and bring the boost in gradually.
- Wherever it ends up, set the knob at the bottom of its range first, switch the pedal on and off a few times, and raise it until the on state is as much louder as you actually need. This pedal has more level available than most rigs can use.
- Being transparent is the point. If your tone is changing rather than just getting bigger, something else in the chain is being pushed into distortion — that’s usually the amp or the pedal after it, and it’s often exactly what you want.
- Don’t take the placements above as rules. Experiment.
Specifications
| Type | Transparent (clear) boost |
| IC chip | JRC4558D |
| Controls | One knob (unlabeled on the enclosure), one footswitch |
| Switches | None |
| Switching | True bypass |
| Power | 9V DC, 2.1 mm barrel, center negative |
| Current draw | 10 mA |
| Build | Assembled by hand in Dallas, Texas |
Care
- Keep it clean, away from dust and moisture.
- Avoid extreme temperatures — don’t leave it in the car in a Texas summer.
- Check the jack nuts, the knob and the footswitch nut now and then and tighten anything that’s worked loose.
- Unplug the power when it’s not in use.
If you have a Texas Scorpion
This manual is also the manual for the Texas Scorpion Clean Boost, which is the earlier version of this pedal and is no longer in the catalogue. It’s the same circuit — the same JRC4558D transparent boost with a single level knob and true bypass — in a different enclosure. The one difference that matters when you plug it in: on the Texas Scorpion the jacks are on the sides and they’re marked .in and .out in words, instead of the ∧ and ∨ symbols on the top of this one.
Warranty and support
The Scorpion Pepper Sting comes with a 5-year warranty to the original buyer, covering manufacturing defects.
If something isn’t right with your pedal, get in touch. Spicy Pedals is a one-man shop, so the person who answers is the person who built your pedal.
Individually assembled by hand in Dallas, Texas, personally by Rolf. With this pedal in your rig, you can strike with clarity and precision at every performance.