Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

[Jeffblue]

I was just notified that my NEW cheap tube pedal has just shipped. TC Electronics Tube Pilot for $59.99. Looking forward to swapping out the tube for NOS tube.

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on that pedal. Great price too.

[Jeffblue]

Re: Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

My new pedal arrived yesterday and I played with it today. I always test my OD pedals for transparency and this pedal sounded excellent and can be used for a clean tube boost pedal. I then tried various settings for overdrive and it sounded good. I then replaced the tube with an NOS 7025 and sounded even better. I then switched the tube for an NOS 5814A (military version of a 12AU7) and it sounded too treble with not enough bass. I switched back to the 7025 and all is good. I like this pedal.

[BlueFrankie]

Re: Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

Thanks for the review. Appreciate the advice on tube swapping.

[Jeffblue]

Re: Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

Just spent some time with my Tube Pilot pedal. I swapped out the 7025 tube for a NOS 12AY7 and it sounds much better. The more I ply through this pedal the better I like it. It's a great tube pedal.

[Gtrjunior]

Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

How noisy is it (preamp hiss)?
I would imagine that the 7025 would be noisier than the AY...

Also, what was the stock tube?

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

I heard Brian Wampler say many tube distortion pedals don’t really utilize the tube, that it’s there for show. I always wonder if that’s the case with my Tonebone, but it sounds good so whatever.

[Jeffblue]

Re: Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

How noisy is it (preamp hiss)?
I would imagine that the 7025 would be noisier than the AY...

Also, what was the stock tube?

Your always going to get some hiss, it doesn't seem too bad. The stock tube is a foreign cheap 12AX7 tube, maybe better than some.

[Jeffblue]

Re: Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

I heard Brian Wampler say many tube distortion pedals don’t really utilize the tube, that it’s there for show. I always wonder if that’s the case with my Tonebone, but it sounds good so whatever.

If you want to go through all of the trouble to remove the tube to find out if the Tonebone still works, you'll see that it won't. I have changed out the tube in my Radial Tonebone Classic to an NOS variant and it makes a huge difference.

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

The stock tube is a foreign cheap 12AX7 tube.

All tubes these days are foreign to an American.

[Joey Voltage]

Re: Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

I heard Brian Wampler say many tube distortion pedals don’t really utilize the tube, that it’s there for show. I always wonder if that’s the case with my Tonebone, but it sounds good so whatever.

He’s mostly correct, most in stomp box form running on a battery don’t. Most don’t even provide the necessary power to run the tube correctly nor use it for distortion generation. Tubes require massive current to run their heaters as well as a healthy voltage for their plate supply 9v volts doesn’t cut it for the plate supply unless there is a charge pump involved, (which may not be likely) and a single tube would require 300ma for the heaters running at 6.3v and 150ma running at 12v you would have to provide that somehow. There are some tricks you can use to sort of get them to operate, but no where near what it does in an amp. If it’s a battery operated pedal, chances are neither are fully utilized. Something like the matchless hot box, uses a transformer and plugs into the wall so it is really a tube preamp in a pedal sized box..

If you want to go through all of the trouble to remove the tube to find out if the Tonebone still works, you'll see that it won't. I have changed out the tube in my Radial Tonebone Classic to an NOS variant and it makes a huge difference.

If the tube is in the signal path, removing it would interrupt the signal regardless of whether it’s really influencing the sound or not. Whether the pedal works or not is not really criteria for whether the tube is actually imparting it’s magic or not. If it’s even important that it really is, also shouldn’t really matter either if you like the result.

For example I have even seen some peddled as “tube” pedal designs that have done nothing besides connect the tube as diode and have used it in place of the typical silicon fair you see in most designs. This does nothing to skew the sprectrum towards “tubey” because in this operating circumstance a tube diode and silicon one are virtually indistinguishable, and operate with the same square power law.

[Demanic]

Re: Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

^^
That's what I like about my Duncan Twin Tube Mayhem. It runs off off 15 volts that I have a feeling (thinking) are stepped up to a proper plate voltage.

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Cheap NEW Tube Pedal On The Way......................

I believe the Blackstar pedal line with the tubes in them (the HT series) bumps it up to 300v hitting the tube. That ought to do the trick.