Xotic would like to introduce a new concept in guitar tone. It’s not just about the sound you hear—it’s about the entire experience under your fingertips. We call it FTR: Feel, Touch, and Response. Great tone isn’t defined only by frequency balance or distortion character. It’s the way your guitar reacts to you—the way it breathes with your hands, how notes bloom when you dig in, and how effortlessly it follows your dynamics and phrasing. Tone isn’t separate from the player—tone is performance.
At the center of this idea is the EP-PRO. Designed to elevate the instrument–player connection, EP-PRO enhances not only the sonic signature of your guitar, but also the nuance, articulation, and response between your hands and your amp. It allows your touch to shape the sound naturally—not by hiding it behind processing, but by amplifying the most delicate expressions of your playing. With EP-PRO, we’re redefining what great guitar tone really means: not just something you hear, but something you feel.
Let’s begin with the first and most conventional approach: simply run your guitar into the EP-PRO and then into your tube amp’s input. This setup is all about providing the amp with a slightly stronger and more nuanced input signal so it can breathe and come alive more naturally. Thanks to the FET boost inside the pedal, you can enhance your guitar’s tone in a very natural and musical way—adding just the right amount of nuance and enabling the amp to respond more fluidly to your playing. Ultimately, it’s not just about volume—it’s about controlling the feel and responsiveness so you can play more comfortably and achieve a better overall sound. This is a core part of our tone-shaping theory: when you improve nuance and response, you improve your tone.
The second approach is to place the EP-PRO in your amp’s effects loop. In this position, it functions not only as a volume pedal, but also as a boost that allows you to shape your tone directly within the power stage. It’s a great way to add extra sparkle and nuance to your overall sound. You’re not just controlling volume—you’re elevating the amp’s output-stage character and giving it a bit more shine.
The third method is to place the EP-PRO at the very end of your effects chain—just as many players have done with the original EP Booster. By placing it after your drive and modulation effects, but before any delays, you can shape your final tone and control the overall fatness and volume of your sound. In other words, it’s an ideal way to refine the entire signal at the end of your chain. The EP-PRO can act as both a volume pedal and a final tone shaper, allowing you to easily control how thick or cohesive your drive and modulation effects feel in the mix. Plus, you gain the flexibility to adjust your overall volume smoothly.
Finally, if you’re using digital platforms such as Neural, Line 6, or Fractal, digital amp sims can sometimes lose a bit of the subtle analog sensitivity we love. So I recommend placing the EP-PRO in front of your digital chain. Doing so lets you fine-tune your input gain and shape your tone with the EP-PRO’s boost before the signal reaches the digital device. This helps maintain an organic response and gives you far more control over your final sound. It offers a seamless way to dial in exactly the feel you’re looking for.
Xotic EP Pro EP BOOSTER + VOLUME PEDAL Canada Tone Design
