# "Real tube" overdrive pedals



## kanders1

I'm about to order some type of OD/distortion pedal, and I've been looking at those that use a real 12AX7, mainly because I like the idea of a tube producing at least some of the distortion, if that is in fact the case. I've also considered a few of the non-tube pedals and have watched many of the demo videos at proguitarshop.com and a few others. I like what I hear from a few of the demos, but it's hard to tell what it would really sound like live, with my setup. 

The problem is that where I live, Guitar Center is really the only music store, and they only carry certain brands and have very few demo units to test out unless you want a Boss or Digitech. So I'm probably going to have to buy a pedal sound-unheard on the 'Net and hope I don't have to send it back.

I'd really appreciate any opinions on the following questions:

1. Do you use a tube-based OD/distortion pedal and if so, which one?

2. Do you think the latest tube pedals are a good alternative to some of the popular non-tube pedals, or are they just "hype" as some seem to believe?

3. If you were looking for a pedal to switch from a clean Marshall tone to a nice, smooth, natural-sounding, singing, sustaining distortion for a lead tone, with the ability to perhaps push it a bit harder into the outskirts of the Metal zone, what would you get, either tubed or not?

4. Last, but not least of course: What do you use and what do you like about it?

I'm not so interested in pedals with the "clean boost" ability because I mostly play at home by myself with my volumes on 2 at the max; I'm mostly just looking for something that will switch in for that Al Dimeola-type sound without a lot of extra noise and with some tone controls (not just a single "Tone" knob).

Thanks for any opinions/suggestions.

Kevin


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## MajorNut1967

First of all what is your amp? Second of all I personally like to use a tube for a distortion. But it sounds like you are reaching beyond the limits of a typical tube over-drive. You may want to look into some the solid-state stomp boxes, because it seems like you want a lot of variety and control. With a tube you are going to get some inherent noise just because it’s a tube, but if you are looking for smooth distortion a tube does sweet job. But if you are head to the Metal Zone then you might like to stay SS with a noise gate.

1.	I do have a tube OD that I built and use, but I mainly use a Rangemaster clone I built also.
2.	The tube pedal thing is subjective, but a tube is what originally started it (overdrive)!
3.	I would get something SS you are asking a lot of a tube circuit, not that it can’t be done it would be rather expensive.
4.	I use three units for overdrive/distortion: one the tube unit for Trower type stuff. I use the Rangemaster for all 70’s hard rock and a BBE Boosta Grande for a smoother less harsh OD, “lots of sustain, not a lot of distortion.”

Now I have some decent tube amp so my pedals do well with all the amps, but they wouldn’t sound that great on an SS amp. So you need to find your tone yourself and we can only point you in the right direction hopefully. 

Here's my JCM 800 clone with out any pedals, where would you take the tone from here?
http://members.cox.net/ironmangoamps/mp3's/1allright.mp3


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## Riffraff

It depends a lot on the amp and guitar you are using and whether your pickups are humbuckers or single pole. The Blackstar pedals look pretty good and have been getting good reviews. There's a guy on this forum that swears by his Ibanez Tube King. Mesa used to make one that a lot of people like called a V-twin but they are discontinued now and getting a little pricey on the used market. I have a MT-2 that I hated until I modified it. It works pretty good now pushing an already overdriven amp at low volume into some heavy saturation and sounds surprisingly natural but I still favor my MIJ SD-1. A good modified MIT SD-1 will make you smile too. Again, it depends on how you are going to use it and with what. If you are using a solid state amp I would suggest a tube pedal but if you are using a good tube amp a decent OD pedal will get you were you want to be.


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## MartyStrat54

Well, as with anything currently made with a tube, you will want to replace the stock, OE tube and identify what it is. A lot of tube pedals use a Chinese 12AY7 tube. This is a medium mu tube. In my tube distortion devices, I have replaced all of the tubes, because everyone had a Chinese tube in them. The main thing is a better tube has less background noise.

Also, when using a tube pedal, the tube in the pedal essentially turns into your V1. So if it is a suck ass tube, it is going to degrade the sound of your amp. So once again, have a good tube in the device.

This is my main distortion pedal. I put a 1964 Telefunken in it.

Buy Rocktron Silver Dragon Tube Distortion Pedal | Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz & Boost | Musician's Friend

The difference was incredible. It sounded like a completely different unit.

This is my #2 pedal. Designed for use with tube amps only. It is non-tube and a SS unit. However, I find it to have some very unique tones.

Buy Rocktron Zombie Rectified Distortion Pedal | Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz & Boost | Musician's Friend

Then I have the usual Boss pedals and of course my FX stations such as an RP12. Thinking of getting the RP100, just so I have a current multi FX unit.

The problem with asking about effects pedals is that out of 8,000 members, you are going to get a 1,000 different answers. If some guy is using Brand X distortion pedal, to him it is the best. Another guy uses Brand A and it is the best.

I will tell you this. If it was me, I would order like five units online from say Musician's Friend and let them know that you will be sending some back. Then carefully unpack them and try them all out. Pick the one that sounds the best and return the others.

DON'T BUY A DISTORTION UNIT WITHOUT TRYING IT THROUGH YOUR AMP.

I will add this as there were a lot of questions asked by the OP.

I am an older guy and I have tried a lot of stuff. The Rocktron Silver Dragon does a lot of different things very well. It is like three or four pedals in one package. It is a large pedal and has to be run on its own power supply. That's not such a drawback. You can get anything from smooth sustain (like a original Muff Pi) to really raunchy heavy metal tones. As stated, this unit combines a tube unit in combination with a SS unit and allows you to blend them both together, or run separately. That gives you a lot of tone shaping. I have played the Silver Dragon for over a year and it is my #1 for many reasons. Also, the unit has been manufactured for over three years and is still being made. In the world of FX pedals, three years is a long time.


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## rads

joining the discussion....

1. I've used & tried some, the vintage Ibanez TubeKing, behringer VT999 (change the tube with JJ803S for great sound) and tried Blackstar HT Dual. HT Dual quite impress me, although the useable channel was only the clean (crunch). The dist channel is not too good.
But now I prefer to use preamp (via return amp). I've use Tubeman, AMT SS-20 and now using AMT SS-11 modern. Those 3 are great!!!

2. Last OD pedal and pream using tube(s) like HT dual, AMT SS-20, tubeman and SS-11 are using high voltage to the tube(s), around 250-300V, so they have great headroom and dynamics closer to real amp. So YES...

3. Ibanez Tubeking and Behringer VT999 are quite similar, change the tube, and boost with crunchbox or BB or SD-1, you can get wild. Blackstar will do better.
If you're using preamp, boosted tubeman will be great, as for AMT SS-20 and SS-11, you don't need a booster for that.

4. Of course, now AMT SS-11, from clean fender to modern metal...


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## Buggs.Crosby

once i got hold of an original Tube Driver from B.K Butler and a original T.C chorus/Flange i sold all my pedals
i have not used it in a while but i will also never sell it....both of those pedals i bought to see if the hype was genuine...it was and i can see why Gilmour and Eric Johnson were so high on it....great pedal...in fact i'm going to dust if off and throw it in front of my 59ri and see how i like it...and that is an amp i have refused to plug anything into it other than a guitar


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## kanders1

Sorry, I should have included my gear. My amp is a Marshall MK II 50 Watt made in 1977. I have a 1973 Gibson SG Deluxe and custom homebuilt Schecter-based strat with standard circa 1979 Fender Strat pickups. Lately I've been playing the strat only, which is a great clean sound with my amp volumes < 2. I guess I'm looking for a pedal that can add a natural-sounding distortion to my basic sound and still radically change the tone if I want it to, e.g. get my strat bridge pickup to sound more like a humbucker in the neck position.

My top picks for a distortion pedal were originally the Blackstar HT and the Radial ToneBone PlexiTube (which I thought one of the best sounding of the demo videos at proguitarshop.com) , but now I'm leaning toward the Ibanez TK999HT. All of these have lots of tone control, but the Ibanez is in a whole nother price range. Two channels with independent settings would be nice, but I have yet to find a pedal that gives you two with completely separate 3-band tone controls, gain controls, and output controls.

I've read mostly great reviews about all three of these pedals, but I'm still looking for alternatives.

One of the most versatile pedals I've ever seen is the t.c. electronics Nova Drive (no tube, but analog OD/distortion with two channels and ability to save all parameters into one of 24 presets!), but nobody even carries the brand here. It's pretty new so I've not found any demo video of it.

I'll look for some of the other pedals mentioned in this thread. EJ is my hero, but I don't think I'll be able to find a Butler Tube Driver and am not sure I want to buy on ebay.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
Kevin


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## Buggs.Crosby

you can buy them strait from B.K....i think they are like $300 though.
i'll post a link


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## Buggs.Crosby

Butler Audio


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## kanders1

Ouch! I was trying to stay under $300, but if I bought one of these I'd of course have to get the $125 Bias mod. That looks like a well made unit, though.


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## Bieling3

Well, here is that demo of the TC Electronic Nova Drive you were looking for:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFvM3jci5K4]YouTube - TC Electronic Nova Drive[/ame]


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## MartyStrat54

Do you have to be a computer programmer to use that?


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## HOT TUBES 70

there's no tube in the Nova Drive .....no ?


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## kanders1

No, there's not, but I'm keeping both options open. And thanks for the video link, B3.

I realize everyone's got their favorite and certain sounds they're after. Has anyone tried the Radial Plexitube or the new (higher voltage) Ibanez Tube King TK999HT?


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## rads

kanders1 said:


> No, there's not, but I'm keeping both options open. And thanks for the video link, B3.
> 
> I realize everyone's got their favorite and certain sounds they're after. Has anyone tried the Radial Plexitube or the new (higher voltage) Ibanez Tube King TK999HT?



plexitube, never tried it before,
but i've played few hours on tonebone classic, and it's very nice, if you have an OD booster.


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## Grandturk

I love my Plexitube - either through my Boogie for some Marshall tones or through my Class 5 for more Marshall crunch -you can go from maxed out Plexi to modded Plexi to modded 800/900 range.


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## DtroitPunk72

MartyStrat54 said:


> Well, as with anything currently made with a tube, you will want to replace the stock, OE tube and identify what it is. A lot of tube pedals use a Chinese 12AY7 tube. This is a medium mu tube. In my tube distortion devices, I have replaced all of the tubes, because everyone had a Chinese tube in them. The main thing is a better tube has less background noise.
> 
> Also, when using a tube pedal, the tube in the pedal essentially turns into your V1. So if it is a suck ass tube, it is going to degrade the sound of your amp. So once again, have a good tube in the device.
> 
> This is my main distortion pedal. I put a 1964 Telefunken in it.
> 
> Buy Rocktron Silver Dragon Tube Distortion Pedal | Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz & Boost | Musician's Friend
> 
> The difference was incredible. It sounded like a completely different unit.
> 
> This is my #2 pedal. Designed for use with tube amps only. It is non-tube and a SS unit. However, I find it to have some very unique tones.
> 
> Buy Rocktron Zombie Rectified Distortion Pedal | Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz & Boost | Musician's Friend
> 
> Then I have the usual Boss pedals and of course my FX stations such as an RP12. Thinking of getting the RP100, just so I have a current multi FX unit.
> 
> The problem with asking about effects pedals is that out of 8,000 members, you are going to get a 1,000 different answers. If some guy is using Brand X distortion pedal, to him it is the best. Another guy uses Brand A and it is the best.
> 
> I will tell you this. If it was me, I would order like five units online from say Musician's Friend and let them know that you will be sending some back. Then carefully unpack them and try them all out. Pick the one that sounds the best and return the others.
> 
> DON'T BUY A DISTORTION UNIT WITHOUT TRYING IT THROUGH YOUR AMP.
> 
> I will add this as there were a lot of questions asked by the OP.
> 
> I am an older guy and I have tried a lot of stuff. The Rocktron Silver Dragon does a lot of different things very well. It is like three or four pedals in one package. It is a large pedal and has to be run on its own power supply. That's not such a drawback. You can get anything from smooth sustain (like a original Muff Pi) to really raunchy heavy metal tones. As stated, this unit combines a tube unit in combination with a SS unit and allows you to blend them both together, or run separately. That gives you a lot of tone shaping. I have played the Silver Dragon for over a year and it is my #1 for many reasons. Also, the unit has been manufactured for over three years and is still being made. In the world of FX pedals, three years is a long time.



I am currently playing a Rocktron Silver Dragon and a BBE Sonic Stomp through a Raven RG20. I like my tone pretty well and was wondering which option you think would be best for me in adding more tube feel and warmth and maybe a little more crunch?

A Sano (low gain) vintage tube amp that I can get cheap or a Behringer VT999?

I play mostly metal and punk I just want a little more tube crunchy goodness.

Any recommendations?


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## MartyStrat54

Well the first thing I would try is changing the stock tube in the Silver Dragon. Even a late production USA tube is better than the OE Chinese tube. If you can find yourself an older D-Getter RCA with white letters on the tube, use it. It will last forever in the Dragon.


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## rockinr0ll

I don't like running tube pre amps in front of a tube Marshall. It's kinda a pet peeve of mine.


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## StootMonster

Here's two clips of me playing 2 different guitars through a Mesa Boogie V-Twin using 2 12ax7's and into a Marshall 250 DFX (solid state)

Just me doing some off the cuff improv stuff, nothing fancy.

But this pedal (as pricey as it is) has lots of control and a ton of tone. From very clean to some hard hitting overdrive... not to mention the middle channel which is a nice blues crunch.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE2caV1I13Q]YouTube - Just messin' around[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKYxxcr4RV0]YouTube - Blake and Me[/ame]


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## Keefoman

Someone made this for me. 





More a booster than OD, but still. It cost me about 135USD. I use it more for coloring the sound than an actual booster or OD.
My point is, build one or get someone with the skills to do it for you. Saves you a lot of money.


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## kanders1

I appreciate you posting the videos, SM; I assume you're using a Silver Dragon? 

I'm still leaning towards the Ibanez Tube King, but I like the fact that the Silver Dragon gives you 2 "channels" for the same price as the TK. However, I'm really big on tone controls, and the TK seems to have an incredible range in its bass, mid, and treble controls (from what I can hear in the demo video), but it's only a single stomper.

So the SD uses a 12AX7, but only for the lower-gain "Awaken" side, then you step on the "Slayer" side to add transistor distortion to the tube side?

How would you compare the noise level of the SD to other OD-Dist pedals when you crank up the gain to a reasonable level?

You guys have got me interested. I'll do some more research on the Silver Dragon and see if I can find more specs (tube plate voltage, etc.) and a demo video. Maybe my local Guitar Center even has one to play w- ... What am I thinking? They don't have ANYTHING in stock when it comes to unique or higher-end effects! 

Thanks for the input everybody,
Kevin


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## StootMonster

Unless "Silver Dragon" is a term I've never heard of for the V-Twin, then no, that's not what I'm using. Here's a link to a british gentleman doing a test drive of the V-Twin (quite a good one, too)...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_kD0nSo6j0]YouTube - GG-201 ? REVIEW Mesa V-Twin Pedal (justinguitar.com)[/ame]


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## Hayride13

I've used a V-Twin as well as a Sansamp Real Tube in the past. The biggest problem I ran into with these pedals is having to provide 110v power to them onstage. A couple of festivals in Europe presented a major problem with their voltage.

I've since found a couple of 9v pedals that are close enough tone wise to make me happy without having to string a big ass extension cord to my board. I've been happy with a modded TS9 but am currently using one of the Valve Distortion Hard Wire pedals and it seems to do the trick.


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## Darrenw5094

230v into a 110v unit is meltdown stuff.

I've seen expensive gear go up in smoke with that mistake.


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## StootMonster

Might be dumb question, but I'll ask anyway: Would a surge protector keep you from frying out a 110v througha 230v outlet?


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## Xx DBENC xX

Cant say it enough... Tube King is bad ass. They also just came out with the Tube King OD TK999OD. I haven't played it personally but the YouTube review seems pretty cool.


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## kanders1

Sorry, I didn't realize what exactly the V-Twin was; thought it was an amp.

Thanks for the tip on the Tube King OD; I'll check it out.


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## Darrenw5094

StootMonster said:


> Might be dumb question, but I'll ask anyway: Would a surge protector keep you from frying out a 110v througha 230v outlet?



Not sure about the surge protector, but we, in Europe, use a voltage step down transformer to do the job with USA electrical gear.


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## gunboatstudio

I've been playing with a Blackstar Dual pedal for a few months now, on my JCM 900. I don't have any other tube pedals to compare it to, but this one gets my recommendation.


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## Darrenw5094

gunboatstudio said:


> I've been playing with a Blackstar Dual pedal for a few months now, on my JCM 900. I don't have any other tube pedals to compare it to, but this one gets my recommendation.



Me too. I just swapped the poxy Sovtek 12AX7WA out for a Philips Miniwatt.
I have a Fulltone Mosfet, Xotic BB Plus and Carl Martin Plexitone. The Blackstar HT Dual is my fav of the lot.


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## gunboatstudio

Darrenw5094 said:


> Me too. I just swapped the poxy Sovtek 12AX7WA out for a Philips Miniwatt.
> I have a Fulltone Mosfet, Xotic BB Plus and Carl Martin Plexitone. The Blackstar HT Dual is my fav of the lot.



Cheers Darren! I was curious about swapping out the Sovtek myself, to see if I can get a more useable sound out of the high-gain Channel B on the Dual. But I was nervous to change anything, because I think Channel A on the Dual is absolutely perfect! I probably should have just shopped for one of the single channel Blackstar HT pedals, but a deal popped up on Craigslist for the Dual so I grabbed it.

Can you describe what the tube swap did for this pedal's sound?


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## rads

with this, i never have to bring any other pedal..




AMT SS-11B, modern

unless, the amp i found has no send-return/effect loop..
for boosting tube amp...MI Audio crunchbox clone works everytime 

else MI audio tubezone clone will do the trick


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## StootMonster

How much is that badboy?


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## bloosman1

I agree with the Butler tube driver as being one of the best... but now that I have all the tube amps I need/want it's moot.


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## rads

StootMonster said:


> How much is that badboy?


AMT SS-11
if you buy in rusia, around US$360
in US, maybe around $400
in europe will be more expensive,
i got it only US$300, direct order in 1st production batch, got 3 times discount for delaying the release of the pedal. Handcarried. 

you might want to see this also, incase you need it a tube pedal for booster,
one of my friend product
Valve Creamer K.S.Aji Tone Workshop


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## StootMonster

Too rich for my ... poorness.


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## longfxukxnhair

rads said:


> with this, i never have to bring any other pedal..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> AMT SS-11B, modern
> 
> unless, the amp i found has no send-return/effect loop..
> for boosting tube amp...MI Audio crunchbox clone works everytime
> 
> else MI audio tubezone clone will do the trick



This thing looks like a monster.


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## Joey Voltage

Okay, you have opened up a can of worms with this one most of which revolves around using the tube for product hype and advertisement. First of all most tube overdrive pedals on the market (with the exception of a few) use a ton of SS in the signal path anyway to provide most of the clipping and frequency tailoring, and what tubes in the unit itself are run from very dismal voltages from a tubes perspective... very similar to how the 4100 does it, or a JMP-1. the V-twin is another example (most of the red channel is shaped by opamps and diode clipping, I used to own one, and traded it towards a good 2203 which got stolen ) , as is the H&K tube factor. 

Point is, don't buy something thinking that just because it has a tube in it you are evading the "Solid state demon", or that the what tube(s) in there is running in any condition it would be in a typical guitar amp, or is generating pure tube character (it is just as easy to make a tube sound like shit). my vote is stick a goddamned vanilla tube screamer in front of it, play with your guitar volume, in conjunction with the TS-9 on and off, and call it a day.

Now some points:
there are/were some on the market that are genuinely all tube, and run from typical _tube_ voltages such as the Matchless hotbox. I think the Mesa bottle rocket may also have been an exception. The westbury W-20 was another one that ran from"tube" voltages, but did utilize SS to clip the signal, all in all probably sounded quite good. Now the problem with a tube preamp being constructed in a small stompbox sized space is that it becomes difficult from a number of perspectives. Mostly as the *Major* pointed out Noise! I can go on and on about it,and the various aspects in which it would be created in a small enclosure, but I wont. The other issue (and it also has to do with the first issue) is that an all tube stompbox stops being practical at some degree, and a dedicated rack preamp may be more feasible, certainly from the size limitation/building cost perspective (doesn't cost much more to build a cool dedicated rack preamp, than it does a reliable tube stompbox), but also especially since you are going to be less likely to be kicking the goddamned thing around on stage.

about 120-150$ in parts, a good design, and some elbow grease will get you a good tube rackmount


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## rads

totally agree with joey...
some of us are trapped in "tube" pedal marketing...(even some only use tube for buffer )

SS-11 use 2 12ax7 tubes injected 300v (as said in the manual), and felt very tubey for me, from fender clean, marshall vintage n hi gain up to triamp hi-gain, it nails it.
3 channel pedal with enough gain, you wouldn't need any booster!!!
i've tried many tube pedals/preamps before, and this SS-11 is simply the best for me.

but again, for me it's all about needs,
For the sake of simplicity, this is the best i can get.
For my practice, since i have to ride a motorcycle with carying a guitar, bringing an amp would be terrible.....
So..if the studio have a good tube amp, i just bring an od booster, else, SS-11 is my saviour. 
This SS-11 fits in my guitar gigbag along with korg pitchblack tuner and boss DM-2 clone...even + an od booster and cables still fits the bag.

Do not compare a preamp pedal to to a full-tube head amp....its totaly a different world and different need (at least for me), but compared to some tube rack preamp, i still prefer SS-11. You should try one...it might amaze you.

For the real deal, i'm building (assembling actually) a JCM800 2204.


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## bennieusmaximus

RADIAL HOT BRITISH!Rock n'Roll in a box.I play this in front of my '78jmp mkII.You can shape this thing any way you want.


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## Joey Voltage

rads said:


> totally agree with joey...
> some of us are trapped in "tube" pedal marketing...(even some only use tube for buffer )



Well yeah, thats the thing, and not even being operated in a condition that would lend a _tubey_ character, but rather in a very linear controlled fashion. 

I guess I could make my point even more clear, and give examples of cost versus topology:

Heres the first one. Here is a scheme of a tube boost pedal I just threw together using a 12DW7. the scheme reflects the only way I would even try to implement it in a stompbox fashion, and hope to keep it noise free. (I didn't include the power supply or bypass to keep it simple, I can include it if somebody is truly interested)






some techies would notice it seems to be a bit of work, and what I'm really trying to drive at is the cost/vs complexity and construction to do it "Right". I can elaborate more on the design, but this might be outside the scope of the discussion. I also intend to list the cost of putting something like this together versus a dedicated channel switching rack preamp. (of course the price would in no way reflect what you would pay for it from a vendor, or the cost to have somebody put it together for you, just the cost of materials)


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## DtroitPunk72

MartyStrat54 said:


> Well the first thing I would try is changing the stock tube in the Silver Dragon. Even a late production USA tube is better than the OE Chinese tube. If you can find yourself an older D-Getter RCA with white letters on the tube, use it. It will last forever in the Dragon.



Thanks! I wonder though...What type of tube do you think will be best for like insane metal sounds? I don't play anyhting that isn't pretty much balls to the wall. Some tubes might sound better overall but not offer me good high gain tones.

That said, is your advice still the same?

Thanks!


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## DtroitPunk72

New question for all you gear guys! What If I got a Epiphone Valve Jr. combo and used it as a tube preamp by feeding the signal through it and out to my current amp? Would that offer me more convincing tube crunch while maintaining my overall current tone?


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## kanders1

Joey et al, you make good points. I'm not limiting my choices to only pedals that use a tube. I've heard some pretty good tubey distortion from both MOSFET and tube pedals. BTW, I think most of the tube pedals I've looked at are now using a fairly high voltage (200-300V) as opposed to the old "starved-plate" tube designs.

In general, can anyone say that tube pedals tend to be noiser than SS, or the other way round? 

The old POS transistor distortion pedal I'm replacing made an ungodly buzz if you tried to get any real gain from it, even with low output settings, and the only two recent pedals I've had a chance to test, the Fulldrive MTS-500 and the OCD, were not much better, at least with a strat.

I'm no longer a working pro and am not going to buy or build a preamp or spend $500 in an effort to get the "perfect" overdriven sound. For me, the most important qualities I'm looking for are:


Good, warm basic tone with "middle", typical settings.
Lots of control over the tone, i.e. low, mid, and hi controls with wide ranges.
Little increase in noise when using a decent gain setting, i.e. singing sustain without hum/buzz that's louder than the actual guitar signal. 
Ideally, two independent channels each of which has its own gain and level settings. I know, far out concept, huh?

I was stuck on the Ibanez TK999HT, then the Radial ToneBone Plexitube for a while, but now am leaning more toward the TriMode, since I realized the Plexitube doesn't have separate Drive control for each channel. Then on the other hand, for the same price I may just buy two different OD/dist pedals, since I can't find one that has it all.

Thanks for all the good opinions,
Kevin


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## MLT45

kanders1 said:


> I'm about to order some type of OD/distortion pedal, and I've been looking at those that use a real 12AX7, mainly because I like the idea of a tube producing at least some of the distortion, if that is in fact the case. I've also considered a few of the non-tube pedals and have watched many of the demo videos at proguitarshop.com and a few others. I like what I hear from a few of the demos, but it's hard to tell what it would really sound like live, with my setup.
> 
> The problem is that where I live, Guitar Center is really the only music store, and they only carry certain brands and have very few demo units to test out unless you want a Boss or Digitech. So I'm probably going to have to buy a pedal sound-unheard on the 'Net and hope I don't have to send it back.
> 
> I'd really appreciate any opinions on the following questions:
> 
> 1. Do you use a tube-based OD/distortion pedal and if so, which one?
> 
> 2. Do you think the latest tube pedals are a good alternative to some of the popular non-tube pedals, or are they just "hype" as some seem to believe?
> 
> 3. If you were looking for a pedal to switch from a clean Marshall tone to a nice, smooth, natural-sounding, singing, sustaining distortion for a lead tone, with the ability to perhaps push it a bit harder into the outskirts of the Metal zone, what would you get, either tubed or not?
> 
> 4. Last, but not least of course: What do you use and what do you like about it?
> 
> I'm not so interested in pedals with the "clean boost" ability because I mostly play at home by myself with my volumes on 2 at the max; I'm mostly just looking for something that will switch in for that Al Dimeola-type sound without a lot of extra noise and with some tone controls (not just a single "Tone" knob).
> 
> Thanks for any opinions/suggestions.
> 
> Kevin


I use a BK Butler Tube Driver with a jj12au7 into a JTM45. I can't find anything I like as much.


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## MLT45

DtroitPunk72 said:


> New question for all you gear guys! What If I got a Epiphone Valve Jr. combo and used it as a tube preamp by feeding the signal through it and out to my current amp? Would that offer me more convincing tube crunch while maintaining my overall current tone?



If you don't leave the VJ speaker hooked up you'll blow its output transformer.
Don't try to do this if you're not educated in electronics, but you could take a parallel output from the VJ speaker output through a, say, 100k resistor (some experimentation required here), to your main amp input. If you don't know what you're doing, keep a fire extinguisher handy!


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## Trick

bennieusmaximus said:


> RADIAL HOT BRITISH!Rock n'Roll in a box.I play this in front of my '78jmp mkII.You can shape this thing any way you want.



Same here, same amp! The Plexitube is the shiznit!


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## kanders1

Hey, I've been off the grid for awhile, but just to follow up:

I ended up taking a chance and ordering a Radial Plexitube, sound unheard, i.e. without testing one, and am really happy with it. It's tonal range is pretty much unlimited. The lower gain #1 channel adds no discernable noise when kicked in; the #2 channel adds a little hum/buzz, but a lot of that can be dialed out by adjusting the controls.

Like I've said, I wanted to be able to get that E.J. clean-Strat-switch-to-overdriven-Marshall-lead effect, and I think the Plexitube gets pretty close. BTW, the tube technology it uses is NOT "high voltage" but a starved plate hybrid type. However, the "real tube factor" was not as much a factor for me as having two channels, each with a huge range of tonal variation. Highly recommended, especially for those who DO want an overdrive that can have a major effect on their guitar's "natural" tone, but in a good way. 

K


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## oat64

check out the seymour duncan twin tube mayhem, also the classic sounds great for straight up rock


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## kam4ff

I have a radial plexitude but honestly I only use it with a clean fender or RARELY a clean jcm800. It has a jj 12ax7 and used to have a sovtek but neither are great. I'll toss in some au or ay and see how it goes. It isn't as good as other ods. Like my Jube.


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## kam4ff

Which is diode driven if I understand correctly.


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## Dmann

I was a fan of ADA in the 80s/90s and still own a ADA MP2 Preamp, this however is sick beyond sick and blows away anything else I've heard. It's not tube though, but with tones and sounds like this, I would offer that Tubes are not the only option any more.

A/DA (tm) - A/DA Pedal Preamp


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## Rodney

The Vox Cooltrons are another tube pedal and they use a 12au7. Although they are hard to find now i have seen them on EBay recently


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## Eddie J

My all time favorite real tube overdrive pedal is the Ibanez PUE5 TUBE multi effects pedal from the late eighties. I still have mine and they sell for many US Dollars on eBay. I paid $119.00 and they sell for $500.00 now. 5 years ago I swapped out the original 12AX7A with a NOS TELEFUNKEN 12AX7A and it sounds glorious!


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## zachman

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJmK-RFclC8]Perf's GTO Soldano - YouTube[/ame]


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## plexilespaul

rads said:


> joining the discussion....
> 
> 1. I've used & tried some, the vintage Ibanez TubeKing, behringer VT999 (change the tube with JJ803S for great sound) and tried Blackstar HT Dual. HT Dual quite impress me, although the useable channel was only the clean (crunch). The dist channel is not too good.
> But now I prefer to use preamp (via return amp). I've use Tubeman, AMT SS-20 and now using AMT SS-11 modern. Those 3 are great!!!
> 
> 2. Last OD pedal and pream using tube(s) like HT dual, AMT SS-20, tubeman and SS-11 are using high voltage to the tube(s), around 250-300V, so they have great headroom and dynamics closer to real amp. So YES...
> 
> 
> 3. Ibanez Tubeking and Behringer VT999 are quite similar, change the tube, and boost with crunchbox or BB or SD-1, you can get wild. Blackstar will do better.
> If you're using preamp, boosted tubeman will be great, as for AMT SS-20 and SS-11, you don't need a booster for that.
> 
> 4. Of course, now AMT SS-11, from clean fender to modern metal...


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## shredless

It really disgusts me to read "The tube will make no difference" in threads like these....

These guys who probably never even try, or have ears so burnt that they cant hear whats happening, or think they are so amp smart that it doesnt make sense

I picked up a Radial Plexitube a couple days ago... It didnt sound like I thought it would, it worked fine, sounded decent at first but the tone was a bit annoying, it was dark and was hard to listen to for more than 5 minutes....and it was "stiff" and had a strange EQ to it, a lower mid that couldnt be dialed out

These are a bit of a chore to swap tubes and I found this thread while looking for how to swap this one. I dug in and took the unit apart to get to the tube.

It came with a Ruby, I put a vintage RCA long plate in it and hooked it back up. PERFECTION! Completely different pedal
Tone was smoother by far, more dynamic, looser feel and extremely toneful with killer harmonics. Night and day difference in this pedal in 20 minutes

If you decide to tube swap be extremely careful... the pots are hard to get back into the proper holes at the right depth... it takes some finesse to get the top on correctly and the pots thru the holes, it took me 3 tries and I can see board or pot breakage if you are not delicate and watch what you are doing.


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## Barfly

I have 2 of the blue Soldano GTO's. They only have 1 tone knob though. 2 12ax7's. Very pricey, very nice. I've used them with my
mesa, marshall and on my and also a friends' transistor Peavey something or other (which sounded real nice. friend asked to borrow it
over an extended time, which I had to politely refuse.) ;-) Sorry, my brother.... you gots to get your own!


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## stickyfinger

shredless said:


> It really disgusts me to read "The tube will make no difference" in threads like these....
> 
> These guys who probably never even try, or have ears so burnt that they cant hear whats happening, or think they are so amp smart that it doesnt make sense
> 
> I picked up a Radial Plexitube a couple days ago... It didnt sound like I thought it would, it worked fine, sounded decent at first but the tone was a bit annoying, it was dark and was hard to listen to for more than 5 minutes....and it was "stiff" and had a strange EQ to it, a lower mid that couldnt be dialed out
> 
> These are a bit of a chore to swap tubes and I found this thread while looking for how to swap this one. I dug in and took the unit apart to get to the tube.
> 
> It came with a Ruby, I put a vintage RCA long plate in it and hooked it back up. PERFECTION! Completely different pedal
> Tone was smoother by far, more dynamic, looser feel and extremely toneful with killer harmonics. Night and day difference in this pedal in 20 minutes
> 
> If you decide to tube swap be extremely careful... the pots are hard to get back into the proper holes at the right depth... it takes some finesse to get the top on correctly and the pots thru the holes, it took me 3 tries and I can see board or pot breakage if you are not delicate and watch what you are doing.


Well you unit is a hybrid. Its Solid State with a valve. Im not even sure if its run off of high voltages. My guess would be no. If its low volts its just another "tube pedal" marketing scam.


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