The Ringmaster has evolved from the old 1960’s Rangemaster Treble Boost pedal which was used by Brian May during the early part of his career.
Brian used the Rangemaster to overdrive the Normal Channel of his VOX AC30 amplifier, which was always run at full volume thus giving maximum
sustain and presence.

In late 1975 Brian replaced the Germanium transistor Rangemaster with a modified Treble Booster preamp which featured the more
modern Silicone Bipolar Transistor. Purists can clearly hear the difference in tone between the two types of transistor preamp, with the Germanium transistor Rangemaster present  on all Queen albums up until “Day at the Races” in 1976.
Original Rangemasters are highly prized today due to their distinctive sound, which combines both warmth and darkness with gritty treble bite.
Our Ringmaster design has been developed from an old Rangemaster circuit drawn up in 1965 by Harold and Brian May.
Original Rangemasters were powered by a single 9-volt battery, and we have likewise offered only this option, without an AC Adaptor being available.
This is because, as we have also found when developing our other pedals, when the AC Adaptor components were added to the Ringmaster circuit it was found they introduced unwanted tonal changes to the sound of the pedal. At the heart of the Rangemaster circuit is its Germanium transistor which produces the units unique tonal characteristics. Germanium transistor preamps were an essential part of the great sounds of many famous artists from the 60’s and 70’s such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher, Brian May and others. Nowadays many manufacturers choose not to use Germanium’s for their preamps and similar equipment, instead using more consistent and less costly options such as Silicone transistors and IC’s, and although these are good quality devices, none can duplicate the tones of the Germanium transistor. Manufacturers also tend to avoid Germanium’s because they are often very noisy and also are very inconsistent in their sound quality, giving considerable variation in tone and noise between individual transistors. Good quality Germanium’s have also become increasingly hard to obtain, making them a costly option to use. However despite these reasons, we feel that the tonal benefits that Germanium transistors give the guitarist are well worth the effort involved in using them, which begins with putting them through a rigorous selection process.
In a similar way to the transistor tests for our Brian May Fryer Treble Booster, the Germanium transistors are evaluated for superior tone and noise characteristics whilst being actually played in a test Ringmaster unit through a VOX AC30 amplifier at full volume.
The Fryer Red Special guitar “Paul” is used for these tests, and this procedure shows up in great detail each transistor’s different qualities.
The exhaustive testing procedure is necessary we feel in order to select only the very best transistors for use in our pedals, with often only one in seven Germanium’s eventually selected for use.

We hope that you agree with us that all the time and effort is well justified by the finished product’s quality of sound, and we also hope that you gain much musical enjoyment from these Brian May Fryer products.

Wishing you the very best in your musical pursuits,

Greg Fryer.