Ive been playing 2-4 shows a month for the last year. I quickly gave up my precious half stacks and twins for a friedman IRX and a class D power amp pedal, and a 1x12 cab. I don’t even think of it as a pedal. My amp is at my feet now. Its not digital (unless I use the IR’s) and it sounds “real” at home I still use a 6505+ for distortion. And fender twin for cleans. But live, its friedman IRX doing both. The high voltage tube gain is my only acceptable path. If i played clean only:id of gone digital eventually. Friedman is worth every single penny
Harlot v3 from kingsley, my all time favorite drive pedal. versatile, powerful and enough features to allow me to use any kind of guitar on a set and compensate accordingly, love it to death!
I have a lot of Tube drive pedal and the Harlot V3 is the best I ever bought. Really really great pedal. And most of my Kingsley (Maiden D and Page TS) pedals are the best I ever tried or owned.
I used the Behringer with a tube screamer for 2 years and loved it. I only paid $15 for it on Amazon. Probably the most value I've ever gotten from a pedal. In fact, I had a couple of their pedals, most I didn't like except for their tube drive and their reverb. Effectrode is by far my favorite tube driven pedals nowadays.
I have pedal I bought off Ebay from Aurhur Sounds store that's an exact circuit part for part and same voltage of an SLO preamp's lead channel. I absolutely love it and when I'm not recording direct in with it, I plug it into the return of the effects loop of either of my amps.
I used to have a rack unit from Digitech called the GFX-1 Twin Tube that did great tube distortion. It had a built-in noise gate, 5-band graphic EQ and a really sweet compressor (among other effects). It did a great simulation of a cranked Marshall, really good tone. Try one of those if you can find one. They seem to be rare these days, but not expensive.
I have an old Mesa Boogie v twin and I don't care what anyone says. put a ts9 or mojo mojo in front of it and it's as good as any amp you can mane. It chugs even with my cheepie Squier tele.
I have a Mesa Bottle Rocket. Simpler, a bit crisper, very crisp (seemed to cut through a bit more cleanly than the V Twin, for me), solid on its own, and stacks fantastically with other drives, or into a medium gain amp channel. Although it’s just volume, drive, and two band EQ, I definitely prefer it over the Tube Driver and Ibanez circuits. I’m curious if the Mesa pedals follow a similar design with high power Op Amp and starved tubes.
There were a lot of pedals in the 2000’s (and still?) that included a tube for marketing. The tube isn’t even running at proper tube voltages and they basically just light up…but they can call it a tube pedal.
Just hype garbage. Running a tube at 12 volts does nothing, it needs about 300 volts and about half an amp to run the heaters. Some companies even put an LED behind the tube to make it look like it was glowing. I'm glad that fad is over.
Man, I don’t know if it’s just that guitarists aren’t wise to it yet; but Sushibox are doing some UNBELIEVABLY great things with tubes in a pedal form factor
I went through a phase where I owned a number of tube based over drives. I've pretty much moved away from them but the one pedal that is on my board that will be there forever is the Kingsley Page.
I love my VT999. The pots are very smooth. I put my VT999 in front of my Silvertone 1482 tube amp. I then put my tube amp in front of my Pod-Go (using load box' line-out). I route the AMP out of the Pod-Go to my Orange Crush 12. I route the cab-sim out of my Orange Crush through a Zoom MS70-CDR back into the Pod-Go through the stereo effects-loop. It is awesome. I made a gear vid of the above (along with lengthy description).
As for my VT999, I use a full 1-AMP dedicated power supply driving a Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7. The VT999, out of the box, uses a 230 mA power supply driving a Bugera 12AX7 (those do pair well, actually), but when you pump up the power to drive a darker pre-amp tube, it's pretty magical.
@@czarofzonk1360 Try a 12V power supply in place of the 9V and a 12AU7. Long plate 12AU7/ECC82 respond really well. The gain control still allows for utter filth, but the control is now useable over a much wider range. 12V won't hurt anything, providing you ensure the correct polarity. The main reason for using it is the valve heaters. If you meter the voltage applied, you'll notice they're a little 'starved' with the 9V.
I have tried playing various pedals through solid state amps for years, then a neighbor let me play on his marshal jcm and it blew me away! I have since bought a mesa boogie mark v 25, and absolutely love the fat and crunch modes on channel 1. On the 25, the mid control turns into a boost past noon. So I have that pretty high and back the gain off. I have treble up high and bass low on the first eq. play it soft and it's clean with a little grit, dig into it and it roars. It has a huge range and super responsive to how I'm playing. And the crunch mode is awesome too. That behringer tube monster sounds the closest and my favorite of these!
Thanks for another great video comparing products and their technical perspective. You rock, Brian ! I love VT999 and I can get great diversity using 12AX7, 12AY7 and 12AU7
It is , you have a good one there ( the BK butler tube driver ) yes..!! There are other versions that don’t sound anything like the version you have .. Eric Johnson uses that one and yes David gilmour but EJ really utilizes his tube driver It’s one of his signature tones we’ve all heard many times
The "Magician" Brian Wampler playing through a Behringer VT999 and saying that is real good. I never thought I'd live to see that. A lot of people must be hanging themselves. Cheers from Brazil. By the way. Happy Birthday man. Love your pedals.
@@eduardokazuo2900 never tried one but also never heard anyone complain about them either. What are they modelled on (which circuits did they rip off ?)
My picks: - The SD Twin Tube sounds fantastic man, so much gnarly growl in the 1.2-3kHz range. - I like the Tube Driver, but it seems perhaps not quite so responsive to pick attack transients as the SD Twin. - Radial Tone Bone: My favorite one yet; at stock settings there are some SWEET overtones happening in the 2-5k region, like seriously incredible sounding... all those sculpting controls are just sugar on top. Gonna have to get one! You've some great ears and taste for dialing tones Brian, no wonder your pedals sell so well! Keep churning this kind of stuff out, as you said yourself it's just too much fun.
Big fan of the channel! I don't know why mesa v-twin never gets onto these tube pedal comparisons, I have 2 of them! Main rig is genz benz el diablo and mesa 2x12 half back metal grill slanted. I use v-twin wherever I would use an actual preamp. I do love the synergy stuff but don't own any, yet, and haven't directly compared.
Really love your videos Brian always informative and always enjoyable. And I just love all the more in depth videos being an electronics engineer every show with a schematic gives me the chills 😉 And the fact that I really enjoy your playing makes it all so much better!
The Hughes and Kettner Tube Factor was a cool pedal I used for a bit and still own. I swapped out the stock tube for a lower gain 12AU7 or 12AT7 and it sounded even better. It was equally great as both a boost to an already dirty sound or as a distorted rhythm tone on the clean channel.
12AY7 or its industrial 6072 counterpart is the sweet spot between those two and my favorite for replacing a 12AX7. AU is too low and AT is strange as the first gain stages. AU is better as a cathode follower and AT is better in the phase inverter spot on a PP or PPP amp. Each tube has its purpose, but I think the AY is vastly overlooked as a way to ideally knock some gain down from an AX.
I have the Radial ,recently took it apart cleaned it up and put back on my board. In front t of 2 clean tube amps in 1 watt mode. I use it "almost" clean and get amazing low volume tones. I did it right before your vid. I hadn't used it it a while, forgot how good it sounds.
Got the BK a couple months ago. He’s great to work with and the pedal is awesome! 12AU7 and a bias. He’ll tell you the bias does something magical around 2:30, and he is correct. I’ve been playing the pedal at 2:30 MST everyday and it sounds great! 😂
Brian I recently got a Carvin x1 pedal for Father's day and I love it. Bought a 2 channel looper pedal to run it with my amp so that I can switch between my amps preamp and the preamp pedal to give me versatility for blues, country, and rock, but still only using one amp. I'm very impressed with it and I am shocked more people don't know how good it is. I'd love to see you do a video on it being you're my go-to pedal guy. I have a Belle and an Ego compressor run in front. Please consider doing this from a fan of your pedals and your perspective videos.
For a short time, they made non-tube versions of the classic and the British. I use the classic and it’s pretty good.. there’s something special about a tube, though.
Kind of a rare pedal that came out and was overlooked by many is the Vox Tone Garage V8 Distortion. All analog and the 12AX7 was used with higher voltage than usual with those types of pedals. Very nice sound and very British.
Up till recently , My two main drive pedals was a Mesa V twin and a BK Tube Driver . Now my main Overdrive /Distortion pedals are an Ethos TWE-1 and The Wampler Gearbox .
well brian, i have been a huge fan of your od/dist stuff for a long time. i used a sovereign pedal for a few years, then the pinnacle, then the tumnus. of course the natural progression for me then is the combo gearbox. LOVE IT! thanks for your relentless dedication to making guitar players sound great!
So, I've built 3 tube pedals from a DIY web site and all 3 sound great and they are all very different than any of my overdrive/distortion pedals sound wise. The tube pedals do use an inductor to ramp up the voltage to over 200volts, so the tubes are doing what tubes do. I've compared the tube pedals to everything from the Pallisades by Earthquaker Devices to the VH4 by Diezel. I love the pallisades and it probably comes the closest to the tube pedals, but the tube pedals definitely have their own sound, and yes, it's tubey!😁
I own two pedals by Kingsley Amps. I have the Constable, which is a tube pre-amp pedal based on a plexi-era Marshal. I love it. It really satisfies my Marshall lust. I also have their Juggler, which is also a tube pre-amp pedal; but it is based on a Dumble ODS. However, I try to make it sound like my beloved '65 Super Reverb. Both the pre-amps are beautiful sounding and cover a LOT of sonic territory for me in my travel rig. I run them through a tube power amp from Fryette.
I decided to try a non-amp set up for funsies. Been running a Tubesteader Lightkeeper as a preamp into an orange pedal baby. Sounds great for cleans. Then I’m running a be-od before the light keeper (with a precision drive before the be-od to clean up the low end and give that modern sound) for distortion, and I love it.
Of course, what's missing from the vast majority of tube-based drive pedals, regardless of the plate voltage they use, is the impact of the power stage. Not ONLY the use of these power tubes vs those ones, but the output transformer itself, and the negative feedback from the speaker side of the OT that is used for the "Presence" control. Steve Daniels generously sent me an Eleca clone of the BK Butler unit sometime ago. OK, but didn't exactly turn my crank. I suspect probably the only tube "pedal" that really nails a tube amp tone is the Garnet Herzog, which is really an entire Fender Champ comparable, modded to be used as a drive unit to feed another amp.
@@david25876 Of course, the speaker (and cab) will always shape the sound, whether coming from a pedal or amp, since we don't really have many other ways of hearing the result.
I don't have much experience with tube pedals. I do have the Vox V-8 which uses a higher-voltage circuit for the tube. To run it with batteries requires SIX AAs, with 600 milliamps minimum. It has a good range of overdrive to distortion options and works great with our Marshalls. My son has one and loves it also.
I’ve had quite a few OD/distortion pedals with tubes. All of them running at proper high voltage. Some sounded great, others just ok. Bottom line is, I’ve had plenty of dirt pedals without tubes that sound just as good, or better. Believe it or not, the Boss OD-3 remains one of my favorites. What I’ve learned is that tubes in a pedal doesn’t necessarily make it sound/feel any more amp-like than a good solid state pedal.
I kinda miss that Behringer tube driver, I used to use it when I didn't have the money for a tube amp. Eventually had some tube amps around so I tossed it. But you're right Brian, loads of people had some type of tube drive on their board a decade back.
Want another one ? I have the Behringer vintage O D that I did the Bitmo mod to. And then for now I'm using a 12a7u tube which is the weakest of the 12a style. I use a early 3 knob T Driver that has been modded with a bias knob up front by Fromel. Also using a 12a7u tube and running it at 18v for more headroom. It stacks very well with a Alchemy modded Blues Driver and a Meat and 3 modded Soul Food. None of these need very much gain so noise level is reasonable.
@@SH-pq5zq. I’ve been plugging my pedals into my interface and using Genome just for power amp modeling and cab IR. I like it because I can reach over and turn the knobs on the pedal and I don’t get lost in endless virtual amp tweaking.
You inspired me to fully dissassemble my tc electronic tube pilot to guess how much of its distortion comes from the tube! I guess two ICs are just for clean boost.
I have original Chandler rack Mount Tube Driver and rack mount Blue Tube units. Plus the black Real Tube Overdrive pedal. For years I used them but actually have found as much if not more satisfaction in specialized pedals like your Wampler Plexi-Drive Deluxe and Plextortion, Pinnacle, Tweed ‘57, Black ‘65, etc., because of giving me these sought after amp tones. After seeing this video I will be pulling some of these out of mothballs to use with the MOSFET amps I have like the Orange Crush 35 RT, Peavey red stripe Bandit and Roland late 90’s 60 watt Blues Cube. As it was I hadn’t played though my tube amps that much because of the MOSFET amps and AIAB pedals but have played through my Marshall Class 5, Studio 15.
The TC Electronics TubePilot is the least-expensive of the pedals with tubes in them. Back in the day, I built a Stak-in-a-Box tube guitar pre-amp kit from Paia Electronics. Craig Anderton designed it. It's still available. It is a hybrid, starved-tube circuit.
I liked the last two personally. I’m currently using a Dominion Fuzz, MXR Custom Shop Timmy and an EP Booster to enhance the gain of my amps. JTM45 and Peavey Classic 30.
Tube Monster is a great one. I was surprised when I got one a played around with it. Radial stuff is all good as well. I have Tonebone and the Tri-Mode. Still break them out frim time to time.
Love the tubes.. it also found out that it seems many are just used as glowing lights while an IC tends to do the heavy lifting That said, I love the older chandler and tube works stuff, the Mid-2000s EHX, and Mesa pedals. Keep it up Brian! Said it on FB, but still stinkin tickled to see you going strong 20+ years after those early Harmony Central EFX forum days!
To my ears the Butler drive was a favorite. That and the Synergy. They were all cool and I’d be happy with any. I hadn’t heard the tone bone, that was my 3rd fav for sure. My gig rig is an OD-3 and an Xotic SL into a 12 watt, cathode biased amp.
I picked up an Ibanez tube king (tk999us) a couple years ago, and I’ve played it through my 90’s soldano, my hardwired ac30 and my fender concert, and it sounds great on each of them, with some tweaking.
Yaaay, Effectrode got some love, even for a split second! I have a Helios Fuzz, and it's pretty dadgum awesome. I wish you'd actually played through a Blackbird, but I really did enjoy the ones you did show us.
So far I have a Guyatone TD-1 and TO-2, ToneWorks Blue Tube, BK Butler Tube Driver and the TC Electronics Tube Pilot. I love tube pedals! I know the Tonebone is a derivative of the Nady TD-1 which was originally a Westbury W-20 (used by Shawn Lane). Maybe a new version of the W-20 might be cool for all of us Shawn Lane fans.
I’ve never had a tube amp, although I want to get one because I’ve been led to believe there’s a feel to them that you can’t get elsewhere. What I use right now until I can afford one is a NU>X Amp Academy that I run into the Power Amp in on a Boss Katana. In particular, I like their Vox AC30 tone and their JCM 800 tone. Honestly, the tones I get make me happy, so I’m not sure I’ll feel I got my money’s worth when I eventually do get a tube amp even if it is a better experience.
i typically have a Valvecaster and Mosfet Boost ‘always on’, running close to unity, into a tube amp. They fortify the signal and can induce overdrive, if needed 🤙
Yesssssssss! Those green berets are totally killer I’ve got a 4x12 with them. Great to hear you play them Could you please do one of your schematic analysis of the 5150 80W Iconic head it’s my first high gain amp 🤟🤟🤟
I use a Mesa V-Twin, and the Seymour Duncan Twin Tube, as my tube pedals. Love them both. Just the “Dirt in my chain” - (other effects left out for ease of explanation, my board is huge) Fuzz Face ->JHS NOTAKLON ->TS9 modded with JRC4558D chip -> Keeley modded Blues driver -> Mesa V-Twin -> Seymour Duncan Twin tube -> ZVex Fuzz factory -> Radial twin city switcher -> Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker & Hughes & Kettner Triamp MKII. Mr. Wampler, I would love to hear your thoughts on my dirt choices… am I missing anything? Thinking of adding maybe a (Wampler SLOstorion? Or Diezel VH4? For even highe gain madness) had an MXR Fullbore metal, but could not come to terms with its tone, as a crazy high gain pedal) Thank you for your amazing videos and content and all your pedals/amps etcetera!
Two variables... 1) How do they feel to play on - not just the tone. 2) Personal preference. I say that because I do find a nice tube amp to be a bit more "fun" to play with the natural sag and compression. Note that I'm talking about a really good tube amp (personally, I play a Zinky). On the other hand, I also really like to play pedals direct into the board. Even though the feel of the tube amp give and take is really nice, it's subtle for the money - and I also really love playing in stereo (in fact, on a limited budget, I'll choose the stereo modeling rig most days). On to personal preference: I really didn't hear a huge amount of difference in the tones. If one of them stood out, it would be the Seymour Duncan because it has that low end growl (or mush, depending on how you think about it). That said, I used to hate that flabby low end. Nowadays, I kind of like it because there is a bit of the "amp about to blow up" tone to it. That said, I can get that with a lot of different analog dirt pedals that are out now (interestingly, I have an inexpensive TC Electronic Cinders for exactly that reason). But you said it best. People change. Styles Change. Tastes change. Ears change. I've changed.
I LOVE me a good tube boost. First one I ever tried was a Tube Pilot in front my H&K Duotone head a few years back....one of the best tones I ever had. There's just not many "regular" boosts I like because they tend to make your amps get a bit too "stringy". Tube pedals seem to do the opposite and keep your tone nice and thick, while adding compression and harmonics in just the right place. So for hard rock guys like me, I can get that aggressive tone without having to push the gain on my amp to a place that sounds like mush. Nothing but good things to say about tube pedals. They're the primary dirt pedals I even bother with. I'd be mad interested to see Wampler come out with a tube boost.
AMT SS-11 is a great little tube pre in a pedal form with 2x 12ax7, also the Blackstar Dept10 pedals - all of these use tubes with high voltage internally, so they properly work like they would in an amplifier. Check those out, awesome stuff.
I have the Tube Driver as well as the B.K. Butler Real Tube and both are worthy secret weapons in one's arsenal. I highly recommend grabbing the Tube Driver with the Bias Mod; it gives you fine-tuning over the feel of your crunchiness. Also, the Plush Valve Job by Fuchs is a sleeper pedal that is not discussed. I love all three of these pedals with a Klon(e) pushing the front end.
Few notables from my years of playing. Mad professor 1, gets evh sounds plus reverb. RAT from 88 non led great for early Nuno tones. Rack mount Chandler Tube Driver. Marshall classic tone. Sansamp first rack mount. Very versatile.
Yes, Brian. The answer is yes. If you made a pedal with actual tubes, we’d gladly buy it.
It's called a Marshall JCM 900 Dual Reverb..
@@Natch67 i had it in '90 and was modified ... such great sound
I have a tube pedal running into a tube amp.
Its all so vintage & tube driver-ish that the clocks go back 15 minutes every time I power up.
50 years of experience right here! Happy belated birthday Brian 🎉
Ive been playing 2-4 shows a month for the last year. I quickly gave up my precious half stacks and twins for a friedman IRX and a class D power amp pedal, and a 1x12 cab. I don’t even think of it as a pedal. My amp is at my feet now. Its not digital (unless I use the IR’s) and it sounds “real” at home I still use a 6505+ for distortion. And fender twin for cleans. But live, its friedman IRX doing both.
The high voltage tube gain is my only acceptable path. If i played clean only:id of gone digital eventually. Friedman is worth every single penny
What power amp pedal do you use?
@@guttedEwok01duncan power stage 170
Enjoyed this, and the way you basically explained how each circuit worked. Thank you Mr. Wampler!
Thank you for this video Brian. I'd love to see how you would approach building a vacuum tube based pedal
The Tubesteader stuff is fantastic
Harlot v3 from kingsley, my all time favorite drive pedal. versatile, powerful and enough features to allow me to use any kind of guitar on a set and compensate accordingly, love it to death!
Definitely ! My favorite pedal!!!
Second this
I have a lot of Tube drive pedal and the Harlot V3 is the best I ever bought. Really really great pedal. And most of my Kingsley (Maiden D and Page TS) pedals are the best I ever tried or owned.
I just got a Harlot V3. Its splendid. My fav drive pedal b4 that was also a Kingsley …a Page. The Harlot is like a Page +.
@@TeleBlaster I have had so many overdrive and boost pedals.. Kingsley is simply the best.. at least for me
You're the Man Brian. Technical Genius.. I think tube driven distortion and overdrives are cool..
I have a Mesa Boogie V Twin that I bought back in 2009. It's one of my fav pedals.
I have the behringer with a less gainy tube in it and it has always been amazing
Same here, I replaced the 12AX7 with a 12AU7 as recommended by many and it sounds so much nicer. Less “harsh”
I used the Behringer with a tube screamer for 2 years and loved it. I only paid $15 for it on Amazon. Probably the most value I've ever gotten from a pedal. In fact, I had a couple of their pedals, most I didn't like except for their tube drive and their reverb. Effectrode is by far my favorite tube driven pedals nowadays.
I have pedal I bought off Ebay from Aurhur Sounds store that's an exact circuit part for part and same voltage of an SLO preamp's lead channel. I absolutely love it and when I'm not recording direct in with it, I plug it into the return of the effects loop of either of my amps.
I know I’ll never be able to replicate this tone no matter what I do but I do enjoy watching and listening. It’s just so thick sounding.
I watch tons of videos showing different drive pedals. This is the first one where they ALL sound great.
I used to have a rack unit from Digitech called the GFX-1 Twin Tube that did great tube distortion. It had a built-in noise gate, 5-band graphic EQ and a really sweet compressor (among other effects). It did a great simulation of a cranked Marshall, really good tone. Try one of those if you can find one. They seem to be rare these days, but not expensive.
I have one of the Hardwire Valve Distortion pedals Digitech made and it’s awesome. Thanks for the suggestion!
I have an old Mesa Boogie v twin and I don't care what anyone says. put a ts9 or mojo mojo in front of it and it's as good as any amp you can mane. It chugs even with my cheepie Squier tele.
I have a Mesa Bottle Rocket. Simpler, a bit crisper, very crisp (seemed to cut through a bit more cleanly than the V Twin, for me), solid on its own, and stacks fantastically with other drives, or into a medium gain amp channel.
Although it’s just volume, drive, and two band EQ, I definitely prefer it over the Tube Driver and Ibanez circuits. I’m curious if the Mesa pedals follow a similar design with high power Op Amp and starved tubes.
Yeah love mine. It’s almost a three channel tube pre amp with that little volume control on the bottom.
Yes, I want more tube based pedals!
There were a lot of pedals in the 2000’s (and still?) that included a tube for marketing. The tube isn’t even running at proper tube voltages and they basically just light up…but they can call it a tube pedal.
Just hype garbage. Running a tube at 12 volts does nothing, it needs about 300 volts and about half an amp to run the heaters. Some companies even put an LED behind the tube to make it look like it was glowing. I'm glad that fad is over.
Man, I don’t know if it’s just that guitarists aren’t wise to it yet; but Sushibox are doing some UNBELIEVABLY great things with tubes in a pedal form factor
I have a Radial TriMode - I believe the same circuit as that classic. Love it! Haven't used it in a while. But every time I plug it in, it inspires.
Tube Monster is a great one.
I was surprised when I got one a played around with it.
Tube preamps are becoming more common, I think. Especially with smaller makers like Peace Hill.
I'm 62 and I always loved the Chandler, but I own the tone bone❤..Good stuff. ❤
Blackbird really shines once connected to a clean amp with high headroom, it sounds fantastic ever~!
I went through a phase where I owned a number of tube based over drives. I've pretty much moved away from them but the one pedal that is on my board that will be there forever is the Kingsley Page.
I love my VT999. The pots are very smooth.
I put my VT999 in front of my Silvertone 1482 tube amp.
I then put my tube amp in front of my Pod-Go (using load box' line-out).
I route the AMP out of the Pod-Go to my Orange Crush 12.
I route the cab-sim out of my Orange Crush through a Zoom MS70-CDR back into the Pod-Go through the stereo effects-loop.
It is awesome. I made a gear vid of the above (along with lengthy description).
As for my VT999, I use a full 1-AMP dedicated power supply driving a Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7. The VT999, out of the box, uses a 230 mA power supply driving a Bugera 12AX7 (those do pair well, actually), but when you pump up the power to drive a darker pre-amp tube, it's pretty magical.
@@czarofzonk1360 Try a 12V power supply in place of the 9V and a 12AU7. Long plate 12AU7/ECC82 respond really well. The gain control still allows for utter filth, but the control is now useable over a much wider range. 12V won't hurt anything, providing you ensure the correct polarity. The main reason for using it is the valve heaters. If you meter the voltage applied, you'll notice they're a little 'starved' with the 9V.
I have tried playing various pedals through solid state amps for years, then a neighbor let me play on his marshal jcm and it blew me away! I have since bought a mesa boogie mark v 25, and absolutely love the fat and crunch modes on channel 1. On the 25, the mid control turns into a boost past noon. So I have that pretty high and back the gain off. I have treble up high and bass low on the first eq. play it soft and it's clean with a little grit, dig into it and it roars. It has a huge range and super responsive to how I'm playing. And the crunch mode is awesome too. That behringer tube monster sounds the closest and my favorite of these!
Do you have the mesa boogie mark v 25 head or the combo amp?
Thanks for another great video comparing products and their technical perspective. You rock, Brian !
I love VT999 and I can get great diversity using 12AX7, 12AY7 and 12AU7
It is , you have a good one there ( the BK butler tube driver ) yes..!! There are other versions that don’t sound anything like the version you have
.. Eric Johnson uses that one and yes David gilmour but EJ really utilizes his tube driver
It’s one of his signature tones we’ve all heard many times
I love the bk butler tube driver have owned one for years
I absolutely love the Bruce Egnater designed fender pedals using those micro spy tubes running on high voltage, the MTG & the MTG LA are both amazing
Interesting
The "Magician" Brian Wampler playing through a Behringer VT999 and saying that is real good. I never thought I'd live to see that. A lot of people must be hanging themselves. Cheers from Brazil. By the way. Happy Birthday man. Love your pedals.
VT999 FTW! \m/
Get over the Behringer bias problem. They make excellent value kit nowadays. “Not made in USA” does not mean anything is automatically crap.
@@MS-Patriot2 I agree!
I've had alm 0 trouble with any Behringer thing I've ever bought!
@@MS-Patriot2 I own 2 bugera heads. Love them.
@@eduardokazuo2900 never tried one but also never heard anyone complain about them either. What are they modelled on (which circuits did they rip off ?)
EHX English muff’n was my main drive for yearrrrs. Been on the effectrode Blackbird and very happy
My picks:
- The SD Twin Tube sounds fantastic man, so much gnarly growl in the 1.2-3kHz range.
- I like the Tube Driver, but it seems perhaps not quite so responsive to pick attack transients as the SD Twin.
- Radial Tone Bone: My favorite one yet; at stock settings there are some SWEET overtones happening in the 2-5k region, like seriously incredible sounding... all those sculpting controls are just sugar on top. Gonna have to get one!
You've some great ears and taste for dialing tones Brian, no wonder your pedals sell so well!
Keep churning this kind of stuff out, as you said yourself it's just too much fun.
Big fan of the channel! I don't know why mesa v-twin never gets onto these tube pedal comparisons, I have 2 of them! Main rig is genz benz el diablo and mesa 2x12 half back metal grill slanted. I use v-twin wherever I would use an actual preamp. I do love the synergy stuff but don't own any, yet, and haven't directly compared.
You have a great point, I’m going to hit up reverb.com and grab a v-twin asap!
@@wampler_pedals cool, I'm looking forward to it! If you have trouble finding I could lend you one happily.
I love that guitar you're holding!
very cool
Yes, happy birthday from the Netherlands, Brian!
Really love your videos Brian always informative and always enjoyable. And I just love all the more in depth videos being an electronics engineer every show with a schematic gives me the chills 😉 And the fact that I really enjoy your playing makes it all so much better!
The Hughes and Kettner Tube Factor was a cool pedal I used for a bit and still own. I swapped out the stock tube for a lower gain 12AU7 or 12AT7 and it sounded even better. It was equally great as both a boost to an already dirty sound or as a distorted rhythm tone on the clean channel.
12AY7 or its industrial 6072 counterpart is the sweet spot between those two and my favorite for replacing a 12AX7. AU is too low and AT is strange as the first gain stages. AU is better as a cathode follower and AT is better in the phase inverter spot on a PP or PPP amp. Each tube has its purpose, but I think the AY is vastly overlooked as a way to ideally knock some gain down from an AX.
Thank you for explaining the why/how of the starved plate.
Have been using the Friedman IR-D for a direct solution and am loving it!
I have the Radial ,recently took it apart cleaned it up and put back on my board. In front t of 2 clean tube amps in 1 watt mode. I use it "almost" clean and get amazing low volume tones. I did it right before your vid. I hadn't used it it a while, forgot how good it sounds.
Got the BK a couple months ago. He’s great to work with and the pedal is awesome! 12AU7 and a bias. He’ll tell you the bias does something magical around 2:30, and he is correct. I’ve been playing the pedal at 2:30 MST everyday and it sounds great! 😂
Great comparison, I still love my Rock Block!
Brian I recently got a Carvin x1 pedal for Father's day and I love it. Bought a 2 channel looper pedal to run it with my amp so that I can switch between my amps preamp and the preamp pedal to give me versatility for blues, country, and rock, but still only using one amp. I'm very impressed with it and I am shocked more people don't know how good it is. I'd love to see you do a video on it being you're my go-to pedal guy. I have a Belle and an Ego compressor run in front. Please consider doing this from a fan of your pedals and your perspective videos.
That Radial pedal is the best sounding one I think. I have the Hot British version and it’s a favorite of mine. Radial should bring these pedals back.
I love my Tri Mode Radial clean, and two distortion options with an effects loop on the lead channel. Always makes me smile!
It has the tightest sound I think.
I read somewhere they're based on an old Japanese pedal Shawn Lane used to use. Could be wrong.
For a short time, they made non-tube versions of the classic and the British. I use the classic and it’s pretty good.. there’s something special about a tube, though.
Kind of a rare pedal that came out and was overlooked by many is the Vox Tone Garage V8 Distortion. All analog and the 12AX7 was used with higher voltage than usual with those types of pedals. Very nice sound and very British.
Up till recently , My two main drive pedals was a Mesa V twin and a BK Tube Driver . Now my main Overdrive /Distortion pedals are an Ethos TWE-1 and The Wampler Gearbox .
well brian, i have been a huge fan of your od/dist stuff for a long time. i used a sovereign pedal for a few years, then the pinnacle, then the tumnus. of course the natural progression for me then is the combo gearbox. LOVE IT! thanks for your relentless dedication to making guitar players sound great!
So, I've built 3 tube pedals from a DIY web site and all 3 sound great and they are all very different than any of my overdrive/distortion pedals sound wise. The tube pedals do use an inductor to ramp up the voltage to over 200volts, so the tubes are doing what tubes do. I've compared the tube pedals to everything from the Pallisades by Earthquaker Devices to the VH4 by Diezel. I love the pallisades and it probably comes the closest to the tube pedals, but the tube pedals definitely have their own sound, and yes, it's tubey!😁
I'm using a Kingsley Page inside the fx loop. Nice pedal.
I loved my Ibanez PUE 5 Tube!! And I still own a half rack unit Hughes & Kettner Blues/Cream Machine!
The Behringer sounds pretty great actually wow
I own two pedals by Kingsley Amps. I have the Constable, which is a tube pre-amp pedal based on a plexi-era Marshal. I love it. It really satisfies my Marshall lust. I also have their Juggler, which is also a tube pre-amp pedal; but it is based on a Dumble ODS. However, I try to make it sound like my beloved '65 Super Reverb. Both the pre-amps are beautiful sounding and cover a LOT of sonic territory for me in my travel rig. I run them through a tube power amp from Fryette.
For the record I think they all sound fantastic
I decided to try a non-amp set up for funsies. Been running a Tubesteader Lightkeeper as a preamp into an orange pedal baby. Sounds great for cleans. Then I’m running a be-od before the light keeper (with a precision drive before the be-od to clean up the low end and give that modern sound) for distortion, and I love it.
Of course, what's missing from the vast majority of tube-based drive pedals, regardless of the plate voltage they use, is the impact of the power stage. Not ONLY the use of these power tubes vs those ones, but the output transformer itself, and the negative feedback from the speaker side of the OT that is used for the "Presence" control.
Steve Daniels generously sent me an Eleca clone of the BK Butler unit sometime ago. OK, but didn't exactly turn my crank. I suspect probably the only tube "pedal" that really nails a tube amp tone is the Garnet Herzog, which is really an entire Fender Champ comparable, modded to be used as a drive unit to feed another amp.
And the speaker. Output stage, iron and speaker contribute a lot.
@@david25876 Of course, the speaker (and cab) will always shape the sound, whether coming from a pedal or amp, since we don't really have many other ways of hearing the result.
Very informative video!
Love my Kraken v4 preamp. 4 tubes, high voltage. Sounds amazing.
Tube Driver sounds SO GOOD. EJ use one too.
Bk butler is awesome
I don't have much experience with tube pedals. I do have the Vox V-8 which uses a higher-voltage circuit for the tube. To run it with batteries requires SIX AAs, with 600 milliamps minimum. It has a good range of overdrive to distortion options and works great with our Marshalls. My son has one and loves it also.
I’ve had quite a few OD/distortion pedals with tubes. All of them running at proper high voltage.
Some sounded great, others just ok. Bottom line is, I’ve had plenty of dirt pedals without tubes that sound just as good, or better.
Believe it or not, the Boss OD-3 remains one of my favorites.
What I’ve learned is that tubes in a pedal doesn’t necessarily make it sound/feel any more amp-like than a good solid state pedal.
I kinda miss that Behringer tube driver, I used to use it when I didn't have the money for a tube amp. Eventually had some tube amps around so I tossed it. But you're right Brian, loads of people had some type of tube drive on their board a decade back.
Want another one ? I have the Behringer vintage O D that I did the Bitmo mod to. And then for now I'm using a 12a7u tube which is the weakest of the 12a style. I use a early 3 knob T Driver that has been modded with a bias knob up front by Fromel. Also using a 12a7u tube and running it at 18v for more headroom. It stacks very well with a Alchemy modded Blues Driver and a Meat and 3 modded Soul Food. None of these need very much gain so noise level is reasonable.
@@sparkyguitar0058 What is a "Bitmo" mod? I might be interested in it, if you're serious about selling.
I found my HK Tubeman in my storage tub a few weeks ago. Gonna bust it out and see what do.
I own 3 of the HK tubeman from the 90’s….great pedal and very versatile….u have to clean the pots regularly (in my experience)
@@SH-pq5zq. I’ve been plugging my pedals into my interface and using Genome just for power amp modeling and cab IR. I like it because I can reach over and turn the knobs on the pedal and I don’t get lost in endless virtual amp tweaking.
I still got the Ibanez TK999, great pedal. And a nice choice for Bass Guitar too
Synergy rules! So does the Ethereal! Will there be a Wampler tube pedal???
Agree!
I keep a Behringer VT999 Tube Monster (with a 12AU7 tube) pedal on my board as my preamp. My whole DI board is based around that pedal.
Just curious what you're using as power amp sim and cab sim?
I just ordered a Kingsley page. I've never played through one but they look like they sound good
You inspired me to fully dissassemble my tc electronic tube pilot to guess how much of its distortion comes from the tube! I guess two ICs are just for clean boost.
been checking out this Telecaster, nice to see someone rock some riffs with it, other videos all bluegrass stuff haha
I have original Chandler rack Mount Tube Driver and rack mount Blue Tube units. Plus the black Real Tube Overdrive pedal. For years I used them but actually have found as much if not more satisfaction in specialized pedals like your Wampler Plexi-Drive Deluxe and Plextortion, Pinnacle, Tweed ‘57, Black ‘65, etc., because of giving me these sought after amp tones. After seeing this video I will be pulling some of these out of mothballs to use with the MOSFET amps I have like the Orange Crush 35 RT, Peavey red stripe Bandit and Roland late 90’s 60 watt Blues Cube. As it was I hadn’t played though my tube amps that much because of the MOSFET amps and AIAB pedals but have played through my Marshall Class 5, Studio 15.
Friedman have done a very good job with the IRX.
The TC Electronics TubePilot is the least-expensive of the pedals with tubes in them. Back in the day, I built a Stak-in-a-Box tube guitar pre-amp kit from Paia Electronics. Craig Anderton designed it. It's still available. It is a hybrid, starved-tube circuit.
Bloody hell, the ToneBone sounds amazing. Never got one because there was a rumour that it was a ripoff of SansAmp.
Vintage tube monster is 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾🔥🔥🔥🔥 and that tone bone!!!
I liked the last two personally.
I’m currently using a Dominion Fuzz, MXR Custom Shop Timmy and an EP Booster to enhance the gain of my amps. JTM45 and Peavey Classic 30.
I like the Tube Monster best. Sounds really smooth.
Tube Monster is a great one.
I was surprised when I got one a played around with it.
Radial stuff is all good as well. I have Tonebone and the Tri-Mode.
Still break them out frim time to time.
Love the tubes.. it also found out that it seems many are just used as glowing lights while an IC tends to do the heavy lifting
That said, I love the older chandler and tube works stuff, the Mid-2000s EHX, and Mesa pedals.
Keep it up Brian! Said it on FB, but still stinkin tickled to see you going strong 20+ years after those early Harmony Central EFX forum days!
To my ears the Butler drive was a favorite. That and the Synergy. They were all cool and I’d be happy with any. I hadn’t heard the tone bone, that was my 3rd fav for sure.
My gig rig is an OD-3 and an Xotic SL into a 12 watt, cathode biased amp.
One of my favorite old pedals is a Digitech RP7. Something about the tube preamp that gives it the right saturation.
Hey Brian, great video! I'm really surprised and fascinated by the Tonebone. I had no idea it had such versatility and character.
I have the tube driver rack version of this. It is very versatile. From gated fuzz to pretty modern high gain.
I picked up an Ibanez tube king (tk999us) a couple years ago, and I’ve played it through my 90’s soldano, my hardwired ac30 and my fender concert, and it sounds great on each of them, with some tweaking.
Yaaay, Effectrode got some love, even for a split second! I have a Helios Fuzz, and it's pretty dadgum awesome.
I wish you'd actually played through a Blackbird, but I really did enjoy the ones you did show us.
So far I have a Guyatone TD-1 and TO-2, ToneWorks Blue Tube, BK Butler Tube Driver and the TC Electronics Tube Pilot. I love tube pedals! I know the Tonebone is a derivative of the Nady TD-1 which was originally a Westbury W-20 (used by Shawn Lane). Maybe a new version of the W-20 might be cool for all of us Shawn Lane fans.
I’ve never had a tube amp, although I want to get one because I’ve been led to believe there’s a feel to them that you can’t get elsewhere. What I use right now until I can afford one is a NU>X Amp Academy that I run into the Power Amp in on a Boss Katana. In particular, I like their Vox AC30 tone and their JCM 800 tone. Honestly, the tones I get make me happy, so I’m not sure I’ll feel I got my money’s worth when I eventually do get a tube amp even if it is a better experience.
i typically have a Valvecaster and Mosfet Boost ‘always on’, running close to unity, into a tube amp. They fortify the signal and can induce overdrive, if needed 🤙
Yesssssssss! Those green berets are totally killer I’ve got a 4x12 with them. Great to hear you play them Could you please do one of your schematic analysis of the 5150 80W Iconic head it’s my first high gain amp 🤟🤟🤟
It's the Kingsley Harlot for me!
I use a Mesa V-Twin, and the Seymour Duncan Twin Tube, as my tube pedals. Love them both.
Just the “Dirt in my chain” - (other effects left out for ease of explanation, my board is huge)
Fuzz Face ->JHS NOTAKLON ->TS9 modded with JRC4558D chip -> Keeley modded Blues driver -> Mesa V-Twin -> Seymour Duncan Twin tube -> ZVex Fuzz factory -> Radial twin city switcher -> Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker & Hughes & Kettner Triamp MKII.
Mr. Wampler, I would love to hear your thoughts on my dirt choices… am I missing anything? Thinking of adding maybe a (Wampler SLOstorion? Or Diezel VH4? For even highe gain madness) had an MXR Fullbore metal, but could not come to terms with its tone, as a crazy high gain pedal)
Thank you for your amazing videos and content and all your pedals/amps etcetera!
Does the Duncan clean well with the guitar volume pot?
Two variables... 1) How do they feel to play on - not just the tone. 2) Personal preference. I say that because I do find a nice tube amp to be a bit more "fun" to play with the natural sag and compression. Note that I'm talking about a really good tube amp (personally, I play a Zinky). On the other hand, I also really like to play pedals direct into the board. Even though the feel of the tube amp give and take is really nice, it's subtle for the money - and I also really love playing in stereo (in fact, on a limited budget, I'll choose the stereo modeling rig most days). On to personal preference: I really didn't hear a huge amount of difference in the tones. If one of them stood out, it would be the Seymour Duncan because it has that low end growl (or mush, depending on how you think about it). That said, I used to hate that flabby low end. Nowadays, I kind of like it because there is a bit of the "amp about to blow up" tone to it. That said, I can get that with a lot of different analog dirt pedals that are out now (interestingly, I have an inexpensive TC Electronic Cinders for exactly that reason). But you said it best. People change. Styles Change. Tastes change. Ears change. I've changed.
I LOVE me a good tube boost. First one I ever tried was a Tube Pilot in front my H&K Duotone head a few years back....one of the best tones I ever had. There's just not many "regular" boosts I like because they tend to make your amps get a bit too "stringy". Tube pedals seem to do the opposite and keep your tone nice and thick, while adding compression and harmonics in just the right place. So for hard rock guys like me, I can get that aggressive tone without having to push the gain on my amp to a place that sounds like mush. Nothing but good things to say about tube pedals. They're the primary dirt pedals I even bother with. I'd be mad interested to see Wampler come out with a tube boost.
I loved BK Butler’s Real Tube 901. I used that with several amps. I’d love to still have it or have another.
All of them soundet good in there own way. 😄👍
AMT SS-11 is a great little tube pre in a pedal form with 2x 12ax7, also the Blackstar Dept10 pedals - all of these use tubes with high voltage internally, so they properly work like they would in an amplifier. Check those out, awesome stuff.
I have the Tube Driver as well as the B.K. Butler Real Tube and both are worthy secret weapons in one's arsenal. I highly recommend grabbing the Tube Driver with the Bias Mod; it gives you fine-tuning over the feel of your crunchiness. Also, the Plush Valve Job by Fuchs is a sleeper pedal that is not discussed. I love all three of these pedals with a Klon(e) pushing the front end.
I love the pinnacle V2, that’s my main distortion pedal
Few notables from my years of playing. Mad professor 1, gets evh sounds plus reverb. RAT from 88 non led great for early Nuno tones. Rack mount Chandler Tube Driver. Marshall classic tone. Sansamp first rack mount. Very versatile.
Note only the Chandler had tubes in it.