Which is better? Tube Amps Vs Tube Pedals

[@irvingperes]

Yes, Brian. The answer is yes. If you made a pedal with actual tubes, we’d gladly buy it.

[@Natch67]

It's called a Marshall JCM 900 Dual Reverb..

[@keofir]

@@Natch67 i had it in '90 and was modified ... such great sound

[@SlowPursuit]

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.

[@thyreapermc5948]

Great Scott.

[@SlowToe]

50 years of experience right here! Happy belated birthday Brian 🎉

[@mrbassdbd]

I have the behringer with a less gainy tube in it and it has always been amazing

[@fclefjefff4041]

Same here, I replaced the 12AX7 with a 12AU7 as recommended by many and it sounds so much nicer. Less “harsh”

[@JaythanRodriguez]

Same here. I've had it for 10 years and it has been great!

[@Ottophil]

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

[@guttedEwok01]

What power amp pedal do you use?

[@Ottophil]

@@guttedEwok01duncan power stage 170

[@Superjet113]

Enjoyed this, and the way you basically explained how each circuit worked. Thank you Mr. Wampler!

[@RenanSilva-ue5jp]

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!

[@adielelgi]

Definitely ! My favorite pedal!!!

[@agalvin1313]

Second this

[@laurentperez5229]

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.

[@TeleBlaster]

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 +.

[@adielelgi]

@@TeleBlaster I have had so many overdrive and boost pedals.. Kingsley is simply the best.. at least for me

[@jeffhughes1039]

Thank you for this video Brian. I'd love to see how you would approach building a vacuum tube based pedal

[@JonathanMcCardle-s2e]

Yes, I want more tube based pedals!

[@riffmondo9733]

Tube Monster is a great one. I was surprised when I got one a played around with it.

[@christopherallen5603]

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.

[@robertbarajas2311]

You're the Man Brian. Technical Genius.. I think tube driven distortion and overdrives are cool..

[@MarcBecker_Music]

I used a Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor back in the day, but unfortunately, I no longer have it. I really loved that pedal back then, though.

[@mikkehayn2197]

This pedal works with high voltage, i love this much,regards

[@OgamiItto70]

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.

[@marpsr]

I have one of the Hardwire Valve Distortion pedals Digitech made and it’s awesome. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@watcherzero000]

I have a Mesa Boogie V Twin that I bought back in 2009. It's one of my fav pedals.

[@SwiftyMcswifty]

Love the Maxon RTD800 not as fuzzy or fizzy as the Butler but very open sounding and a touch on the dark side but it can be eq'd flat or brightened up if desired. Also it has a switch for OD/Dist which operates as such per Maxon. The Overdrive circuit features two stages of clipping - a bi-directional clipping diode in the feedback loop of the op-amp and then a single-diode in the second stage for asymmetrical clipping. The Distortion circuit also features two clipping stages, but configured differently - a bi-directional clipping diode in feedback loop of the op-amp, and then a 2nd stage with a passive bi-directional clipping circuit. The three band eq does not overlap and the noise gate does not squash your dynamics or tone unless turned up quite high. I rarely use it. There is also a post OD/Dist boost footswitch with 3 to 9db adjustable boost via an easily accessible trim pot. Sounds great being driven harder by another pedal in OD mode as well. I leave mine on going into a slightly dirty amp and adjust clean tone via the volume knob. Slamming a Nobels ODR-1 or Fulltone OCD into it for leads gives craaaaazy sustain. It even plays well going into a Fulltone Ulimate Octave, an already smooth fuzz, for Gilmour like leads without the octave and surprisingly smooth yet searing octave up tones.

[@dylancroft2423]

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.

[@ronnibrant5813]

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.

[@guitarman5560]

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.

[@Adamhauk22]

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

[@javiceres]

Interesting

[@Sainte305]

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.

[@dukey558]

Blackbird really shines once connected to a clean amp with high headroom, it sounds fantastic ever~!

[@petekoerner3827]

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! 😂

[@kayreb.]

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.

[@4gave1]

The Tubesteader stuff is fantastic

[@evancrocker5343]

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.

[@mesasavage]

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.

[@jdl2180]

I just ordered a Kingsley page. I've never played through one but they look like they sound good

[@mauriciogambini]

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

[@jacobsteele2929]

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!

[@chrisd.9688]

Do you have the mesa boogie mark v 25 head or the combo amp?

[@lostinpa-dadenduro7555]

I found my HK Tubeman in my storage tub a few weeks ago. Gonna bust it out and see what do.

[@SH-pq5zq]

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)

[@lostinpa-dadenduro7555]

@@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.

[@mrmatthew2443]

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

[@SteveTose]

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.

[@wampler_pedals]

You have a great point, I’m going to hit up reverb.com and grab a v-twin asap!

[@SteveTose]

@@wampler_pedals cool, I'm looking forward to it! If you have trouble finding I could lend you one happily.

[@buzzyboy6505]

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.

[@mikaeljohansson83]

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!

[@JonathanGarciaMallen]

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.

[@cirenosnor5768]

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.

[@johnnysimes5082]

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.

[@maxbialystock254]

Tube Works made a couple models. I have one that uses stock a 12AX7 but I use a Y for smoother drive. But it is always preamp tube sound not Power tube drive. Slight difference but usually more noticeable at volume.

[@MrDavemiley]

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 .

[@kogarasu4501]

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.

[@nickfanning]

EHX English muff’n was my main drive for yearrrrs. Been on the effectrode Blackbird and very happy

[@flotenn3351]

I have a tube twin, too, and it's doing its job well. I also like the od 3 as an ordinary drive which does sound pretty tubeish. The dn 2 not so much, but there are so many options to get in that ballpark.

[@zaturnneo]

One of my favorite old pedals is a Digitech RP7. Something about the tube preamp that gives it the right saturation.

[@rocklives8251]

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.

[@vonmilash823]

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.

[@vancepitman2105]

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.

[@mattmengel4622]

Yeah love mine. It’s almost a three channel tube pre amp with that little volume control on the bottom.

[@Zero_thehero]

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 🤟🤟🤟

[@marcofioravanti4176]

I like the open rawness of the Tube Driver here. But the solid density and midrange of the Tonebone is great, too. I´d like to have those two, but I´m already done by having an old Hughes & Kettner Tubeman, that I love. Plus, I also got a modded Tubemonster and I changed the stock tubes to the lesser gainy type "12AY7", which makes it a bit more easy for me to dial in some low gain overdrive.

[@guitardave]

ADA made a tube pedal version of the ADA MP-1 preamp a few years ago called the MP-1 Channel. I would’ve loved one of those but I don’t think they make them anymore. One thing that kind of puts me off these pedals is the size of them. They’re so big compared to a normal stomp box and wouldn’t fit on my board.

[@deanbibb3680]

I loved BK Butler’s Real Tube 901. I used that with several amps. I’d love to still have it or have another.

[@chickenbeek]

Tonebone apparently. Imo, it just sits in the pocket. Also has a depth almost 3d sound to it. I remember back then looking at options, the variants were absolutely on my list. Wish i woulda tried one. Might still be using it.

[@GuitarLessonSarasota]

Your triple wreck is still my fave high gain pedal! ❤️

[@01Szilard-q7y]

I'm using a Kingsley Page inside the fx loop. Nice pedal.

[@AnotherAnon]

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.

[@KyleKalevra]

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.

[@rayzorback88]

Just curious what you're using as power amp sim and cab sim?

[@lefthandedguitarrob]

Hi Brian, I bet you are familiar with and/or tested the Vox Tone Lab series from the turn of the century, which used Korg's proprietary tube pre-amp design from the late 1990s. I have used an early Vox desktop Tone Lab model for many years, live and recording, with much success, and I wondered if you had any experience using the Tone Lab? I am new to your channel and very much enjoy your content and reviews. I'm also, new to your pedals, and I love your Tumnus and Velvet Fuzz pedals. What great sounds and fun!

[@Thisisme-Jim]

The tube driver sounds great with a strat at lower gain settings the way it sings, if you just turn everything wide open idk what we “gain” from that

[@markandclairethomas2062]

Check out the Vox Tone Guarge series , particularly the flat 4 boost . They got a lot of stick for their appearance at the time but as I understand there’s some pretty neat electronics going on in them with a real tube . Not manufactured anymore but that flat 4 boost is incredible for edge of break up and medium o/d 😀👍

[@RobBoostrom]

What do I like to get my dirt sound? Well, I often have a Razzberry FuzzDrive on, but I almost always have my Tumnus Deluxe on. You should try it. 😁

[@paulstansbury6477]

I had the Radial classic and a Nady TD-1 years ago (nearly the same pedal) and other tube pedals… eventually I lost favor with the tubes on a pedal board concept, but now I’ve made a slight return and started using the Radial Classic V9, which is said to be the same as the tube Radial Classic, but without the tube. Originally started using tube drive pedals when I started going direct to the house without amps, but I’m not sure how sound that logic was when I started it. My all-time favorite was the Chandler tube driver rack unit

[@czarofzonk1360]

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).

[@czarofzonk1360]

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.

[@VintageSG]

@@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.

[@Lokair54]

I still use my B.K Butler Tube Driver, it probably sounds second behind the Radial ToneBone, I usually use my JP2C+ as distortion. and for lower gain the Tumnus mini.

[@nitrixrules]

Love the BK Butler. I have the rack mount but I think the pedal sounds better. I tried a Boogie V-Twin in front of a HR Deluxe years ago. Pretty cool but kind of put "scooped into scooped" tones. Had great cut though

[@JackPeloquin]

Kinda glad I’ve “waited” to get anything tube. Was dwelling on the blackstar ones of years passed. But heard they’ve issues. Looking at a rack currently. And it would be for anything. Guitar… synths… other fun stuff!!!

[@j.jester7821]

i have a vintage tube monster, great pedal.noise gate is nice. its just too big all of these tube based pedals are large and people want to fit a ton of stuff on the pedal board.

[@jfdblues]

I love the bk butler tube driver have owned one for years

[@kdakan]

I hade an engl tune toner preamp running into an old us made fender pro junior, they sounded great together. I now have a Fender Bassbreaker 15 amp, it sounds great by itself for gain tones, but for both cleans and gain, the engl & pro jr combination sounded better. Build something like the engl tube toner that runs hot just like an amp does, and has a small watt power amp section in it as well, which I think is the real deal for getting the tube amp tone from a floor unit.

[@riffmondo9733]

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.

[@Glensully]

My helix does a lot of pre amps. Generally use them

[@rayprevailer8454]

I got the Behringer to mess around with some MOD ideas. The enclosure has lots of extra room. When I got it and played through it I was shaken at how good it sounded. The gate is really good to. I still have not done any mods as it is really good just the way it is. Think I paid $99. I thought that Radial sounded really good. I never tried one.

[@gregmauser574]

If you make one I will buy. Of these, the Tone Bone sounded the best to me

[@Dean_Owens]

I think the only pedal i regret getting rid of was the Allen Amps Sole Mate. I'm sure I have the schematic laying around somewhere from when i bought the kit... but i have no clue where it is. That in front of my vibro-champ at the time was my favorite practice amp and little church amp.

[@CraigDeubler]

I'm obsessed with valve drives/preamps at the moment. I'm currently running Victory V4 preamps - a Kraken and a Copper and they're awsome. Would also love to see your thoughts on the Friedman IR-X & IR-D. There's also some interesting stuff from Tubesteader.

[@adamkrauss303]

Was hoping to hear at least one Kingsley pedal and also wanted to hear you discuss how its clipping operates.

[@jimbeaux4988]

I watch tons of videos showing different drive pedals. This is the first one where they ALL sound great.

[@ronnieanderson3081]

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!

[@MotownGuitarJoe]

I have the Friedman IR-D, and it IS the amp in my signal chain. I have a separate pedal for overdrive.

[@wampler_pedals]

Yeah those are great!

[@raycochrane3971]

Thank you for explaining the why/how of the starved plate.

[@juanvaldez4043]

I’m using a mod kits Pusuader, it’s point to point, no ic or magic fairy dust. It is an extremely low voltage unit so it gets fuzzy fast.

[@dalegroff3972]

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.

[@johnbowman3630]

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.

[@shorerocks]

Ah, and I had the hope the Friedman Motor City Drive is part of the comparison. Great vid though!

[@dr.leonidas]

I have been using for years the combination of Wampler Tumnus followed by ENGL Powerball preamp section, its really awesome for sweet and agressive crunch and distorsion tones. But of course, if you made a pedal with actual tubes and with the tone near to Radial Tonebone, I would definitely like to give it a try. Thank you for the video and for your work, Brian!!

[@justmehere6094]

I had a tonebone Hot British (red one) back around that same time as well. sold it at some point. Currently, for me it's the Friedman IR-D and IR-X. Not really a front of the amp use, more FX return use with existing amp. Full voltage on the tubes, actual preamps. Again, more of a different use case.

[@USMarine75]

Brian, check out the AMT Electronics Mattias IA Eklundh Freak Guitar pedal. No longer made but this thing has two 12AX7 and sounds fantastic. I have the entire collection of original AMT Electronics that were Siberian-made clones of Sansamp pedals that weren’t available on their local market.

[@progrocker84]

Great video! Here's a related question: how does a tube pedal (before the preamp or in the loop) compare to the Mr. Scary Mod (additional tube stage within the amp)?

[@eduardokazuo2900]

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.

[@DMSProduktions]

VT999 FTW! \m/

[@MS-Patriot2]

Get over the Behringer bias problem. They make excellent value kit nowadays. “Not made in USA” does not mean anything is automatically crap.

[@DMSProduktions]

@@MS-Patriot2 I agree! I've had alm 0 trouble with any Behringer thing I've ever bought!

[@eduardokazuo2900]

@@MS-Patriot2 I own 2 bugera heads. Love them.

[@MS-Patriot2]

@@eduardokazuo2900 never tried one but also never heard anyone complain about them either. What are they modelled on (which circuits did they rip off ?)

[@jrwickersham]

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!

[@zellarecords6195]

I run the Bella into a Mesa Boogie V Twin pedal.

[@colinchristensen6603]

I’ve got a few tube drive pedals (Maxon ROD881, Blackstar HT Dual and a Mozztronics TD2) and they’re great but all need specific power packs, are more susceptible to noise and can be unpredictable and hard to control when you get up to gigging levels. So they get left at home and the Indyguitarist Pinnacle stays on the board 😊.

[@Datanditto]

The Butler and Tonebone were very nice. I like the Paisley deluxe pedal.

[@Kaip2009]

Hello Brian Right now i'm enjoying the last circuit I’ve made. A boss sd-1 based circuit with no buffer stages and some tonality options with switchs. By it’s own with some clipping, already sounds good but with a tube pedal in front, with the right amount of drive and level, it sounds even better. The tube based pedal is a fender mtg and because the fender pedal doesn’t allow using the boost alone, i’m testing a fet booster in the middle just for fun :) Maybe it could sound better if i could get sag from el34 power tubes, without using the power amp from the guitar amp. Cheers

[@ainsbass]

Tube preamps are becoming more common, I think. Especially with smaller makers like Peace Hill.

[@grayaj23]

I still have a couple of the VOX "tube garage" pedals. The clean boost one can make super crispy vox type classic rock edge of breakup sounds if it's hit just right, but it's a PITA to hit just right and thn it had limited usefulness. Fun as a toy, but a Blues Jr does the same thing without as much fuss. IIRC it's the voltage starved type.

[@trebleboost7]

Was very curious about their more recent Valvenergy line.

[@nielsdonnelly6027]

Have been using the Friedman IR-D for a direct solution and am loving it!

[@gibs8412]

I use the Friedman irx as my preamp, stacked with some pedals, a fuzz, or boss dd200,ms 3 for switching, then into hxstomp for effects, out stereo into my mesa 2:90 power amp w a 4x12, 1960a cab in stereo mode, or into a pair of combos, depending on the venue size. larger venues, I may use two 1960 cabs each mono left and right signals ,powered from the mesa. so, all tubes

[@scottbyrne4965]

I'm a long time user of the 2 channel Blackstar tube pedals into clean amps (usually a HRD with a WGS Reaper). Used the HT-Dual for 10 years until the new Dept 10 Dual Drive came out. The Dual Drive can be powered by a normal power supply and doesn't weigh 100 pounds like the HT.

[@Matthew_Scan]

I’ve always wondered why tube snobs refuse to use a transistor amp but have not problem using a transistor pedal?

[@michaeljuliano8839]

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.

[@robbieyates1685]

I haven't used every pedal but I did a bake off between a Blackstar HT Dual and a regular distortion pedal (can't remember which). I didn't hear or feel any noticeable difference so I sold the Blackstar.

[@silcoxone]

I just got the TC electronics tube driver. It only sounds good cranked. Spits and fizzy sounding at lower settings. When you click it off, it still has some bleed through, I guess, and spits on your single notes when off. Diode bad, maybe? Sweetwater will be getting it back. Thanks! Love the channel!

[@joereddy3146]

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.