B33 — "Box of Chug"

Tight High-Gain Boost · VST3

One knob. One job: make your high-gain rig tight, focused and brutal.

At a glance

B33 is a high-gain boost built to sit in front of high-gain amps and amp sims. It doesn't pile on its own distortion: it tightens the lows, focuses the mids, and pushes the amp's front end — turning a blurry wall of gain into a compact, percussive chug. It's the classic weapon for modern palm-muted metal, and an excellent tightener for both rhythm and lead.

Inspired by the philosophy of the legendary "33"-style boosts, B33 reproduces their fixed voicing (low-end cut + Tube-Screamer-style mid emphasis) and brings it into the digital domain with soft clipping and oversampling, for a clean sound even at the most extreme settings.

Why it works

• Instant tightness — the input high-pass removes flubby low end before it hits the amp: no more mush on fast palm mutes.
• Mid definition — the ~720 Hz emphasis brings out attack and body, so riffs stay readable even with tons of gain.
• Fixed character, zero fuss — the tone is already "right": you only dial in how hard to push.
• Clean where it counts — the soft clipper is oversampled (2× / 4×) to reduce aliasing and keep the highs smooth, never harsh.

Controls

Under the hood (DSP)

A fixed-voicing chain, just like a real boost pedal:

1. High-pass ~100 Hz — low-end tightening
2. Shelf +6 dB @ 720 Hz — Tube-Screamer-style mid/high emphasis
3. BOOST (+2…+22 dB) — the gain stage
4. Diode soft-clip y = T·tanh(x/T) — oversampled 2×/4× (linear-phase FIR)
5. Presence +2 dB @ 3 kHz and smoothing −3 dB @ 7.5 kHz — bright but never harsh

Latency is reported to the host (proper PDC) and stays constant even in bypass.

Who it's for

• Rhythm metal / djent — tight, percussive chug with defined palm mutes.
• High-gain lead — more focus and controlled sustain, without the mud.
• Amp sims — the perfect tightener to place before your favorite sim.
• Re-amp & mixing — adds punch and compactness to already-recorded guitars.

Specs

• Format: VST3 (Windows)
• Channels: mono / stereo
• Automatable parameters: Boost, Bypass, Oversampling
• GUI: pedal-style interface with filmstrip knob, graphic LED and footswitch
• Oversampling: switchable 2× / 4× (linear-phase FIR)

B33 is an independent software emulation, inspired by the category of "33"-style high-gain boosts. "Fortin" and any other trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners; B33 is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by them.