Valve Pedals Done RIGHT! Blackstar Dept. 10 Dual Drive & Dual Distortion

Valves in pedals require the technology to be implemented correctly, otherwise they are a waste of time.
With a plate voltage of +200V, Blackstar have ensured the ECC83s in their Dept.10 pedals are used to their full potential, but they didn't stop there. An advanced DSP cabinet simulation allows for hassle free direct injection for live and recording purposes.
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Boost - www.thomann.de/gb/blackstar_d...
Dual Drive - www.thomann.de/gb/blackstar_d...
Dual Distortion - www.thomann.de/gb/blackstar_d...
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[@ScienceofLoud]

Valves in pedals require the technology to be implemented correctly, otherwise they are a waste of time. With a plate voltage of +200V, Blackstar have ensured the ECC83s in their Dept.10 pedals are used to their full potential, but they didn't stop there. An advanced DSP cabinet simulation allows for hassle free direct injection for live and recording purposes. Purchase links: Boost - www.thomann.de/gb/blackstar_dept._10_boost.htm?offid=1&affid=367 Dual Drive - www.thomann.de/gb/blackstar_dept._10_dual_drive.htm?offid=1&affid=367 Dual Distortion - www.thomann.de/gb/blackstar_dept._10_dual_distortion.htm?offid=1&affid=367 This video contains paid promotion from Blackstar Amplification. More details on how CSGuitars impement product promotion - www.csguitars.co.uk/disclosure #blackstar #valve #dept10 More from CSGuitars: Gain access to exclusive content at: www.patreon.com/csguitars Join CSGuitars Discord - discord.gg/csguitars Buy CSGuitars Merchandise - www.csguitars.co.uk/store Website - www.csguitars.co.uk Contact - [e-mail] ____________________________________________________________________ *Description contains affiliate links. Purchasing using one of these links will generate a small commission for CSGuitars at no additional cost to you.* Affiliate Links: Thomann - www.thomann.de/gb/index.html?offid=1&affid=367 Sweetwater - imp.i114863.net/2mGGg Reverb - reverb.grsm.io/csguitars Crimson Luthiery Tools - www.crimsonguitars.com/?ref=csguitars + Discount Code 'CSGUITARS5' for 5% OFF Gthic Jewelry - gthic.com/?aff=230 + Discount Code 'colin20' for 20% OFF Title graphics and logo by: www.studiosmithdesign.co.uk/ Join the discussion at: Facebook - facebook.com/csguitars Instagram - instagram.com/csguitars/ Discord - discord.gg/csguitars

[@stimpsonjcat26]

@@DANWRIGHTITIS Depends on the current potential, not the voltage.

[@DMSProduktions]

Not bad lad! \m/

[@EasyHeat]

Makes me wonder what the tube in an Orange Micro Dark is actually doing or running at?

[@ALLMETAL1970]

I'm too afraid to ask if batteries impact the amount of effect pedals have

[@DMSProduktions]

@@ALLMETAL1970 WHAT does that even MEAN?

[@scottyhehehe5367]

HOW in tf are you still only at 229k subs 🤯 Your channel is so damn good! YT is screwing you over, man. 😠

[@MikeColeVocals]

Wow this looks like a totally viable alternative to a digital modeller for those of us that prefer the simplicity of an old school amp. How have I never heard of these things before?!

[@RustyPryde]

I was about to say. This is kind of what I always thought a PC interface should be. Full control at pedal level with PC level fine tuning.

[@xdoctorblindx]

Because they're new.

[@MikeColeVocals]

@@xdoctorblindx thanks.

[@ssm445]

"these things" have been around for a while now (Two Notes Preamps) :)

[@MikeColeVocals]

@@ssm445 yea I’m aware of the other options. I was referring specifically to the Blackstar pedals.

[@chrisdaviesguitar]

I love my Blackstar HT Stage 100 MK1, never heard anything like it.

[@acynecki]

i think all of these sound pretty great in this demo

[@freshprinceofsharjah]

Learned a lot from your vids Colin! Love em!

[@flamencoprof]

I like this channel for its great combination of considerations of musicality where opinions are allowed to vary. with sensible technical explanation, where opinions count much less.

[@Cacophaton]

sometimes i click on your videos just for the intro but then the video is really well made and i watch it all

[@OzziePete1]

Excellent video again, Colin. Your expert technical explanation about how the valves fit into these pedals dispels the gimmickry. I am always thankful when you go back to basics about why a certain electronic thing happens. Trust you are doing well.

[@75YBA]

Another proud grandson of a Highlander giving you a like and best wishes from Canada 🇨🇦!

[@mikeseager2399]

Wonderfully excellent information & assessment.. one of the very best KZbin resources! Top work indeed ✅✅

[@michaelwallace1189]

I have the HT 60 MK2 amp and absolutely love it. These pedals sound very close to my amp and have all the features. If I was still struggling with a crappy Fender... I would totally get these. Love Blackstar, absolutely love them. Best amp I have ever had, and there have been many. (don't tell my wife...)

[@place_desjardins]

nice review

[@bpabustan]

That white pedal - the BOOST is happening! It screamed CLASSIC ROCK! It's not easy getting that tone with your regular overdrive pedal, the Boost have that extra something that makes the sound so alive.

[@scottyhehehe5367]

Damn that red unit sounds so damn sweet!

[@2122banks]

That's cool I get the same type of sounds off my black star ID 260 amplifier overdrive 2 overdrive 1 super crunch and crunch. I like the red pedal that will work perfect for me on my clean side of my black star.

[@Crazylrishguy]

These pedals look sick

[@thegougler]

Nice job with bark at the moon. That riff is a pain in the ass.

[@stephanematis]

I like this, it might be nice alternative to those small hybrid amp heads.

[@barnabywilde374]

i've been in electronics since the late 70s and i gotta say that today's technology (even with plain ol' tubes) is astounding. The modeling capabilities blow me the fugk away. And tubes in stomp boxes? It's the doin' of wizards i tells ya!

[@denomdemon]

I've been using the HT Overdrive pedal for a few months. I would love to play with the Dual Drive, but I don't think I need all that tech. Looks fun though!

[@chameleon-dream-band-official]

I still have my Blackstar HT dual from nearly 20 years ago and I still love it! The tone range is huge. A lot is made of the Victory V4 pedals, and while these are undoubtedly great (I own one), I think people forget about the original Blackstar HT pedal range and how good/innovative they were. Glad to see them taking them a step further into the digital world.

[@JimijaymesProductions]

These sound great, I do wonder their application infront of a clean amp though seems more like a preamp design, I know a few pedals out their have tone circuits designed to optimise the tone for front of amp, power amp and speaker emulation. Huge difference in high end and mids usually between these. I unfortunately don't own an amp with an fx loop (vintage and boutique stuff). May still grab one, either one of these or the V4 Kraken.

[@sski]

Nice pedals! My drummer brought these up to me a couple weeks ago having seen a video about them. I wonder which one would sound good on 5 string bass through my Carvin head and 4x12 side rig that I use in conjunction with my 8x10 bass rig? Or maybe Blackstar could come out with a dedicated bass version that mimics an SVT+? That would be sweet! Anyway, great video! Thanks for the rundown!

[@joeyschmidt6841]

Sounds braw man

[@echolessowl]

caught this one early B]]] awesome video

[@mikethegreat4296]

I didn't even realize how early we were until I saw 16 updoots.

[@henkehakansson2004]

I tried one now, extensively, in a shop. And they do the same gaffe like everyone else that makes dual dist pedals, and this one in particular since you can't stack the 2 channels and have both on simultaneously. YOU - MUST - HAVE - DIFFERENT - EQ - FOR - EACH - CHANNEL! Period. Even different ISF if you'd like. When I am playing clean I want a slight thump, but scooped sound, high treble and loud bass and middle turned down. When I am playing solo and gain I want more middle and less treble/prescense and way less bass to avoid it farting out and get flubby. This one hasn't this possibility even through USB and their Architect computer editor program. If they only did like Strymon to have ONE "save preset" spot that you hold in the switch for like 3 seconds and save ALL your settings, including EQ, you could have different EQ and 2 presets witch each one different EQ. No rocket science. Someone else may want totally opposite, like middle on clean, and "loudness" curve on the distortion/od channel. Also, I would love to be able to change out the tube, although preamp tubes does not wear at all, if even barely. It's the power tubes that "wears". Other than that, I think these are not "Dual drive pedals with tubes finally done right". Not yet. The old Blackstar series with high voltage +400 volt, the tall ones, had way more and better clean headroom, especialy when backing off guitar vol knob. Albeit not dual channels. While this one sounded ok, when tinkering with the knobs, there are too numerous other pedals - with tubes - out there that does basically the same thing, 2 channel wise. Around the same price, and even higher and much lower. Closer maybe, but no cigar.

[@_mysilentblue2227]

Man I would love to see a shootout of these tube pedals, including the ADA MP-1-channel pedal.

[@EasyHeat]

Wondering if the Dept10 boost could be used as an "always on" sweetener for direct to interface amp sim plugins?🤔 Sweetwater has them at $149, but also the feature rich Drive & Dual on sale for $199! Not to shabby... I may have to spring for that Dept10 Red Box after all? Ha!

[@ceniam12]

Hey man! is the v4 kraken preamp just as good as the actual head? how do they compare?

[@lauripartanen8137]

Hey! Have you tried Vox valvenergy pedals and what do you think about nutube technology? I'm interested to know how do they compare to this Blackstar or any other valve preamps.

[@idanshahar]

Great video! I have the Dual Distortion pedal and LOVE IT! I think that gain wise the Crunch mode has enough gain and sounds great. Can you say if the Dual Distortion pedal's crunch mode is "the same" as one of the modes of the Dual Drive?

[@ordohereticus3427]

Do you think this could be used, with tamer settings, to further tighten and push/boost the front of an amp’s high gain channel?

[@idanshahar]

@@ordohereticus3427 ill try with my dsl40

[@ordohereticus3427]

@@idanshahar Cool. Let me know how it goes. Thanks.

[@idanshahar]

@@ordohereticus3427 It worked great :) the crunch chunnel was doing a good job at 10% gain and 50% volume and eq at noon. it reduces a lot of bass so you can eq the bass up, and if you put the MIDS at 100% it gives a TS9 vibe.

[@valuedhumanoid6574]

I bought a Vox multi effects board with a tube that you could see glowing and making it look all cool and awesome. This was in the early 2000s. I really don’t know if it was doing anything to the tone or not. It was the Vox Valvetronix ToneLab ST Multi-Effects Pedal board. Anyone else have one?

[@rugiXD]

Do you recomend a distortion pedal as a booster? At the moment i dont have an eq nor a drive pedal and im holding on with a um300 from behringer. I push the mids at 8, cut the highs at 3 and leave bass at 6. volume at 9/10 and gain at 0. The rest of the gain and eq comes from the amp as obious

[@bradleejaymz]

We need to talk about that bottle of Scotch behind you! I can smell the peatiness all the way over here!

[@ScienceofLoud]

Laphroaig is an important part of any signal chain

[@fearnpol4938]

It’s called whisky!

[@bradleejaymz]

@@fearnpol4938 I will let Colin handle that comment :-)

[@bradleejaymz]

@@ScienceofLoud I also just noticed the Electric Six homage. Nice.

[@ScienceofLoud]

@Brad Lee "when we touch, when we kiss" glad it was spotted.

[@mr.nobody68]

4:26 That's still just a touch too clean for my liking. But I bet it would sound better with some really hot passive humbuckers in front of it That red one gives great classic Rock tones. What if you stack both pedals?

[@dutch_urth]

Also, is there perhaps a mobile version available of the Architect software, like there is for TC Electronic's toneprint software, or is it just for computers?

[@ScienceofLoud]

Just Mac and PC for the moment I think. Might be something they are planning on expanding on in the future though, it would make sense to able to work the software via OTG cable to an ipad.

[@vinny5004]

How do these compare to the similar Two Notes products (e.g., Le Lead and Le Crunch)?

[@islamsuperchannel]

I have a problem with this product, where should I put the output to the return amplifier, to the OUTPUT SECTION or to the CAB RIG? I want to use it instead of the preamp in my tube amplifier if I enter it in the OUTPUT section, the 3 channel CAB RIG switch feature doesn't work on my amplifier

[@jamesm8962]

Where's the tube in the circuit. I'm wondering how the "Boost" pedal might respond with a clean drive in front of it. Are we going to get mystical valve saturation?

[@alanlamas8164]

hello, I have a question, has anyone used this pedal together with a line 6 hx effects? I want to know if they work well and if it is recommended to send it directly to line, if someone could help me I would greatly appreciate it....

[@davidjairala69]

I'm curious as to whether these would be useful or self-defeating in combination with a solid state amp (particularly a JFET like the Super Crush)

[@godzilla964]

Pedals can't damage your amp. Go ahead and plug a tube pedal into a solid state amp. Preamp tubes don't run on high voltages, unlike power tubes.

[@christopherdunn317]

Well i would say yes this would work well the combo give it back some of that tube sound that's missing on the crush

[@kevliao]

I have the BS 10 dual distortion. What happens if the valve needs to be replaced? The manual says it's not user replaceable.

[@ScienceofLoud]

It shouldn't ever need to be replaced under normal operating conditions. Preamp valves effectively last forever. Out of interest I did open one to see how accessible the valve is and you'd have to dismantle the entire pedal to get to it. That's probably more to prevent users swapping to different types of valve the unit isn't designed for.

[@atitg727]

Is it easy to replace the ECC83 valves when it eventually wears out?

[@RenzelPerez]

Great video! Would you consider these pedals as pre amp like the Victory Amps V4 series or would they be better as drive/distortion pedals?

[@ScienceofLoud]

Blackstar is absolutely a preamp, but being marketed more like a pedal. It fits both roles, but I see it more as an ampless rig solution due to its DSP features: Preamp with cabsim direct out, for a pedalboard only rig. The Victory units are very much recreations of their amplifier preamp in smaller boxes and designed to be utilised alongside an amplifier as additional preamp channels. The two are filling different applications for different set ups, despite both being preamp.

[@RenzelPerez]

@@ScienceofLoudDefinitely gonna consider the Blackstar for long business travels. Thanks for responding!

[@stephenjanssenrosete9377]

Hi, just new here, is there a need to change the valve in the dual drive overtime? Usually how long does it last with everyday usage of the pedal? Thanks

[@vonmilash823]

I run a ts9 into an old mesa boogie v twin pre amp pedal (second gen) and it blows most amps away.

[@qwaazig1631]

That sounds like a pretty good set up. I run the Blackstar HT-DISTX with a Boss SD-1 in front. Really surprised with how it sounds and the fact it does respond really similar to a valve amp.

[@DMSProduktions]

Not bad lad! \m/

[@Bob_at_OZDiggzguitars]

Great pedals! How do they stack up to Two Notes Audio's "Le" pedals?

[@ScienceofLoud]

The Two Notes 'Le' preamps are some of the few other valve units that internally upscale the voltage to 200V. Much of the feature set is similar to the Blackstar pedals, but in terms of streamlined design, user experience, and the flexibility of the digital simulations, the Blackstar pedals come out on top for me.

[@ScienceofLoud]

I have a Le Lead here in the studio, so might do an A/B video on them to get an idea of how different it sounds to the Blackstar distortion

[@martinclayton7260]

Does turning the pedal on and off affect the valve? As amps have a standby, so we can turn the amp on, to warm up before we play, so how does this pedal cope with this? It's just something I thought about while watching this?

[@ScienceofLoud]

The heaters run as long as there is power to the pedal. Once powered up the valve is hot and ready for action regardless of if signal is going through the pedal or not. Standby switches on an amp only disconnect high voltage from the valve plates. This is more of a maintenance convenience than an end user necessity, allowing techs to bring the high voltage on and off as required. Standby switches are not actually required for amplifiers, and even if you believe they do anything to extend valve life or prevent damage to valves, those arguments only relate to power valves anyway

[@martinclayton7260]

@@ScienceofLoud thank you. If I didn't ask, I wouldn't have known! M

[@crackedspyglass]

While it’s a pretty good sounding unit for the price, i’m pretty that Art Pro VLA compressor has tubes that are just for show

[@markhammer643]

Just thought you might want to know that Bruce Keir, co-founder of Blackstar, passed away towards the end of September, from cancer, at the age of 60.

[@ScienceofLoud]

I wasn't aware of that, that's sad news.

[@tothefinlandstation]

Does putting a fuzz pedal in front of one of these and then recording to your computer sound like putting a fuzz pedal in front of a real tube amp?

[@dutch_urth]

OK, I'm curious, that riff you play at 8:12 is a riff I hear you play all the time on this channel. What's it from?

[@gorbrushthreepwood]

Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon

[@xdoctorblindx]

The Dual Drive definitely has solid-state gain staging as well. Not a chance that you're getting that much saturation from a single 12AX7.

[@florisvanlingen]

Probably but if it sounds good, it is good...

[@jameskavanagh4300]

For true and proper integration of tubes in a pedal the first port of call is Kingsley Pedals, a different league altogether.

[@acmeyakko]

A little Jake E. Lee action. Well played.

[@christoddheartogold]

Wow! How did you learn all this stuff?

[@ScienceofLoud]

You can read about my education and work history here: www.csguitars.co.uk/profile

[@ZetaFuzzMachine]

So how do they get 220V from a 9V DC power supply?

[@ScienceofLoud]

There are a number of methods of upscaling voltage. Transformers are the most common when working with AC voltages, they work inductively in that a voltage in the primary coil induces a voltage in the secondary coil equivalent to the ratio of the number of turns between the two coils. e.g. if the primary coil has 10 turns and the secondary has 100 turns then the voltage induced on the secondary will be 10 times the voltage supplied to the primary, at the cost of current. For DC we can use DC to DC convertors which typically work in some switching arrangement, these can come in the form of integrated circuits, ICs. You can read up on Boost Convertors to learn more, but they again increase the voltage at the cost of current. Power = voltage * current, power is equal on both sides of the conversion (minus any losses due to heat, no transformer or converter can ever be 100% efficient due to the laws of thermodynamics) so if you had 9V at 500mA that would be 4.5W. If you wanted 200V from that 4.5W you could get it in exchange for dropping the current to around 22mA. (200V * 0.022A =4.4W)

[@ZetaFuzzMachine]

@@ScienceofLoud Will read into those Boost Convertors! Cheers Colin!

[@j0eb0t0]

CAT in DI in software. SOLD!

[@Peter-by3ox]

they sound quite excellent do you need to use a power unit with them if you just wanted to use with a 4x12 instead of a head?

[@ScienceofLoud]

To drive a speaker cabinet you would still need a power amp of some description. These are preamps only.

[@vonmilash823]

Unless direct to pa ,yes you would need I power amp when sent to speaker cab. Someone else may want to chime in as well.

[@Peter-by3ox]

@@ScienceofLoud thanks man !

[@Peter-by3ox]

@@vonmilash823 Thanks man !

[@vonmilash823]

@@Peter-by3ox no problem !

[@louaguado995]

Loved the "bark at the moon" riff, ahoooooowww! 😊 I've owned a Marshall valvestate and an AVT. They were both hybrid amps with 1 preamp tube. I always wondered, is that tube really doing anything? After swapping one I recieved my answer, yes. It became brighter and had more gain. I still have a now discontinued Vox tonelab that also has 1 preamp tube. The effects aren't the best but the amps sound great. I changed the tube in that one as well from the original Chinese Ruby to a Tungsol and it got rid of the fuzziness. Now you've got me wondering what the plate voltages were on those old amps and pedal. I remember an old video on KZbin where someone pulled the tube out of a Vox tonelab and all the clean amps still worked! So it tube was only in the circuit for the high gain amps! 😳

[@bartvschuylenburg]

The pots in some of the blackstar tube pedals wore out pretty fast. I hope that has improved. Seymour Duncan’s Twin Tube Classic and Twin Tube Blue are amongst the best tube pedals, and so are the Victory V4 IMO.

[@dispersemedia]

What did they do to get 210v from the 9v input?

[@ScienceofLoud]

There are a number of methods of upscaling voltage. Transformers are the most common when working with AC voltages, they work inductively in that a voltage in the primary coil induces a voltage in the secondary coil equivalent to the ratio of the number of turns between the two coils. e.g. if the primary coil has 10 turns and the secondary has 100 turns then the voltage induced on the secondary will be 10 times the voltage supplied to the primary, at the cost of current. For DC we can use DC to DC convertors which typically work in some switching arrangement, these can come in the form of integrated circuits, ICs. You can read up on Boost Convertors to learn more, but they again increase the voltage at the cost of current. Power = voltage * current, power is equal on both sides of the conversion (minus any losses due to heat, no transformer or converter can ever be 100% efficient due to the laws of thermodynamics) so if you had 9V at 500mA that would be 4.5W. If you wanted 200V from that 4.5W you could get it in exchange for dropping the current to around 22mA. (200V * 0.022A =4.4W)

[@dispersemedia]

@@ScienceofLoud So does this pedal only need low current?

[@ScienceofLoud]

The pedal has a nominal draw of 500mA

[@dispersemedia]

@@ScienceofLoud How do they retain the 500mA when they boost the voltage to 210v?

[@dispersemedia]

I hope someone could demystify this for me. How did they step-up the voltage from 9v to 210v while still retaining 500mA of current? And if the tubes are really running on 210v, is this pedal capable of providing clean/low-gain sounds without sounding sterile?

[@theolang3566]

Good drive pedals, yes, but solid state can get extremely similar results without the hassle of high voltage and tubes that need replacement every few hundred hours

[@ScienceofLoud]

The working lifetime of a preamp valve is in excess of any amount of play you could put on it. Preamp valves very rarely, if ever, need replaced

[@ScienceofLoud]

While I don't disagree that solid-state can perform in the same realm, they often suffer from low headroom similar to low voltage valves, hence the occasional tendancy for solid state drive pedals being designed to operate at 18V to get more headroom at the opamp. The physics of headroom and dynamic range apply in both cases, solid-state can just do it at lower voltages than valves.

[@labestia8099]

What about Metasonix?

[@ScienceofLoud]

The synth modules running completely different valves at 12V for non amplification based effects? What about them?

[@labestia8099]

@@ScienceofLoud Sorry, I should’ve been more specific with my comment. The TM and TX series of pedals, it’d be cool if you did a few videos on those - if you can get ahold of such pedals. The TM-4 and F-2 pedals are both vacuum-tube amplifiers

[@conanmcgrath7628]

Even stepping up the voltage and from DC no less these pedals would still be considered 'starved plate', besides lower headroom = more distortion The only thing that separates this from most valve pedals is that the valve is in the gain stage and not just a filter in a feedback loop Still a great pedal though Mozztronics TD-1 is still my favorite Tube Distortion pedal

[@TheChadPad]

I love how you said "because everyone has their own baseless opinion on the matter." Opinions are like assholes. Everyone's got one, and most of them stink.

[@paulschlachter4313]

I think Blackstar could have made the pedals without tube sounding borderline identical. The reason they did is marketing - not technical necessity. From a technical perspective it's a bad decision with regards to reliabliity, power consumption / dissipation, savety measures, space consuption etc.

[@clicheguevara9917]

seymour duncan twin tube = gr8 shit

[@jayeshrathore5804]

omg ... when your hairs got short :O

[@LillianAredhel]

I've not been around for a bit but what happened to Colin's luscious hair

[@Tomislav_B.]

VOX Cooltron said hello👋

[@ScienceofLoud]

Cooltron pedals not only ran the valve at low voltage, but implemented a circuit designed to drop the heater and plate voltages to as low as 3V. It only functioned by applying positive voltage to the valve grid in order to force electrons off the cold cathode. The valves were simply a token inclusion to compete in a time period with Blackstar's HT release.

[@Tomislav_B.]

@@ScienceofLoud I have a VOX Bulldog Distortion and it sounds really good and that's what matter at the end. VOX has an explanation in user manual how Cooltron series operates, here it is for what is worth: "COOLTRON is the name that we have given to a new way of using preamp type tubes at low voltage. In our case we chose a 12AU7. Tubes are normally used at high voltages, and this is the recognised way of using them, but it negates their use in battery-powered devices such as guitar effects pedals which is what COOLTRON is! Historically, attempts have been made to use tubes at low voltages, usually termed as being used in "starvation" mode. Unfortunately, these circuits have severe problems in the tube functioning in an acceptable manner. One problem is being able to bias the tube to a satisfactory operating condition. Another problem is that the necessary heater (filament) current is too high to provide adequate bat tery life which we all know would be annoying when you have to change batter ies every ten minutes during a gig. The COOLTRON system gets over both these problems and provides true tube sonic performance at a very low voltage and at a reduced heater current - ideal for inclusion into the aforementioned guitar effects pedals - and therefore can give these pedals a vast improvement by giving valuable tube sonic performance. Basic Operation: The COOLTRON circuit basically operates by using two very special circuits: A) To achieve the required biasing function, a unique circuit is used that provides the right conditions between the anode (plate) of the tube, and the grid. In general terms this circuit is called a "servo" circuit, and replaces the normal self-biasing networks that would normally be used. Although not the same circuit, this servo theory is used many times in high-end tube hi-fi, to achieve controlled stable parameters. B) The heaters are provided with a special power supply that provides a low voltage and low current supply to the heater elements in the tube. Due to the servo-biased tube circuit providing the correct operating conditions for the tube, the tube now functions as it would if run at a higher voltage - i.e. the signal excursions can be operated linearly, pro viding balanced clipping conditions, and with the right harmonic & distortion characteristics- even when running from a B+ of only 6 volts. Both of these conditions are virtually impossible to achieve using nor mal "starvation" methods. Due to the tube now running at such a reduced supply level, the anode current is much, much smaller than normal. This means that the amount of heat required at the cathode to achieve sufficient cathode current emission is much smaller - hence the ability to run the heaters at a lower level. Therefore both these points combined means that we have a usable tube circuit running off a battery power supply- battery life is approximately 16 hours from 4 x AA size batteries - but also the tube runs a lot cooler - hence the name "COOLTRON"!

[@ScienceofLoud]

I've seen the schematics for these pedals and unfortunately there is nothing special about them. That text you've provided is a very long way of saying nothing at all and doesn't address any of the physics of the situation. Their main concern was to get a valve running off of AA batteries, not to make full use of the sonic properties of the valve.

[@Tomislav_B.]

@@ScienceofLoud You have a point there 👍

[@JC-11111]

Behringers tube pedal doesn't run at 200+ volts and it's got a usable sound that a lot of people use.

[@tntisbased]

second

[@James_Dawes]

Noice

[@chrisparker5278]

Nice advert

[@ScienceofLoud]

thank you, I think it turned out well and offered an objective and unbiased look at the products I was paid to promote.

[@chrisparker5278]

@@ScienceofLoud always informative and enjoyable Collin!

[@phenixreturns]

the ht metal sounds better the dist x too i have them for decades

[@jayseb]

I'll pass on these, such as many others have stated (including Ola) seems many manufacturers, like BS, go in a bit too fast with very normal features, at too high of a price. All at this price, it's even not a preamp. So nope.

[@davidfaustino4476]

It's literally a preamp though.