Dirt Pedals For Tube Snobs

[takeout]

The H&K BATT suggestion up-thread seemed to get glossed over - 12AX7 pre + EL84 power section + dummy load, with which I've had a ton of fun, whether dummy out to Class-D power amp in or speaker out to monitor as a practice amp. Usable tone controls, which to my inexperienced ears sounds pretty B15-y.

 

[brandau]

That tone is awesome in the track! More details on this pedal (google yielded little) please!

The Thunder Machine is an overdrive built by boutique pedal builder Glenn Wyllie in NC. Invalid Link Removed

His site leaves a little to be desired, but believe me he knows what he's doing with pedals (he also has a signature sitar guitar played by TBone Burnett and Mark Stewert) He's a master of of all things involving fuzz circuits. He had some press awhile back for his guitar fuzz pedals the Moonrock and Fuzzmite.

Anyway, the Thunder Machine is designed for bass and is a really rich, transparent overdrive. It completely maintains the character of your bass and adds warmth, lowend and bite...

I made a sound sample for Jimmy so please PM with an email for an mp3...it's ready to go -brandau

 

[brandau]

Putting a pair of 12ax7's in it would have changed that for you significantly.

not sure if I tried that, but I did try several different tubes and could never get the sound I was looking for then...That was a while ago though..before I owned any tube amps...

I'd be willing to bet now I'd have a different perspective on it... That bad boy was pretty big though. a lot of real estate for a pedal board

 

[JimmyM]

The H&K BATT suggestion up-thread seemed to get glossed over - 12AX7 pre + EL84 power section + dummy load, with which I've had a ton of fun, whether dummy out to Class-D power amp in or speaker out to monitor as a practice amp. Usable tone controls, which to my inexperienced ears sounds pretty B15-y.

Yeah, sorry, didn't mean to gloss it over. I checked it out and it looks cool but that's a full on preamp and not a stompbox dirt pedal, which is what I really need.

 

[bassingeorge]

Ok, I read the entire thread...I'm also interested in a tube driven pedal.

Do you guys recommend the EHX English Muff'n?

I've read good things about Dave Halls pedals, but which one?
Theres the VT1-EQ-Bass-Drive with active EQ, and just one 12AX7, and the DHA VT2-Twin-Bass Valve Pre-amp/Overdrive which has passive EQ section and 2 channels...

Does anybody have recordings of Dave Hall pedals? Or care to share your experience with the pedals, both the EHX and DHA.

Thanks

 

[JimmyM]

The Thunder Machine is an overdrive built by boutique pedal builder Glenn Wyllie in NC. Invalid Link Removed

His site leaves a little to be desired, but believe me he knows what he's doing with pedals (he also has a signature sitar guitar played by TBone Burnett and Mark Stewert) He's a master of of all things involving fuzz circuits. He had some press awhile back for his guitar fuzz pedals the Moonrock and Fuzzmite.

Anyway, the Thunder Machine is designed for bass and is a really rich, transparent overdrive. It completely maintains the character of your bass and adds warmth, lowend and bite...

I made a sound sample for Jimmy so please PM with an email for an mp3...it's ready to go -brandau

Sent it to him already. Got one question since I'm not a great judge of how overdriven bass should sit in the mix without any context. Is it that simple to where it truly represents the EQ of your clean tone as you add drive, and there's no external EQ I would need to add to keep it fat with my clean tone? Do you ever need to EQ it separately when you use it live? I'm really digging it despite no tube It really does sound like it adjusts your EQ as you go up with the drive, but man, that's scary to spend $225 on a dirt pedal sight unseen with no EQ.

 

[Charley Umbria]

Has anybody tried Effectrode's Tube Drive? I really like the sound of my Effectrode PC-2A compressor and I'm wondering if their OD has the same rich, warm character.

 

[Trigga Happy]

You should also check out the Way Huge Pork Loin. I know It doesn't have any tubes but it's not a simulator and there's none of that harsh fizziness when going di.

 

[DeltaPhoenix]

Ok, I read the entire thread...I'm also interested in a tube driven pedal.

Do you guys recommend the EHX English Muff'n?

I've read good things about Dave Halls pedals, but which one?
Theres the VT1-EQ-Bass-Drive with active EQ, and just one 12AX7, and the DHA VT2-Twin-Bass Valve Pre-amp/Overdrive which has passive EQ section and 2 channels...

Does anybody have recordings of Dave Hall pedals? Or care to share your experience with the pedals, both the EHX and DHA.

Thanks

I had a DHA VT2-Bass-STD-EQ The EQ was active in my unit.
I absolutely loved it. It anchored my tone. When I first got it I was using an Eden WT-400. It really warmed up my tone. 2 channels was really handy.
Then I got an Eden tube head. I still kept it around. I used pretty much used one channel to keep my clean tone at the edge of break-up, pushing the power amp harder. I also kept it to use with gigs that are backlined. I had an ooppurtunity to the DHA with provided backline a few times. It helped me get a good chunk of my sound.
So I bought an Orange AD200B head, I got rid of the DHA. I needed the money to buy it. The DHA was a great workhorse for me.

 

[chaosmic]

Not sure if anyone's mentioned the EQD Monarch in this thread yet. It does an amazing job of replicating the sound of a tube amp in my opinion.

 

[Jacob J]

As some other guys, I would suggest the ValveDrive as well. A friend of mine has one, and since I would definitely call him a tube snob who plays tube heads exclusively, I believe he was very picky when deciding on overdrive pedal. I´ve never played through it, but since his and my band share the same rehreasal space, I often hear him playing through this pedal and there isn´t a better sounding OD to my ears. I plan to buy it and run it in front of my Little Mark II which I acquired recently to saturate my tone. I think that this ValveDrive is one of the few actual tube overdrives that isn´t the preamp sort of a thing at the first place. It is a bit pricey (especially here in Europe, although EBS is european brand), but in my opinion really worth it.

 

[brandau]

Sent it to him already. Got one question since I'm not a great judge of how overdriven bass should sit in the mix without any context. Is it that simple to where it truly represents the EQ of your clean tone as you add drive, and there's no external EQ I would need to add to keep it fat with my clean tone? Do you ever need to EQ it separately when you use it live? I'm really digging it despite no tube It really does sound like it adjusts your EQ as you go up with the drive, but man, that's scary to spend $225 on a dirt pedal sight unseen with no EQ.

Yeah I hear ya on the leap of faith... I've never had to add any EQ to it...it's designed for bass so it really does
maintain the lowend. When I use it on gigs, I just dial it in and forget about it. I leave it on the whole time. It's really great for quite gigs because you can get that dirt at any volume

 

[bongomania]

Has anybody tried Effectrode's Tube Drive? I really like the sound of my Effectrode PC-2A compressor and I'm wondering if their OD has the same rich, warm character.

I've talked with the owner of Effectrode many times, and he says his drive pedals aren't really ideal for bass, but that he does want to produce a bass OD. So what I recommend is emailing him to show the market wants it!

 

[LowB-ing]

I have the EHX English Muff'n and the EBS ValveDrive.

When it comes to overdrive, I like "crunchy" and I dislike "farty" and "buzzy". I play only finger style which makes "crunchy" slightly more challenging to get than with a pick, but I play active basses (mostly my MusicMan) which mitigates that challenge to some extent. I'm not looking for a "tubeyfier" since I already play through a tube amp. I'm after an overdrive channel in a pedal. Now that you know where I'm coming from...

The Muff'n has the breakup I like but it loses lows. I was able to restore the lows using an EQ pedal after it in a loop (I have it in a loop anyway for other reasons). I had it modified with a bigger cap in the input section to give it more lows but it only helped to some extent. I still need the EQ pedal, but at less extreme of a setting.

The EBS is way to farty and buzzy for me. It retains bass better, but that is kind of pointless when it doesn't have the break up i like.

I have a feeling my taste is quite different from JimmyMs, but perhaps this was helpful for a few others in this thread.

 

[JazznFunk]

Changing tubes makes a difference in the ValveDrive... I put a long-plate Mullard reissue in it and it smoothed it out tremendously.

I

The EBS is way to farty and buzzy for me. It retains bass better, but that is kind of pointless when it doesn't have the break up i like.

 

[kringle77]

LOWB-ing, I right there with you. It's a tough sound to get fingerstyle. I've got a rusty box coming but would really like to hear this new swell B-PEG.

 

[DHA]

Ok, I read the entire thread...I'm also interested in a tube driven pedal.

Do you guys recommend the EHX English Muff'n?

I've read good things about Dave Halls pedals, but which one?
Theres the VT1-EQ-Bass-Drive with active EQ, and just one 12AX7, and the DHA VT2-Twin-Bass Valve Pre-amp/Overdrive which has passive EQ section and 2 channels...

Does anybody have recordings of Dave Hall pedals? Or care to share your experience with the pedals, both the EHX and DHA.

Thanks

All my current pedals use active EQ, the older ones were passive but don't do them any more.

 

[JimmyM]

Passive schmassive...all I care about is sounding legit. Dave, your pedals just got on the short list. Could only find a couple clips of pedals you built on Youtube, and they have lots and lots of knobs, but I like what I heard so far, and I like two channels of grind. Going to search on here for more clips later.

Have to admit, though, I finally went out into the crowd to listen to what it sounds like using the VTD for dirt into the REDDI, and it's making a case for itself. Definitely comes across with more depth and more "reality," so to speak, plus I wouldn't need to use a separate splitter. Or spend money. Spent enough on the REDDI and Linden EQ already. Maybe I ought not to rush into this. Not like it'll kill me to use solid state for dirt. Even Stevie Ray Vaughan did it.

Dammit, you guys have made me one of you!

I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.

 

[Charley Umbria]

I've talked with the owner of Effectrode many times, and he says his drive pedals aren't really ideal for bass, but that he does want to produce a bass OD. So what I recommend is emailing him to show the market wants it!

That's good info. Thanks, Bongo!

 

[Laurent]

Dammit, you guys have made me one of you!

I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.
I will not spend $2000 on dirt pedals.

Ha, ha, you're funny.
$2K is not bad the pain starts at $3K to $4K.

EBS Valve Drive with a good tube is probably what you looking for. Also in a different direction, the Markbass Compressore does a nice job warming up your tone.