Power tube overdrive.

NickyBass · #1 06-30-2008, 02:06 PM

Has anyway played around with a power tube overdrive? I may have something up my sleeve right now, but I wanted to check in with the resident tone nuts.

I love the tone of my B-15n when I push it just right. I wanted that tone in a pedal form, but realized that it's not really happening. The idea, now, is to use a low powered tube head that has an internal dummy load across it and a line level out. This would give me the power tube tone in a compact package. Then I can control it with a looper pedal.

The head wouldn't be 'floor mount' friendly, so I would need to keep it on top of my amp, but, I think that this would give me THE tone. I'm not looking for overdrive so much as a 'breaking up power tube' tone.

I've tried the preamp tube pedals, and, while I love the tone of some of the overdrives, it's really not really the same as hearing a power tube pushed perfectly to the point of breaking.

sonicvi · #2 06-30-2008, 02:14 PM

I don't know of any that are pedals, but there are some rack units that use a power tube for distortion, usually an EL84. Two that spring to mind are the SWR Interstellar Overdrive and one by the Bass Master by H&K.

nad · #3 06-30-2008, 02:19 PM

Blue Berry. It sounds like power tubes breaking up. Directly compared to several tube amps cranked to 11, the tone is there. Bjorn is a genius.

The SWR Interstellar Overdrive is the only unit that I'm aware of that actually uses power amp tubes to bring the dirt. Something more compact, cheaper, and possibly still in production would be awesome.

Didn't know about that Hughes and Kettner, sweet.

bongomania · #4 06-30-2008, 02:28 PM

Dave Hall has something like this up his sleeve, in development.

The units that already do this that I know of:
H&K Blues Master, Crunch Master, Bass Master, and B.A.T.T.
SWR Interstellar Overdriver
Lexicon Signature 284
Warwick Quadruplet

flange · #5 06-30-2008, 02:44 PM

Check this out
http://www.garnetamps.com/herzog.htm

judas jedermann · #6 06-30-2008, 02:53 PM

Zvex has Nano Head but I am not sure is it what you are looking for.
http://zvexamps.com/amp_view.html

bongomania · #7 06-30-2008, 03:09 PM

That Garnet amp looks very cool, although $699 USD. Re the Zvex, it comes with this warning:

Quote:

WARNING: DO NOT CONNECT OUTPUT OF NANO TO ANOTHER AMP'S INPUT. THE NANO IS AN AMP, NOT AN EFFECT, AND MUST BE CONNECTED ONLY TO A SPEAKER CABINET UNLESS AN ATTENUATOR SUCH AS THE THD HOTPLATE IS USED TO PROCESS THE SIGNAL AND PROVIDE A LOAD. CAREFUL,YOU COULD DAMAGE OR DESTROY BOTH AMPLIFIERS!

NickyBass · #8 06-30-2008, 06:20 PM

Thanks for the info guys. The Garnet looks like a cool unit. It's pricier than I'd spend, but seems like it would be killer.

I'd love to check it out in person though.

Tim Cole · #9 06-30-2008, 11:37 PM

What about the epiphone jobbers?

eshears · #10 07-01-2008, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

Dave Hall has something like this up his sleeve, in development.

thejohnkim · #11 07-01-2008, 04:36 PM

Just a heads up. My experience with the SWR IOD, was that it sounded great if you used the 5w/8w speaker output, but it lost all its mojo and tone when you used the 1/4" preamp output. The tone was too thin for me when I used it as a rack pre, so I can't recommend it. I actually would recommend a sansamp (i.e. bddi or vt bass) over the iod for power tube breakup. I don't know of swr's circuit is something similar to what youre trying.

Sean S · #12 07-01-2008, 04:46 PM

Would a Flipster be a good recommendation, seeing how it's supposed to get the B15 sound in pedal form?

NickyBass · #13 07-01-2008, 06:52 PM

This is what got me started on the whole madness:

It's a completely hand wired class A single ended amplifier. The tube set is normally a 12AX7 and an EL84, but for bass, a 6SN7 into a 6V6 would be killer. There is also a built in dummy load that is activated when using the line level out. They are custom built by Electrosonic. I think that a tube cage is a must for gigging.

What I like about this one, aside from the hand wired, custom built nature, is that it is very straight forward. I'm not a big fan of the 'swiss army knife preamps.' I know some people love them, so I can't really say anything negative about them. Just that they're not for me.

The only thing that I would add is a tone knob. He can even put on a switch that selects between a loose and tight response.

stingray56funk · #14 07-01-2008, 06:58 PM

That looks freakin' awesome and I bet it sounds even better!

emjazz · #15 07-01-2008, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nad

Blue Berry. It sounds like power tubes breaking up. Directly compared to several tube amps cranked to 11, the tone is there. Bjorn is a genius.

It never helps to continue hearing that the $400 pedal is the end to my quest for this particular sound.......

bongomania · #16 07-01-2008, 07:01 PM

Ooh, neato. http://www.electrosonicamplifiers.co...s.php#parallax
Only $475 (better than the Garnet anyway) and with the dummy load already built in. They provide a soundclip of it, but (a) they used one of those tiny six-stringed instruments, and (b) they fed it into the tube power section of an amp head so it's in no way a demonstration of the Parallax by itself. Still a potentially very cool option though. A Barber Linden would feed it well.

NickyBass · #17 07-01-2008, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

...they fed it into the tube power section of an amp head so it's in no way a demonstration of the Parallax by itself. Still a potentially very cool option though. A Barber Linden would feed it well.

The first clip is just the Parallax driving a stand alone cab. I'd be more interested in using it as an effect, though.

Visirale · #18 07-01-2008, 07:10 PM

You could always buy a small tube head and run it through a direct box that can accept speaker level loads (Avalon and Radial both make ones that do this). You can crank that head, then send it to the DI and use the DI through to go to your main rig.

NickyBass · #19 07-01-2008, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Visirale

You could always buy a small tube head and run it through a direct box that can accept speaker level loads (Avalon and Radial both make ones that do this). You can crank that head, then send it to the DI and use the DI through to go to your main rig.

I've done this with decent results. I had to connect the main out to a dummy load first though. I sent the aux out into a Countryman DI, into a power amp then to a cab.

I'm looking for something to use as an effect, though. The Electrosonic is cool because it's compact and designed to allow this already.

stingray56funk · #20 07-04-2008, 10:15 AM

Nickybass...

check out this link: http://www.soniccord.com/products.html

Go to the bottom and look at the Classic bass head. I don't know if it requires a dummy load or not...but 100watts, 6550 tubes to get your Ampeg overdrive, and 25lbs. The DI is quoted as being designed to be last in the signal chain as to provide that all power tube tone! Sounds like what you are after as long as the thing has an internal dummy load.