What it is
This ain’t no transparent boost. The Texas Toaster is a full-frequency, no-nonsense gain stage built to push your amp, slam your front end, or bring life to a long pedal chain. It doesn’t color your tone, it toasts it.
One knob, two modes, top-mounted jacks. That’s the whole pedal. Plug it in and set the level.
Controls
| On the pedal | What it does |
|---|---|
| Knob (no label on the enclosure) | Sets the boost level. |
| [mode] | Selects between the two modes: treble boost and full range boost. |
| Footswitch | Engages or bypasses the pedal. True bypass, so your signal path stays intact when it’s off. |
The two modes, in short: treble boost puts sharpness up front, full range boost lifts everything.
Hooking it up
- Guitar into the input jack, output jack to your amp or to the next pedal in the chain. The jacks aren’t labelled with words, they’re marked with symbols: 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.
- The jacks are top-mounted, so the pedal fits tight pedalboards without cables sticking out of the sides.
- 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.
- Battery: the standard build has no battery snap inside. Only the units ordered with the Battery Snap mod will run off a 9V battery.
Getting the most out of it
- Start with the knob low and the pedal on, then bring it up until the level matches your bypassed sound. That’s your unity point. Everything above it is push.
- Treble boost mode is the one for solos, and for cutting through when you’re playing with a band.
- Full range boost is the one for rhythm playing, when you want richer depth instead of more edge.
- In front of an amp that’s already working, the Toaster slams the front end. It’s built to push your amp, not to stay out of the way: punchy, gritty and Texas-inspired is the point of it.
- Use your guitar’s volume and tone knobs together with the pedal. There’s only one control here, so the rest of the tone shaping happens on the instrument.
If your Toaster has a mod
The Texas Toaster ships in a standard build, and it can also be ordered with either of two mods. If you ordered one, this is what’s different inside your pedal.
- Bleed Mod (LED clipping): adds LED clipping, a transistor upgrade, and a bigger sweep with a B50K pot. It turns the clean boost into a gritty, amp-like overdriver. We call it Bleeding the Toaster, because sometimes your boost should bleed. If you have this mod, your knob sweeps differently from a standard unit.
- Battery Snap Mod: an internal battery snap so the pedal can run off a 9V battery, added without cluttering the layout. It’s fitted on request when ordering.
Specifications
| Power | 9V DC, 2.1 mm barrel, center negative |
| Switching | True bypass |
| Controls | One boost knob, one [mode] switch, one footswitch |
| Modes | Treble boost and full range boost |
| Jacks | Top-mounted |
| Build | Assembled by hand in small batches |
Current draw: not yet measured on this unit, in the standard build or with the Bleed Mod, so no figure is published for it here. As a practical guide, a treble booster of this kind is about as frugal as a pedal gets — it draws very little — so any standard 9 V DC supply rated 100 mA or more has ample headroom for it, on its own or shared with the rest of your board. Treat that as guidance rather than a measurement of your pedal: what this one actually pulls depends on the components fitted and on whether it has the Bleed Mod. What does have to be exact is the voltage — 9 V DC, center negative, and never higher.
Care
- Keep it away from dust and moisture.
- Check the jack nuts and the footswitch nut now and then and tighten them if they’ve worked loose.
- Avoid extreme temperatures.
- Unplug the power supply when the pedal isn’t in use.
Warranty and support
The Texas Toaster 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.