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EBS Valve Drive: which tube works best?

#2
Up to you. I went through 7 or 8 different ones and found I really liked a worked in 12AX7 from an old Trace Elliott head. The JJ was too clean and the Groove Tubes didn't have the dynamics I was after. Also recall the Mesa Boogie 12AX7 being quite good as well. That was a fresh, new tube if I recall correctly.

Good luck!
 
#4
Hi guys,

I use a fair amount of distortion, coming from a Source Audio MWBD. Now I wanted to incorporate the ValveDrive to both compress my sound a bit at the end of the pedalboard and to have the clean sound in that edge where it starts to brakeup. The idea came from a small period when I used the MWBD cascading into a BDDI and loved it.
I have yet to do some further testing but for now I'm finding that: 1 - even in the "modern" setting it is a bit to round and classic for me, I would like more edge. 2 - When I put another distortion before, like the MWBD or the B3K, it tends to eat up the distortion, cutting off all the edginess.

So I was wondering, since I got the pedal used, if this might be due to old tube of if there is some specific tube I could use to make it more clean, like the JJ as HeavyJazz mentioned. Or maybe I'm doing something wrong like sending to much signal into it.
 
#5
The eq section is not intuitive on the valvedrive. To set it flat turn bass and treble all the way down and mids all the way up. Or visa eras (going from memory here) could be the edginess that is being eaten up is actually your mids

Start here and adjust to taste. That might be your issue.

EDIT. flat position is either as written above or mids at noon, bass and treble at zero (8 o'clock)
 
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#6
sprag said:
The eq section is not intuitive on the valvedrive. To set it flat turn bass and treble all the way down and mids all the way up. Or visa eras (going from memory here) could be the edginess that is being eaten up is actually your mids

Start here and adjust to taste. That might be your issue.

EDIT. flat position is either as written above or mids at noon, bass and treble at zero (8 o'clock)
Click to expand...

Yes, you remember correct, that is my starting point but I would like a little less bass also, and maybe a bit less compression.
On a related note, doesn't changing the tube always imply adjusting bias and other stuff in the pedal?
 
#7
kurotenshi said:
Yes, you remember correct, that is my starting point but I would like a little less bass also, and maybe a bit less compression.
On a related note, doesn't changing the tube always imply adjusting bias and other stuff in the pedal?
Click to expand...

About two years ago I was in the same boat and got this pedal to run as a preamp at the end of my chain, based on the TB recommendations. After the honeymoon period was over, I realized it wasn't for me.

Just like you, I have found this pedal to be really dark. I think I ended up running mids full open, boosting treble and adding very little bass. I was using the modern channel only, as the vintage channel rolls off even more high end and some low end as well. Even with these settings it was a bit dark, not that I like clanky highs, but I felt ths pedal could have benefited from more presence or a bright switch, YMMV, of course.

I have read on this forum that since the eq is passive, it's very dependent on the master volume. Technically, to get more treble out of it, you have to raise the master volume. If you have a passive bass, you can use the switch on the back, put the pedal into -10 or -20 mode, whatever that was. This way it will clip less and you can open the master volume more. Try it and see if it works for you.

Compression: well, you have to remember, that this is an overdrive pedal with a tube in it, not a tube preamp per se and you get what you pay for. Compression was a problem for me as well, as even with low gain settings on the modern channel the sound was too compressed. My problem was that I was using a compressor in addition to this pedal, so my sound was squashed before it even got to the board :( You can experiment with different tube settings, as some tubes will have less distortion or will clip less, which will yield less compression. I had an older version of this pedal running at 12v with no DI output, so I didn't feel it was worth investing in different tubes and finally moved on.
 
#8
open_space said:
About two years ago I was in the same boat and got this pedal to run as a preamp at the end of my chain, based on the TB recommendations. After the honeymoon period was over, I realized it wasn't for me.

Just like you, I have found this pedal to be really dark. I think I ended up running mids full open, boosting treble and adding very little bass. I was using the modern channel only, as the vintage channel rolls off even more high end and some low end as well. Even with these settings it was a bit dark, not that I like clanky highs, but I felt ths pedal could have benefited from more presence or a bright switch, YMMV, of course.

I have read on this forum that since the eq is passive, it's very dependent on the master volume. Technically, to get more treble out of it, you have to raise the master volume. If you have a passive bass, you can use the switch on the back, put the pedal into -10 or -20 mode, whatever that was. This way it will clip less and you can open the master volume more. Try it and see if it works for you.

Compression: well, you have to remember, that this is an overdrive pedal with a tube in it, not a tube preamp per se and you get what you pay for. Compression was a problem for me as well, as even with low gain settings on the modern channel the sound was too compressed. My problem was that I was using a compressor in addition to this pedal, so my sound was squashed before it even got to the board :( You can experiment with different tube settings, as some tubes will have less distortion or will clip less, which will yield less compression. I had an older version of this pedal running at 12v with no DI output, so I didn't feel it was worth investing in different tubes and finally moved on.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing.
I also have the 12Vdc no DI pedal so I will try your ideias of using it with volume way up and maybe ditch the compressor on the beginning of the chain.
One other option I will try before quitting on it is running two parallel chains, a clean low passed one with the ValveDrive and a distorted one without it.
Anyway, there is still some testing to do before I spend more money.
 

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