Tube Preamp pedal?

Crash907 · #1 05-09-2008, 06:44 PM

I recently was looking through that wondrous thing that is musicians friend, and i found a couple products that looked interesting - one of which was an EBS distortion pedal that actually has a tube in it, as well as a T-rex compressor pedal that had a tube in it.
Are there any other pedals that anyone knows of that have tubes in them? I'm looking to simplify my rig to a pedal with a tube in it of some sort to use as a preamp, and simply plug that directly into house (if neccesary, just run through a clean DI to convert to an XRL input.) And for that matter, does anyone have experience with the pedals i mentioned?

bongomania · #2 05-09-2008, 06:48 PM

There are literally dozens of options, many of which (including the ones you mentioned) have been reviewed and discussed in this forum. So your first goal is to read up on "tube" and "valve" for those threads.

If you'd like some specific recommendations beyond what you read, be sure to specify whether you are looking for clarity, fatness, overdrive, or any other sort of specific "tubey" quality, and also specify your budget- as there are options ranging from $50 to $1,000.

Nyarlathotep · #3 05-09-2008, 07:35 PM

EHX makes a bunch of different tube pedals. I think most could be used as pre's.

Andy V. · #4 05-09-2008, 08:39 PM

A guy near my city made a Alembic F1-X in a box!

Talk about GAS...

Crash907 · #5 05-10-2008, 07:30 AM

The biggest deal is the preamp aspect of the pedal - I'd like the tube for the depth and warmth without neccesarily having to use a tube amplifier, or buy a full tube preamp that would simply cost as much as buying an amp.
And yes, I'd like some specific recommendations based on some people's experiences - I've never gotten to even see anything to this effect in person. My price limit would be about 400.

Nyarlathotep · #6 05-10-2008, 08:40 AM

Personal experience tells me to tell you to get an EHX English Muff'n.

If you dont change out the stock AU7 tubes then you can get a pretty clean, tho tubey, signal from it. IIRC the output gain knob has quite some kick, even at low input gain, and you'll then get a full 3 band bass/mid/treble EQ.

The other tube pedals from EHX are more just meant to be gain pedals with no EQ, except the Tube EQ, wich is just an EQ, no in/out gain. If you don't need an EQ, then check out the 12AY7 Tube Mic Preamp from EHX, more cus its a mono signal design, unlike the stereo LPB 2ube

EDIT: All the above are around 200$.

scotch · #7 05-10-2008, 09:06 AM

Based on what I think you're looking for, either the EBS Valve Drive or EH English Muff'n would be perfect.

I actually use the EBS as my primary studio pre for bass these days. It does exactly what you're describing. Warm tube tone from a pedal straight into a DI. It also doubles as a superb overdrive effect with two unique voices. The eq points are bass guitar specific as well.

As to the EH, I don't own one but I recently recommended it to a colleague to use as a studio tool to "warm up" his direct tone. He is very happy with it! Also, the English Muff'n has a very devoted fanbase here on Tb...

RickenBoogie · #8 05-10-2008, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotch

Based on what I think you're looking for, either the EBS Valve Drive or EH English Muff'n would be perfect.

I actually use the EBS as my primary studio pre for bass these days. It does exactly what you're describing. Warm tube tone from a pedal straight into a DI. It also doubles as a superb overdrive effect with two unique voices. The eq points are bass guitar specific as well.

As to the EH, I don't own one but I recently recommended it to a colleague to use as a studio tool to "warm up" his direct tone. He is very happy with it! Also, the English Muff'n has a very devoted fanbase here on Tb...

I'm very happy with my Valve Drive. It's everything they claim it to be, and more. Most natural tube warmth/grit in pedal form, that I've ever heard. Could be exactly what you're looking for.

Crash907 · #9 05-10-2008, 01:46 PM

Right now im going to be working doing basic classic rock covers, and i do some musicals and session work as well - never any thing that needs buzzsaw distortion. At most, I'm wanting some fuzz, since the cover band, being only a trio, has some tendencies towards cream style jamming.
Right now i've been running a Hartke Bass Attack DI/Preamp into everything, and it's worked wonders for the most part - I like it, but I'd still like a bit more depth. The shape knob is amazingly useful, but it can only imitate, in my opinion, what im hoping to get with tubes in a pedal. I'm definatley going to look into the muf'n, since i've already looked at the EBS pedal a little bit.
As time has gone on, i've been leaning more and more towards making my own equipment (already made a couple speaker cabinets for myself, been working on a bass, finger ramps, so on), but I want to get a hold of a pedal that I really like before I try and tackle anything along these lines.