Experiences with tube based Overdrive/Distortion pedals

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blackba

blackba

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I have always used SS dirt boxes and got very good results with my spending budget of $200 or less. Recently I decided to step to the plate and I picked up a Kingsley Jester. In the honeymoon period, but I am loving it. Its so dynamic and responsive and works great into my clean set Fender Bandmaster reverb.

So I am curious what everyone's experiences are with pedals with tubes in them, whether its a new pedal like the Kingsleys, Electrode Blackbird, Blackstar HT dual, etc. Or one of the older ones like the Mesa V-twin, Soldano Supercharger, etc.
 
I've had a Supercharger for almost 10 years. It was the first piece of boutique gear I bought. I didn't really know what I was buying (I actually didn't know shit about tube amps) but I was told that tubes were good. I'm glad I did buy it and I can attest that it can make any decent amp sound like a high gain beast. It works great to add another gain stage to a tube amp or roll back the gain and push the front end a little bit to add alot of dynamics. I use to gig with it but it's such a hog that now it's just a studio piece.
 
I had the Mesa V-Twin.
It was ok but there are much better standard pedals. Got rid of it quick.
 
had a vtwin. hated it. sounded nothing like i wanted it to.

had this real tube
tube_works_real_tube_overdrive.jpg
and used it for a while to test tubes and tonal responses...but it got really redundant really quick.

i've wanted to try some others that i've heard, but haven't gotten around to it.
 
I have been using the Soldano GTO at home. Threw 2 Mullards in it and I still can't find a gain pedal I like as much - and I try because it is so big. There is just a dimension there that I don't find in non tube pedals I have tried. Really, it's like a second channel.
 
I've got a Valveboy which has two channels. It's great for crunch sounds and pushing an amp. Reminds me of cranked Bassman. It gets pretty distorted with the gain dimed on the hot channel, but I've found no use for that, it gets super mushy and muddy. I also have the Maxon 880, and it sounds like a jcm800, it's pretty rockin and cuts. Most of the tube pedals I've heard just aren't good, or far inferior to the really good non-tube pedals. The tube pedals I have I don't think are enhanced by the tubes, I just like the sound of these two in particular.
 
I have had a few .... I liked the real tube. These days I use a Fryette SAS.... It is very dynamic. Much more than any other tube pedal I have tried. Full frequency. It can get into fuzz amounts of distortion. I usually use the gain very low or off. It does color the sound a lot.
It has a EF86 so it has the property's of that tube - Very different than most preamp tubes. It tends to be bright. A 12AX7 has a gain rating average of 100 compared with a EF86 at 2000. Very dynamic without compression or much saturation.
 
stephen sawall":1is0semp said:
I have had a few .... I liked the real tube. These days I use a Fryette SAS.... It is very dynamic. Much more than any other tube pedal I have tried. Full frequency. It can get into fuzz amounts of distortion. I usually use the gain very low or off. It does color the sound a lot.
It has a EF86 so it has the property's of that tube - Very different than most preamp tubes. It tends to be bright. A 12AX7 has a gain rating average of 100 compared with a EF86 at 2000. Very dynamic without compression or much saturation.
Click to expand...

I listened to a clip of the Fryette SAS, pretty cool sound. It sounded very ratty, kind of like an early 50's Fender Tweed amp. I could see it getting into fuzz territory too. Doesn't seem that versatile, but had a cool unique sound. I hope Fryette comes out with more tube pedals, besides the 2 he has out now.

I was surprised with Mesa, Bogner, and Rivera, that their recently pedal offerings were not tube based. Particularly mesa, at one point, they were of 'its gotta be tube' mentality on all their products, but SS has been slipping in their bass amp lines for some time now.
 
The SAS is very versatile. It can be used as a clean enhance that brings out upper harmonics, boost, overdrive, distortion or fuzz. The ratty sound really comes in the fuzz range. It can be used to get similar to a Matchless sound. I can get pretty good AC/DC type crunch. My favorite way to use it is with a pretty clean crunch sound on the amp, set the gain very low on the pedal & a slight boost with the volume - This gives a huge sound. What can be done with highly depends on the amp & guitar you use with it. Some people love it - others hate it. I recommend to everyone try before you buy ( same with any gear).
 
yup the fryette sas and boostiassio... both excels but i kinda prefer the boostiassio ... thought after spending so much previously on solid state pedals and i wont ever bother but i just hit the purchase button for the latest TS like pedal by protone and yes its the Misha mansor signature od... he demo one and sounds aggressive enough , clear too..hope its my last pedal purchase as a TS based pedal which will sits still under my od collection...
 
The two I've tried and own are the Damage Control Demonizer and the Blackstar HT DISTX. The Damage Control has been sitting in a drawer gathering dust for about 2 years now since I got the Blackstar, which I absolutely love. I have a hard time imagining a distortion pedal for metal sounding any better. It's got the warmth and thickness that most distortion pedal's I've used to this point lack. It's not the greatest for crunch/mid gain stuff as that's not how it's built, but it doesn't matter to me because I'm more of a high gain guy anyway.

I found the Demonizer had this permanently nasal quality to it...it was very hard to dial in a good sound. Once you got it dialed in to fit with the guitar/amp combo you were using, it was great, but it definitely took time tweaking to get there. It often sounded overly scooped if you weren't careful as well.

My friend absolutely loves my Blackstar as well, and I've been contemplating giving it to him as an early bday present and getting myself the Dual to cover crunch tones too- if I do I'll let you know! I have a hard time imagining that it wouldn't be one of the best pedal investments out there.

Cheers,

BigRig
 
Had a blue Real Tube when I was living and playing in Amsterdam back in the 90's. colored the tone of my digitech GSP 21 and crate power amp pretty nicely! Lol
 
I wonder how many of those pedals employ a "starved plate" circuit (running a tube on very low voltage, like 12VDC). Nearly all early tube pedals did, but I remember hearing more and more making the claim of running on "proper" voltages.

I built a half-1U rack size tube preamp back in the early '90s. I gave it a B+ knob to adjust the plate voltage up and down. Made a huge difference in how the tubes responded dynamically.
 
I've only tried the Blackstar HT Dual and it sounds great very similar to their low wattage amps actually (funny that).

 
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