All depends on what is in your chain. You really just gotta experience with them. Some people like them in different places. I like one right after a bass and another right after a compressor.
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The Sushi Box FX Secret Society
- Thread starter kranahan
- Start date
What's @scubaduba said - try them at different places. I like stacking two directly before the preamp.
So I recently "accidently" picked up a LU/PA-X (LUX w/ PA tone stack), and had a very brief opportunity (like literally 5 minutes) to A/B it with my standard mini-tube LU before shipping that out to @Blackfishfinger. At a high level I'd say there are some minor differences, but they're subtle. At the same settings, the LUPAX had slightly thicker low end and more subdued top end, and was a bit quieter (comparatively, could say the LU was more dry and clearer with a stronger output). With a little bit of adjustment, I could get them to sound virtually identical. Setting the Gain at 9:00 and all EQ at 12:00 on the LU, in order to match the tone on the LUPAX I had the Bass turned down to about 10:00, Treble turned up to about 1:00, and Volume up relative to the LU (Not sure where it was set).
When turning up the Gain, I liked the overall tonality of the LUPAX better going off memory, but I didn't do a side by side comparison of high gain sounds.
Ultimately I'm happy to be keeping the LUPAX, but I guess my point is that they're definitely more similar than they are different. With the mini-tubes now phased out I guess it's a bit of a moot point, but if you're holding out for a LUX or LUPAX I'd say don't hesitate to pick up a mini-tube LU if one presents itself in the Classifieds.
When turning up the Gain, I liked the overall tonality of the LUPAX better going off memory, but I didn't do a side by side comparison of high gain sounds.
Ultimately I'm happy to be keeping the LUPAX, but I guess my point is that they're definitely more similar than they are different. With the mini-tubes now phased out I guess it's a bit of a moot point, but if you're holding out for a LUX or LUPAX I'd say don't hesitate to pick up a mini-tube LU if one presents itself in the Classifieds.
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This is ggoing to become the standard, so Nate should just change the name to Loop Axe. It would be confusing except for those of us "in the know".
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,516
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- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
My Dr. Watson just arrived! Happy day! 
Lookie what showed up in my mailbox!
Hooray! Gotta go play with my Sunday Drive x.Will report back later.
Attachments
Got my Robot today. Have to admit the phaser and flanger options are both nice, my favorite so far. The phaser is eighties in a box. Having fun with it.
I’m not enjoying being without it while it’s in the shop getting the switch mod done.
I got mine back from repair last week. I fired it up and flicked that switch to the right. It sounds damn good! I was A/B/C-ing it with my Power Stage and Archetype Valve Boost and it fits right in with its own flavor. I'm going off memory here but it sounds so much better than an Edison. It adds more tube warmth with a hair of saturation. There's still a ping noise when engaging the footswitch but that doesn't really matter because it's an always-on pedal.
As soon as all the ones have cleared out of the classifieds and I have a minute to take pictures I have a couple Westinghouses (and other things) lying around that I will be selling straight from the shop.
Negative. But it sounded so good with the volts at the higher end of the range, I couldn’t imagine ever wanting an Edison, which runs the tube at much lower voltage.
New version I will be leaving off the voltage adjustment, it will be all high voltage all the time. From a mechanical standpoint I still like having two points to attach the board to the enclosure though, so I'm thinking about adding a tone control. I don't know.
I was attracted to the lower voltage for a cleaner sound, so maybe I should grab one of the current versions.
I have two old versions I will be getting rid of for sure, and two really old ones that say 12V on the box, trying to decide if I should let those go with a discount and a note explaining that you should actually use 9V just so I'm not wasting boxes.
