EBS valvedrive DI - 12A*7

I used a JanPhilips 5751 tube in mine, much smoother breakup.

 

Instead of 12AX7 you can also use 12AT7, 12AY7, 12AU7, 5751. They all have a lower amplification factor.

 

DriesG,

Glad to hear you are liking your Valve Drive.
I bought one just more than a month ago. It's a fantastic pedal.
I understand that you think it breaks up too soon.
I recommend keeping the drive set quite conservatively. I run mine about 10 o'clock to 10:30.
I get a great smooth slightly overdriven tone that way. EQ controls set flat per the EBS manual as well.
I prefer the modern switch position over the "vintage"

Very small changes in the drive knob position make significant change to the amount of overdrive.
I run mine as a pedal into a GK 400RBiii in our practice room and I need to have the -10db switch engaged
to avoid being excessively loud and overdriving the input of the GK.

I have to say I am quite reluctant to swap tubes or do anything else to a new $400 pedal.
IMHO you should be able to get a great overdrive tone from mild to wild from the Valve Drive as delivered.
For right now, at least, I'm not going up against all the design and development that lies within that beautiful box.

 

Dries,

Maybe a tube with less amplification would broaden the spectrum of drive as you describe.
I understand what you are after and how the lower amplification factor would work.
I'm interested to know what your results are if you try other tubes.

Perhaps because my Valve Drive is so new to me, I'm OK with how it's working at this time.
I could see myself wanting to have a more gradual increase in drive as I play a bit harder.
At the moment, I'm just really loving the sound.
You have me wondering, though. The "vintage" sound is active when the light is yellow, right?
"modern" tone is active when the light is red. That's what I understood according to the manual.
The tone when the light is yellow is certainly much more distorted.

 

Anybody know -

The product info for the new VD DI says they changed the 1/4 inch output so that it can go direct to a power amp. Is there any problem going through the preamp on your head like with the old pedal version? I'm surprised I'm the only dummy with that question - seems like the product info sheet should cover that. Even if I used it as an always-on thing I would still like to have the ability to use the 4 band active EQ on my SS head (vs going direct to the power amp section). I have also looked at the REDDI as another way to add tube warmth, but it seems to be strictly a DI which is not meant to feed a preamp. I have a VT Bass but have long lusted after the Valve Drive.

Thanks.

 

No, it's just that many pedals cannot output enough signal to make a power amp respond. Other issue is the output impedance that might not match, the ValveDrive has a rather hight output impedance that does not match the input impedance of power-amps.

Just like you can plug an active bass to the preamp on your head you can also plug a lower impedance pedal.

 

Thanks for the responses....now I have to think about buying one....more GAS.

 

I've got a first gen Valve Drive coming my way. Plan on doing tube swap like the OP did.

I did the same kind of tube swap in a BK Butler Blue Tube some time ago. REALLY like the results. Hopefully this'll be a similar type of thang!

 

Is an old post but I will leave my comment here for the records. I recently swapped the 12ax7 for a 12at7 for a better clean sound and more overhead.
The Valvedrive is awesome with the 12at7. It really pushes the gentle side of this tube monster pedal. I really recommend giving it a try.

 

‘tis a much older post by now lol
But I’ll leave my comment for the records as well:

Going through the same thing with this unit… posted on another thread about it. & in the middle of Rolling tubes with it.
because the 12AX7 is WAAAY too hot/distorted for my taste. I’m looking for tube “warmth”, Not tube ‘distortion’. Even the 5751 is a little too hot for me.
I’m sure that somewhere in the world of; 12AT7-12AY7-12AV7, lies what Im going for.

 

Hello. Circuits vary, but generalizing: 12AU7 (ECC82) or 12AY7 (6072) is what you want. For bass guitar, start with 12AU7.

Vintage, of course; the older, the better.

Addendum: This isn't just about gain. 12AU7 is electrically different from other 12A?7 in a way that favors bass when it is used for audio. I can't recall exactly how right now, but years ago it was explained to me in technical terms.

 

That’s what my girlfriend tells me every time I feel down in the dumps-about the aging process.

thank you I agree wholeheartedly… 12AU7,12AV7,12AY7
When just ‘playing the bass’ Those are OUR preamp tubes lol

(now if you want to do the Billy Sheehan thing, that’s a whole other conversation lol)

 

Ha! Your girlfriend likes you, for sure.

I might disagree about 12AV7. To me, in a given socket that can take 12A?7 but is meant for 12AX7, 12AV7 tends to sound somewhat "hard" for bass guitar.

For what it's worth: I collect vintage tubes and own a variety of fine 12AV7 (all of American make; maybe because the type was made only by American companies). My recollection is that in this way they all sounded the same to me.

Yes, that is a different conversation.