Tube equipped pedals- love/ hate?
- Thread starter bloodswords
- Start date
daemon barbeque
Zuhahahaologist
Re: Tube equipped pedals- love/ hate?
Extreme slayer tone!
Need mostly a tube change to get better (A JJ or mullard)..But a very cool pedal.But not a preamp.Just a distortion unit!
Extreme slayer tone!
Need mostly a tube change to get better (A JJ or mullard)..But a very cool pedal.But not a preamp.Just a distortion unit!
nebucanazza
New member
Re: Tube equipped pedals- love/ hate?
To my ears the Silver Dragon is somewhat Mesa voiced. The tube is there to provide two extra gain stages in conjunction with the IC gain stages.
To my ears the Silver Dragon is somewhat Mesa voiced. The tube is there to provide two extra gain stages in conjunction with the IC gain stages.
frankfalbo
In Fluence Y'all
Re: Tube equipped pedals- love/ hate?
Lots of good info here. The most important factor is whether the tubes are running with adequate power. The 9-12vdc will likely mean starved plate voltages. The next thing to consider is whether the tubes are actually the cause of all the distortion you're hearing, or whether there's solid state distortion cascading into the tubes. I'm not saying that's bad, I use a ton of solid state overdrive pedals in front of dirty tube preamps. But it bugs me when an amp or tube pedal company is trying to make you think you're hearing all tube overdrive and there's a clipping diode circuit in there. If that's the case, I'll probably still "buy the amp" if it sounds good, but just tell me.
Lots of good info here. The most important factor is whether the tubes are running with adequate power. The 9-12vdc will likely mean starved plate voltages. The next thing to consider is whether the tubes are actually the cause of all the distortion you're hearing, or whether there's solid state distortion cascading into the tubes. I'm not saying that's bad, I use a ton of solid state overdrive pedals in front of dirty tube preamps. But it bugs me when an amp or tube pedal company is trying to make you think you're hearing all tube overdrive and there's a clipping diode circuit in there. If that's the case, I'll probably still "buy the amp" if it sounds good, but just tell me.
bloodswords
New member
Re: Tube equipped pedals- love/ hate?
the Silver Dragon was one of the pedals i tried.yes, there's an LED beneath the tube to make it glow upon activation- maybe this is an attraction to let the user know there's a tube in there... this pedal has an inherent phaser effect (not intense) at higher drive settings, something that put me off.
PS: is there a simple way (for us lay persons) to know if the tube is what we hear from these pedals (instead of an SS circuitry at the helm)?
the Silver Dragon was one of the pedals i tried.yes, there's an LED beneath the tube to make it glow upon activation- maybe this is an attraction to let the user know there's a tube in there... this pedal has an inherent phaser effect (not intense) at higher drive settings, something that put me off.
PS: is there a simple way (for us lay persons) to know if the tube is what we hear from these pedals (instead of an SS circuitry at the helm)?
nebucanazza
New member
Re: Tube equipped pedals- love/ hate?
Most of these pedals have multiple gain stages, with hybrid tube-SS circuitry. With the tube running at 9-12V, most of the high gain is probably coming from SS stages. At higher voltages, the tube itself can provide decent amount of gain, which may or may not be supplemented with SS stages. It all depends on the design. There are many pure SS pedals that you might prefer to tube pedals..so try them out first. What you DO get with a tube based pedal is large size, a wall wart and a lot of extra circuitry to set up the tube bias.
bloodswords, I never noticed any phaser effect going on at high gain with the SD. It does have lots of hum/microphonics beyond a certain point(depending on the quality of your tube)
Most of these pedals have multiple gain stages, with hybrid tube-SS circuitry. With the tube running at 9-12V, most of the high gain is probably coming from SS stages. At higher voltages, the tube itself can provide decent amount of gain, which may or may not be supplemented with SS stages. It all depends on the design. There are many pure SS pedals that you might prefer to tube pedals..so try them out first. What you DO get with a tube based pedal is large size, a wall wart and a lot of extra circuitry to set up the tube bias.
bloodswords, I never noticed any phaser effect going on at high gain with the SD. It does have lots of hum/microphonics beyond a certain point(depending on the quality of your tube)
Re: Tube equipped pedals- love/ hate?
I had someone from Korg once tell me when I worked at GC that the amount of voltage running through the tube (in this case it was a Vox Tonelab) wasn't enough to make it glow a whole lot, so they added an LED behind the tube to make it more visible.
In short, it's purely to look cool.
I had someone from Korg once tell me when I worked at GC that the amount of voltage running through the tube (in this case it was a Vox Tonelab) wasn't enough to make it glow a whole lot, so they added an LED behind the tube to make it more visible.
In short, it's purely to look cool.
bloodswords
New member
Re: Tube equipped pedals- love/ hate?
this is why people think it's a hoax- lighting up a tube that doesn't light up...
this is why people think it's a hoax- lighting up a tube that doesn't light up...
Re: Tube equipped pedals- love/ hate?
My experience seemed to be the exact opposite of everyone elses... i think i may have gotten a bum unit.
My experience seemed to be the exact opposite of everyone elses... i think i may have gotten a bum unit.
bloodswords
New member
Re: Tube equipped pedals- love/ hate?
if there are tubes in there & it says 'MESA' or 'SOLDANO', it's pure enticement...
would you consider a Behringher...?
if there are tubes in there & it says 'MESA' or 'SOLDANO', it's pure enticement...
would you consider a Behringher...?
