Changing the tube on an EBS ValveDrive pedal

[indiefan4000]

I love the ValveDrive, but I need more distortion. What kind of tubes (i.e. Russian, Chinese, 12AX7, 12AU7, etc.) would give me a way dirtier, distorted sound? I read that Russians break up faster and have more edge, but also that they are lower gain. I don't know near as much as the average guitar player about tubes, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[RickenBoogie]

The Valve drive is an awesome pedal, but super high gain distortion is not what's it's designed for. Subtle warmth, up to a good medium grind, but that's it. Sounds like you need either a full blown distortion pedal, or maybe even fuzz.

[indiefan4000]

I've been fearing that's the case. I have the Iron Ether QF2 which rocks from subtle to face-melt, but I'd like to have extra tube drive/compression in a pedal (so I can leave my amp settings alone). The ValveDrive has been doing well but just doesn't quite get me to the saturation I want.

Is there another pedal with tubes that could crank just a few more notches for a more full, thick tube sound? Maybe a pedal with two tubes? I know there are a ton out there but I need some hard recommendations before I go down another overdrive-buying rabbit hole.

[nodisco]

I changed Svetlana tube for Electro Harmonix 12AX7eh and I'm pretty statisfied with the tone I get, it's a bit nastier, distortes more, but still has that tube taste.
Check my soundcloud, there are some pieces recorded with it.

[bongomania]

Just FWIW, it's not true that "Russians" will sound any particular way compared to "Chinese" or any other country of origin. Each country produces a wide range of tubes with a wide range of sounds.

12AX7 will have the highest gain of the 12A*7 range, and I think that's what comes stock in the Valve Drive already. So you could swap different tubes in for subtle flavor differences, but there is no tube you could put in there that would turn it into more of a distortion effect.

Aside from maybe a tube that's going bad.

Maybe check out clips of the Markbass Distorsore, see if it sounds good to you. IMO the best distortions for bass are actually solid state emulations of tubes, or pedals that combine tube and SS dirt. The problem is that you pretty much cannot get the super tough "distorted tube amp" sound from just one or two preamp tubes.

[JKos]

What if you put a boost pedal before the Valvedrive?

- John

[Tendollarcat]

Originally Posted by JKos

What if you put a boost pedal before the Valvedrive?

- John

I've done this myself. I've had great results running the Wren and Cuff Phat Phuk before the Valvedrive. Generally speaking, the Valvedrive plays really nicely with other pedals.

[indiefan4000]

Thanks guys, this is all helps alot. I'm still feeling my way around the QF2 right now, definitely the most complicated dirt pedal ever. But I think that pedal before the ValveDrive should do the trick.

Right now, I'm running the Iron Ether QF2 into a Markbass Superbooster into the EBS ValveDrive. That should be plenty of boost/drive into the VD so I probably just need to do some more tweaking.

Side note: I'm starting to feel like I should give the SansAmp VT Bass a try, with as much love as it gets on TB. Just from reading what people say, it sounds like that might be the kind of solid state tube simulation OD you were referring to, Bongo?

[bongomania]

Yeah the VT is a popular example. The Blueberry is another (expensive though).

It does sound like you've got plenty of gain in front of the EBS already, and that's not doing what you want. So I'd say experiment with all possible orders/combinations of those 3 gain pedals.