Suggest a tube preamp for solid state amp

aja

So I have a Roland JC120 - the clean is amazing, but when using overdrive pedals (like a sansamp triac), either through the preamp or only through the poweramp, it sounds a little brittle (this seems to be enhanced dramatically by the room acoustics - the harsh sounds seem to be bouncing off the walls). I would like to get some nice tube compression going on there by using a valve preamp or tube pedal.

What could you recommend that will not give huge amounts of gain but rather sweeten up the sound? :-\

My favourite choices so far:

Effectrode Tube Drive Overdrive (with 12AU7's)
http://proguitarshop.com/store/effects-overdrive-pedals-c-602_6/effectrode-tube-drive-overdrive-p-1253

BK Butler Tube Driver (with bias option or with 12AU7)
http://www.butleraudio.com/tubedriver.php

And don't say get a tube amp LOL! ?

Bonus question: Is there an easy way to tell if a pedal is designed to drive a tube amp harder and add gain, or to act as a standalone preamp section?

AlanRatcliffe

Hmm... difficult, as the main reason for the harshness is the amp and speakers let through more of the harsh high end than most guitar amps. In that situation, you'll probably find any overdrive will have a bit of a harsh edge. Usually I recommend the Sansamps for JC-120s, but you seem to be doing that already...

bottledtone

aja wrote: I would like to get some nice tube compression going on there by using a valve preamp or tube pedal.

What could you recommend that will not give huge amounts of gain but rather sweeten up the sound? :-\

You can try building yourself a Valvecaster which just uses 12vdc and a 12au7. Very simple circuit and adds nice crunch and string dynamics. www.beavisaudio.com/projects/ValveCaster

Doesn't the jc120 have speakers with the chrome dust covers? because if heard of guys cutting that stuff off the speakers on other amps (some fenders) to get rid of harsh tinny sounds.

racman

Hey aja, at the risk of seeming like just promoting my sale in Classifieds; have you thought about the Seymour Duncan that I am selling - I was quite impressed with it but I am more into a pure clean to mildly overdriven sound so a bit of a waste to me.

Danny-B

When I had a JC 120, I used a TubeKing, which sounded alright, as well as an MI AUDIO Tube Zone, which sounded better than the TubeKing, even though it was sans tube. However, the best results I had was with a Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Classic. Meaty. Preferred it in front of the JC as opposed to my Lionheart ?

Danny-B

HA!

How's that for a cowinky dinky ?