Tube effect pedals

Riaan

Stupid question from a pedal noob: I see there are many tube containing overdrive/distortion effect pedals. Are they meant to be used with tube amps only, or will they perform as intended and sound good on solid state amps also?

AlanRatcliffe

They work on either. Some are good at warming up and smoothing out a solid-state amp. Be warned though - with some, the tube is more marketing than engineering, and doesn't do anything significant (or is even detrimental) to the sound. The acid test is the same as with any overdrive - try it and see if it works for you.

Riaan

I thought I'd start with one good quality overdrive pedal only, and see how much I can get out of it tone wise before adding more pedals. I'm looking at a BK Butler Tube Driver at the moment - his newer version with the "bias" control, which varies the voltage going to the tube.

aja

Also have a look at the tonebone as well as the blackstar HT-dual

The blackstar HT-dual has cab sims and can be used in front of an amp to warm it up or directly into the desk/PA. You can even use headphones or whatever you want - very versatile pedal...

To follow on what alan said, some of these tube pedals do not even run the tubes at a high enough voltage to do much. The HT-dual runs at a full 300volts AFAIK, hence no battery facility available

needleshy

I had a tonebone and they sound fantastic and the more expensive ones have a effects loop which is really awsome. worked for me casue the Banmaster i played never had one, but they are a bit expnsive.

WantzChas

I own a Blackstar HT-DistX and I love it, it has really nice overdrive and distortion and then some more. I'm just having problems using it with my GT-8. I want to use the GT-8 for the delay etc, but my signal comes out really weak.

Tokai-SA

Riaan wrote: I thought I'd start with one good quality overdrive pedal only, and see how much I can get out of it tone wise before adding more pedals.

If you're buying online my advice would be to buy a Fulltone OCD...when you play this pedal you think it has a bunch of tubes inside it, but it doesn't have any, it's just Mike Fuller magic.
It will give you everything from mild overdrive to full on Marshall Crunch, in one pedal.
If you're buying locally then I'd go with an MI Audio Blues Boy Pro (better than a TS9), or a Crunchbox.

As Alan says, most tube overdrive pedals are more marketing hype than anything else.
The best pedal you can add to a solid state amp IMO is a Compressor...it makes it sound more tubey.

Riaan

Thanks guys for all the advise and suggestions.

guidothepimmp

I don't want to generalize but I have found pedals with valves to be a bit on the noisy side... quite a lot of hum.

evolucian

sansamp make some good stuff... though not valve... but it does juice valves very nicely

Danny-B

guidothepimmp wrote: I don't want to generalize but I have found pedals with valves to be a bit on the noisy side... quite a lot of hum.

+1 to that.

DrGonzo

Ibanez Tube King is great! very full and creamy distortion, ver high gain tho! but that can be tamed with a different tube
Changing the stock tube to a quality tube makes a huge difference in tone and feel!!!

Heath

I have played the ht dual a few times now and I love , still on the top of my gas list when I start playing again . Awesome sounding pedal

aja

evolucian wrote: sansamp make some good stuff... though not valve... but it does juice valves very nicely

very underrated, I am happy with my tri AC!

needleshy

evolucian wrote: sansamp make some good stuff... though not valve... but it does juice valves very nicely

+1 to sansamp