You pay VAT on EU pedals too, it's just already included in the price.
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Tube booster pedal - is it a thing?
- Thread starter Phaidrus
- Start date
Have you tried just using the Compressore's output volume as a boost control? I believe you can run it higher than "unity"... the output side may not have a tube, but it's probably engineered to sound good.
How many tubes do you think you will need to get a better sound?
If you are happy with your sound, then guess what. You are happy with your sound.
You don't need any more gear (I know that's never to be mentioned here at TB).
To have more tubes or not to have? That is the question.
I'm happy with my sound alright but perhaps it's not Ophelia-level yet.
Placing the booster in front of the amp would be boosting the compressed and already slightly overdriven signal. Interesting.
What amp are you using with the Compressore?
I have but I suppose I could experiment a bit more with it. At the moment, the Compressore output volume is set so that the head (Little Mark Vintage) just doesn't clip. Perhaps I could lower the head's gain and then turn up the output volume of the comp to see whether it sounds any different.
Yeah, that's definitely worth a try... See if the Compressore "speaks" a bit differently if you do that. You could also run the clipping light a bit more on the LMV. Otherwise it doesn't hurt the amp to clip and I think clipping on that amp means the tube backlight flickers as you play.
Worth a shot, right?
Sure but in this case (between the SushiBox More and the S&P Boost) it would be double the amount.
I run into a VT Bass (mostly clean with the very tiniest amount grind), then direct to the mixing board. My current signal chain is Bass -> Tuner -> old model MB Distorsore (about 50% mix with a JJ ECC81 tube swap and bottomed out tube gain) -> MB Compressore -> VT Bass v2. If I want overdrive, I use the Distorsore rather than push the VT Bass. I prefer the blended, real tube OD rather than the VT's overdrive. It's too squishy for my liking.
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Interesting signal chain. It makes sense to push the tube of the Distorsore rather than the VT Bass. The resulting tone must be quite SVTesque.
How does the Compressore react when fed the bottomed out tube gain signal of the Distorsore?
that is nonsense.
there is "better for…", but "better" alone is nothing more than "different".
———
Boosters either 1) solve a problem of lowered volume at the end of a pedal chain 2) overdrive a preamp 3) do the same exact thing as a volume pedal and let you use your feet instead of your fingers to switch between a "normal loudness" and a "soloing loudness" without adding significant coloration.
I'm interested in the possibly positive (i.e. better) results of the "2) overdrive a preamp" scenario.
The gain coming out of each of my pedals is always adjusted to unity. Therefore, the overdrive from my Distorsore does not overdrive my Compressore. Before I had the Distorsore, I would use the input gain of the Compressore to create overdrive when needed. It, of course, required adjustment to the output volume when I did that.
D
If you want more of a classic tube sound the obvious thing to do would be to get an all tube amp. Output tubes and transformers are a huge part of "the tube tone" IMO. In fact, I wouldn't underestimate the importance of output transformers in what we like to think of as "tube sound". I've personally never felt that tube gear without transformer deliver what I personally think of as "the tube sound" (and dynamics) while some transformer based studio gear without tubes actually does.
I'm not convinced that adding pedals with preamp tubes in them will get you what you're looking for.
Tube preamp? You've already got one in your amp.
Boost pedal? It will color your signal if it's designed to be a colored boost but not just because there's a tube inside. On the other hand, if it's designed to be a clean/transparent boost it will simply increase the volume of your signal, enabling you to push the input section of your amp harder.
Do you want to push your amp harder for a more distorted tone? Because that's really what boost pedals are meant for, with or without tubes. You may even find that you will need to decrease the input of your amp if you boost the signal any further with a boost pedal. You will then basically be boosting the signal (and add noise) at one stage and bring it back down again at another stage, relative to your current settings. That's poor gain staging that will result in a higher noise floor. And if your amp is already close to clipping with your current settings you should definitely not boost your signal into the amp any further.
Besides, you're already doing what a boost pedal does by boosting the signal with your Compressore. If you add a boost pedal in front of the Compressore you will most likely need to decrease the input on the Compressore to avoid over-compressing your signal. If you add boost pedal after the compressore you will most likely need to lower the input gain on you amp to avoid clipping. Gain staging is important.
Of course you might find that prefer the tone you get with a boost pedal INSTEAD of cranking the input on the Compressore. But you may also find that you like it better as it is. Don't be fooled by the fact that louder will ALWAYS sound better. Any comparisons need to be made at identical volume. Did I mention that gain staging is important? I always aim for unity gain when I adjust anything in my signal chain, unless it's a boost I use to deliberately bring the bass up in the mix for solos or certain parts of a song. But generally, if the tone gets louder when I activate a pedal I consider it poor gain staging and make the necessary adjustments to correct it. Too much gain at one stage usually means the signal needs to be attenuated at a later stage. That's poor gain staging and usually a recipe for more noise and degradation of the tone.
But by all means, do whatever works for YOU. If it sounds good, it IS good!
I'm not convinced that adding pedals with preamp tubes in them will get you what you're looking for.
Tube preamp? You've already got one in your amp.
Boost pedal? It will color your signal if it's designed to be a colored boost but not just because there's a tube inside. On the other hand, if it's designed to be a clean/transparent boost it will simply increase the volume of your signal, enabling you to push the input section of your amp harder.
Do you want to push your amp harder for a more distorted tone? Because that's really what boost pedals are meant for, with or without tubes. You may even find that you will need to decrease the input of your amp if you boost the signal any further with a boost pedal. You will then basically be boosting the signal (and add noise) at one stage and bring it back down again at another stage, relative to your current settings. That's poor gain staging that will result in a higher noise floor. And if your amp is already close to clipping with your current settings you should definitely not boost your signal into the amp any further.
Besides, you're already doing what a boost pedal does by boosting the signal with your Compressore. If you add a boost pedal in front of the Compressore you will most likely need to decrease the input on the Compressore to avoid over-compressing your signal. If you add boost pedal after the compressore you will most likely need to lower the input gain on you amp to avoid clipping. Gain staging is important.
Of course you might find that prefer the tone you get with a boost pedal INSTEAD of cranking the input on the Compressore. But you may also find that you like it better as it is. Don't be fooled by the fact that louder will ALWAYS sound better. Any comparisons need to be made at identical volume. Did I mention that gain staging is important? I always aim for unity gain when I adjust anything in my signal chain, unless it's a boost I use to deliberately bring the bass up in the mix for solos or certain parts of a song. But generally, if the tone gets louder when I activate a pedal I consider it poor gain staging and make the necessary adjustments to correct it. Too much gain at one stage usually means the signal needs to be attenuated at a later stage. That's poor gain staging and usually a recipe for more noise and degradation of the tone.
But by all means, do whatever works for YOU. If it sounds good, it IS good!
If you want more of a classic tube sound the obvious thing to do would be to get an all tube amp. Output tubes and transformers are a huge part of "the tube tone" IMO. In fact, I wouldn't underestimate the importance of output transformers in what we like to think of as "tube sound". I've personally never felt that tube gear without transformer deliver what I personally think of as "the tube sound" (and dynamics) while some transformer based studio gear without tubes actually does.
I'm not convinced that adding pedals with preamp tubes in them will get you what you're looking for.
Tube preamp? You've already got one in your amp.
Boost pedal? It will color your signal if it's designed to be a colored boost but not just because there's a tube inside. On the other hand, if it's designed to be a clean/transparent boost it will simply increase the volume of your signal, enabling you to push the input section of your amp harder.
Do you want to push your amp harder for a more distorted tone? Because that's really what boost pedals are meant for, with or without tubes. You may even find that you will need to decrease the input of your amp if you boost the signal any further with a boost pedal. You will then basically be boosting the signal (and add noise) at one stage and bring it back down again at another stage, relative to your current settings. That's poor gain staging that will result in a higher noise floor. And if your amp is already close to clipping with your current settings you should definitely not boost your signal into the amp any further.
Besides, you're already doing what a boost pedal does by boosting the signal with your Compressore. If you add a boost pedal in front of the Compressore you will most likely need to decrease the input on the Compressore to avoid over-compressing your signal. If you add boost pedal after the compressore you will most likely need to lower the input gain on you amp to avoid clipping. Gain staging is important.
Of course you might find that prefer the tone you get with a boost pedal INSTEAD of cranking the input on the Compressore. But you may also find that you like it better as it is. Don't be fooled by the fact that louder will ALWAYS sound better. Any comparisons need to be made at identical volume. Did I mention that gain staging is important? I always aim for unity gain when I adjust anything in my signal chain, unless it's a boost I use to deliberately bring the bass up in the mix for solos or certain parts of a song. But generally, if the tone gets louder when I activate a pedal I consider it poor gain staging and make the necessary adjustments to correct it. Too much gain at one stage usually means the signal needs to be attenuated at a later stage. That's poor gain staging and usually a recipe for more noise and degradation of the tone.
But by all means, do whatever works for YOU. If it sounds good, it IS good!
Yes, I see what you mean and it makes sense. The voice of reason, if I may so put it.
So it seems it is not possible to get just a bit (more) tube distortion/texture given my setup. That was the idea with adding this tube booster.
Distortion and boost are different things. Boost will overdrive signal to the next thing in line. That is usually the amplifier. Distortion is distortion. You'll want an overdrive or distortion pedal for that. Or you can use a boost pedal to push your amplifier's preamp into overdrive. You can also accomplish that by turning the input gain knob.
D
Sure, that's definitely possible, but then you should probably be looking at dirt pedals, not boost pedals. I mean, if you don't get what you want from boosting your signal THAT much with the Compressore, you probably won't get what you want from a boost pedal either. Because it will really just do the same thing: Push the input of your amp harder.
If you absolutely want something with tubes you can check out something like the EBS Valvedrive. This a rather "warm" sounding pedal though, that can get slightly muddy if your tone is already on the warm side but great for taking the edge of an overly bright amp and adding a bit of tube dirt/texture. Also great for fattening up the tone of sterile sounding solid state amps.
But maybe you shouldn't limit your search to tube pedals? Maybe you simply need the right type of dirt pedal? Possibly something in the low-to-medium gain range? Something suitable as an "always on" pedal. But finding the right dirt pedal, with the exact kind of texture you're looking for can easily turn into a long, frustrating search with lots of money wasted on dirt pedals that weren't exactly what you were looking for.
The EBS Valvedrive sounds great, as far as I can tell from YouTube videos. Yet I have the impression it's discontinued or somehow hard to find. Staying with this French brand (P&P), they also make the following pedal that seems to be something along these lines.
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You're absolutely right about going down the pedal rabbit hole and wasting money. Ask twice, buy once!
Like @smatanoviuc, I also got a Hagerman Valve pedal (12AU7 tube). Especially like it when playing my Fender Highway One Jazz; fattens up the tone so nice. Can't compare it to any other tube units, though, but I like it! Tube-y goodness! I was looking for a Night Owl Edison preamp (EF86 tube), but they were out of stock at that time. Might just get an Edison to compare the two.
