Lightning RodTreble booster · a booster into the cranked amp it was made for
The only treble booster you'll ever need for the singing lead from a DI guitar.
A treble booster pushing a built-in amp at the edge of breakup over into a bright, throaty, singing lead: the classic boost-into-a-cranked-amp chain in one plugin. Treble, upper-mid, mid or full-range boost, the amp's own gain, the guitar-volume clean-up trick, and the booster alone for your own amp sim. Every setting level-matched.
- Use it on 5 computers per copy
- Lifetime updates
- 90-day money-back guarantee
- Download link in minutes
- VST3, AU and AAX, Windows and macOS
Formats and DAWs
Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit): VST3 and AAX
macOS 11 or later: VST3, AU and AAX
Works in any 64-bit DAW that loads VST3, AU or AAX plug-ins.
Licence
Use it on up to five of your own computers per copy you buy. Yours for good, no subscription. Unlock it with your email and a six-digit code, no dongle and no password. It checks in now and then and works offline in between.
Delivery
Download links by email within about five minutes, and always in your account under Downloads.
Hear the difference
The same DI guitar, without and with Lightning Rod.
A DI lead, boosted into a cranked amp
A dry DI guitar lead · Classic Treble Boost (TREBLE, BOOST 70 %, CRANK 60 %)
A blues lead with the upper-mid boost
A dry DI guitar lead · Lead / Sixties Blues Lead (RANGE 1.5 kHz, BOOST 75 %, CRANK 70 %)
A rock riff, TREBLE
A DI rock riff · Riff / Doom Riff (TREBLE, BOOST 90 %, CRANK 80 %)
The same riff, MID
The same DI rock riff · Riff / Mid Push (RANGE MID 1 kHz, BOOST 70 %, CRANK 60 %)
AMP off: the booster alone
The dry DI guitar lead · Booster / Treble Only (AMP off, TREBLE, BOOST 70 %)
Every clip is level-matched, so the difference you hear is tone, not volume.
Lightning Rod in action
Why Lightning Rod
Booster and amp in one
A treble booster only makes sense in front of a cranked amp. Lightning Rod has both: the booster, an amp voiced at the edge of breakup and its cabinet, so a DI guitar comes out as a finished lead tone.
Breakup, not volume
Every setting and every preset is level-matched to your guitar. Turning BOOST up gives you more breakup, compression and sustain, never just a louder track.
Clean up like a player
Turn IN down and the amp cleans up to a jangly edge, exactly as rolling back a guitar's volume knob does. Or switch AMP off and put the booster in front of your own amp sim.
Boost. Range.
Two big knobs do the work: how hard the booster hits the amp, and which part of your guitar it lifts.
- VST3 · AU · AAX
- Windows and macOS
- 0.11 ms latency
- 13 presets
The treble booster plugin
- Booster and amp in one. A finished lead tone from a DI guitar, no amp suite needed.
- Four classic ranges. TREBLE, 1.5 kHz, MID or FULL.
- Breakup, not volume. Every setting level-matched to your guitar.
- Your own amp too. AMP off is the booster alone, for any amp sim.
- BOOST (0 to +24 dB) and RANGE (3.1 kHz, 1.5 kHz, 1 kHz or full range).
- CRANK (the amp's gain) and AMP (the built-in amp and cabinet, on or off).
- IN (the guitar-volume clean-up trick), MIX and OUT with meters, and ENGAGE.
- 13 factory presets and your own preset files; A/B, undo and redo, MIDI Learn on every control; a window from 75 to 200 %; the full manual.
BOOST
Watch it strike.
The bolt follows how hard the booster drives: a faint flicker at 0, a full strike as you turn BOOST up.
What Lightning Rod does
Every control has one job: the lead tone you hear in your head, faster.
BOOST
Push the amp over
0 to +24 dB into the booster's soft single stage, and from there into the amp: more breakup, compression and sustain as you turn it up, from CLEAN to HOT. Level-matched at every position.
RANGE
Four classic boosts
TREBLE (3.1 kHz) for the classic bright lead, 1.5 kHz for a fatter, more vocal tone, MID (1 kHz) for a thick midrange push, FULL for a plain level boost. It clicks into each and moves smoothly between them.
CRANK
The amp's own gain
From a clean amp, through the edge of breakup at the default 60 %, to flat out. Set the amp where you want it, then let BOOST push it over.
AMP
Built in, or your own
Lit: the booster, the amp and its cabinet, a finished lead tone. Off: the booster alone, level-matched, for your own amp sim or a re-amped real amp.
IN
The guitar-volume trick
A real gain in front of the booster: turn it down and the amp cleans up to a jangly edge, as rolling back your guitar's volume does. Bring the level back with OUT.
Same drive on every take
No more guessing the input
Every DI is brought to the same level before the booster, so how hard it drives does not depend on how hot the guitar was recorded.
Level-matched
Judge tone, not volume
A level trim for every setting and an automatic makeup keep the output at your guitar's loudness: all 13 presets within 0.02 LU of the dry.
Clean breakup
Run at twice the rate
The amp and the cabinet run at twice the sample rate, so the breakup stays clean of aliasing, for 5 samples of latency.
MIX
Blend in the DI
The effect against the dry, equal power. 100 % by default, as a booster and amp are.
OUT
Gain where you need it
Output gain, -24 to +24 dB, with level meters on IN and OUT and a safety stage under -1 dBFS.
13 sourced presets
Start from settings that work
Arena and blues leads, a singing sustain, doom and seventies riffs, mid and full-range pushes, the edge of breakup, jangly cleans, and the booster alone for your own amp.
A face that moves
Watch the bolt strike
A lightning rod on a roof at night: the bolt flickers with every note as hard as the booster drives, and the city on the horizon glows with the output.
Inside the plugin
The Lightning Rod window: two big knobs, the amp's gain and the amp switch.
Every feature
Everything in Lightning Rod, down to the smallest switch.
35 features
The booster and the amp
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BOOST
0 to +24 dB into the amp, CLEAN to HOT
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RANGE
TREBLE 3.1 kHz, 1.5 kHz, MID 1 kHz or FULL
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CRANK
The amp from clean to flat out
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AMP
The built-in amp and cabinet, or the booster alone
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Guitar-volume trick
IN cleans the amp up, as your guitar's volume does
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Same drive on every take
Every DI levelled before the booster
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Clean breakup
The amp and cabinet at twice the sample rate
Mix and output
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Level-matched
Every preset within 0.02 LU of the dry
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MIX
The effect against the dry DI, equal power
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Safety stage
The output held under -1 dBFS
Workflow and control
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A/B compare and A>B
Two complete settings, switch in one click
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Undo and redo
Step back and forward, or press Ctrl+Z
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MIDI Learn
Take complete control of your workflow: right-click any control, move a knob
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Host automation
Automate every control from your DAW
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ENGAGE
Click-free bypass, to hear the before and after
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IN and OUT meters
See the level going in and coming out at a glance
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Tooltips
Every control explains itself as you point at it
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Resizable window
75 to 200 %, and the size you pick is remembered
Presets
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13 factory presets
Starting points built from real settings producers use
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Previous and next arrows
Audition presets one click at a time
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Save your own
Keep your settings as .trebleboosterpreset preset files
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Open presets folder
Back up or share your presets in one click
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Reset to default
Back to a clean start in one step
Performance
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Low latency
5 samples, 0.11 ms at 44.1 kHz
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CPU
About 10 % of one core with the amp, 3.4 % without
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Made for DI guitar
Straight from the instrument, mono in
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Audio-reactive face
The bolt strikes as hard as the booster drives
Licence and compatibility
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VST3 and AAX, Windows 7 SP1 or later
Loads in any 64-bit Windows DAW with VST3 or AAX
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VST3, AU and AAX, macOS 10.13 or later
Loads in any Mac DAW with VST3, AU or AAX, Intel or ARM
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5 computers per copy
Studio, laptop and more on one licence
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Email and code unlock
No dongle, no password, no extra app
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Works offline
No internet needed between check-ins
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Check for updates
From the plugin's menu; nothing installs without asking
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Lifetime updates
Every future update included
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Platinum priority support
Questions answered by the people who build it
How Lightning Rod compares
A treble booster with the amp it needs, and the controls most leave out.
| Lightning Rod | Typical treble booster plugins | |
|---|---|---|
| The amp | A cranked amp and cabinet built in, or off for your own | A booster alone, or a whole amp suite |
| Range | TREBLE, 1.5 kHz, MID and FULL, with clicks | One fixed range, or a switch |
| Level | Every setting level-matched to the dry | Louder as you boost |
| Input | Every DI levelled, so the drive is the same on every take | Depends on how hot you recorded |
| Clean-up | IN works as the guitar's volume knob | Often a plain gain |
| Try-and-compare | A/B, A>B, undo and redo | Often missing |
| Hardware control | MIDI Learn on every control | Often host automation only |
| Licence | 5 computers per copy, no dongle, works offline | Often fewer activations, or a dongle |
| Updates | Lifetime updates included | Often paid upgrades |
"Typical" describes what we commonly see in this category; it does not describe any particular product. Lightning Rod facts are from the plugin and its manual, October 2026.
What you get
Vox Samples
90-day money back · Thank you
Specs and system requirements
- Formats
- VST3 and AAX on Windows; VST3, AU and AAX on macOS
- Operating system
- Windows 7 SP1 or later, 64-bit; macOS 10.13 or later, universal (Intel and ARM)
- Host
- Any 64-bit DAW that loads VST3, AU or AAX plug-ins
- Channels
- Mono or stereo in (summed to mono, a DI is mono); the same on both sides out
- Sample rates
- Whatever your session runs at
- Latency
- 5 samples (0.11 ms at 44.1 kHz), reported to your host
- Boost
- 0 to +24 dB into the booster's stage
- Range
- 3.1 kHz (TREBLE), 1.5 kHz, 1 kHz (MID) or FULL, first-order high-pass, any corner between
- Amp and cabinet
- One lead amp and one closed cabinet, fixed, at twice the sample rate
- Level
- Every setting level-matched to the dry on DI guitar
- Presets
- 13 factory presets; your own as .trebleboosterpreset files
- Window
- 960 x 600 at 100 %, resizable from 75 to 200 %
- MIDI
- MIDI Learn from any controller routed to the track
- Licence
- 5 computers per copy you buy. Unlock with your email and a code we email you. Checks in now and then and works offline in between.
- Internet
- Needed once to unlock, then for the occasional check-in
90Day money-back guarantee
Our guarantee
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90-day money-back guarantee
Not for you? Email contact@voxsamples.com within 90 days for a full refund.
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5 computers per copy
Use it on up to five of your own computers per copy you buy, and move it yourself from the plugin's Licence menu.
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Lifetime updates
Every future update and upgrade of Lightning Rod, included.
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Platinum priority support
A real person at contact@voxsamples.com, first in line.
Questions
What is a treble booster?
A simple boost pedal from the sixties: one stage that lifts the upper frequencies and hits an amp's input harder. Into an amp already at the edge of breakup it gives the bright, throaty, singing lead sound of classic British rock. It is not an overdrive: the breakup is the amp's.
Do I need an amp sim?
No. Lightning Rod has the cranked amp and cabinet built in. If you have your own amp sim, switch AMP off and put Lightning Rod in front of it, as a pedal goes in front of an amp.
What should I play into it?
A DI guitar: a clean recording straight from the guitar, with no amp. It is made for that.
Why doesn't it get louder?
Every setting is level-matched to your guitar, so BOOST and CRANK change the breakup and sustain, not the volume. Use OUT for level.
How do I get a cleaner sound?
Turn IN down, as you would roll back your guitar's volume, then bring the level back with OUT. The preset Edge / Jangly Cleans does exactly that.
Does it work in my DAW?
Any 64-bit DAW that loads VST3, AU or AAX plug-ins, on Windows 7 SP1 or later or macOS 10.13 or later. There is no standalone app.
How many computers can I use it on?
Up to five of your own for each copy you buy. To move it, deactivate it in the plugin on the old computer and unlock it on the new one.
Does it need the internet?
Once, to unlock it with the code we email you. After that it checks in now and then and works offline in between.
Is there a manual?
Yes. The full manual explains every control, every preset and the menus, with tips. It opens from the help key (?) in the plugin's top bar, and lives at https://voxsamples.com/lightning-rod-treble-booster-manual.
What if it's not for me?
Request a refund from your account within 90 days.
Founder's Story
"When COVID hit, I finally had time to dive into music production—only to discover I was missing the right tools. The plugins I tried were clunky, overloaded with unnecessary features, and killed my vibe with endless tweaking. I knew there had to be a better way.
So, with my engineering background, I started making free and simple audio plugins for my producer friends. They loved them! That’s when I set out on a mission to create plugins that save you time, streamline your workflow, and keep your creativity flowing."
- Ryan Svensson (Founder & CEO)
Boost it. Watch it strike.
A treble booster into the cranked amp it was made for: the singing lead from a DI guitar, level-matched at every setting.
$42.67 AUDRegular price $142.26 AUD70% off
- 90-day money back
- Five computers
- Lifetime updates
Pairs with
Lightning Rod Treble Booster
$42.67 AUDRegular price $142.26 AUD70% off