Anyone familiar with the B.K. Butler Tube Drivers

[dstroud]

Thinking about picking one up now that he's making them again - anyone know if the bias knob is worth the extra $$$$($125)? TIA

 

[ratter]

I had one of the recent ones, but not with the bias knob. It was an excellent sounding boost into a cranked marshall. You can definitely hear the EJ connection there. But I didn't like it as much as a standalone distortion into a clean amp. I prefer my Fetto for that. So I didn't keep it. But one tip, if you try one - start with the tone controls OFF and go up slightly from there to dial in the tone. They come up used on the TGP for decent prices. I think I sold mine for $225 ish.

 

[MARK1970]

I had one of the rack mounts. I bought it in the late 80s. I was running it in front of my JCM800 and it sounded great.
I do agree with the other post it is not a stand alone unit for distortion. It even makes the cleans more chimey when set at a very low drive. I later came to find mine was an unauthorized version. It even said B.K. Butler. I saw a Joe Satriani interview where he stated he used one on Surfing with the alien. If my memeory serves me correctly,the rackmount had Master, gain, mid, treble,bass, contour and bias.

 

[1big1]

i've got one i picked up back in the 80's. they had two floor models.. the smaller bodied one with just a tone control as well as the gain and level.. and a larger bodied one with separate bass and trebel controls. mine is the former.
the early models had a socket built onto the pcb so it's really easy to change tubes if you want to experiment. later on they just soldered them to the circuit board so replacing the tube is more of a pita.
i would echo what most have said about it not being a stand alone distortion pedal. it is after all.. an overdrive. but it does sound great through a marshall. i've still got mine btw.

 

[PeteLaramee]

I had one of the rack mounts. I bought it in the late 80s. I was running it in front of my JCM800 and it sounded great.
I do agree with the other post it is not a stand alone unit for distortion.

Wow I had the same thing, I bought it at the same time, used it in front of the same amp, and completely agree it was good as a boost, but not as a stand-alone.

Although mine had the bias knob I just don't remember what it did.

 

[Telephant]

I want one of these. Bad.

 

[dstroud]

I want one of these. Bad.

Same here, now that I got the Plexi going good, I'd love to hear one of these through it. I just spent some dough on a Ultimate Attenuator, so I gotta save some more money. I need to get a Mackie Big Knob too - I got too much gear to buy !