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Tube preamps/overdrive pedal stompboxes

Tom Douvan

By Tom Douvan
in Effects and Processors

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Tom Douvan Newbie

Tom Douvan

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I am looking at tube preamps/tube distortion pedals, primarily to use with a guitar. I like certain features of the Electro Harmonix LPB 2ube, including the sound samples for clean tones on EHX's website. I find the sound samples of the distortion tones a bit harsh and raspy. Alternatively, I like the looks of the Seymour Duncan Twin Tube, including the fact that it has two channels plus a bypass (whereas the LPB 2ube would only have one channel when the two channels are bridged for distortion). I also like the fact that the Duncan pedal has independent treble and bass controls, although only one set for both channels. I tend to set my tone and forget about it anyway.

 

I like the fact the LPB 2ube uses 12ax7 tubes, a common tube I'm familiar with, whereas the Duncan uses "subminiature" Sylvania 6021 tubes (which at least are made in the USA). I guess I'm a little prejudiced by the size issue. I am not familiar with those tubes. I am sure that "small size does not equal small tone", but I would very much appreciate hearing from anybody that considered these two pedals side-by-side and what your thought process was in comparing them. Also, are there any other good tube stompbox pedals I should be considering? I am planning to use the pedal with a small transistor EHX Freedom Amp, to give it a warmer sound and a little natural distortion. It might be nice to be able to push the distortion into a creamy, Robben Ford/Larry Carlton type tone also.

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Eddie Newbie

Eddie

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Some of the ones I would recommend:

Damage Control (Currently $179 for B-Stock units of the Womanizer and Demonizer)

Siegmund Micro Tube Double Drive

H&K Tubeman or Tube Factor (particularly factor 1)

SIB Varidrive (I liked a 12AU7 with it)

Hot Chili Tubester

Tonebone Classic. My favorite tube distortion pedal.

 

Those are the ones that come to mind, but I'm sure I'm forgetting some great ones.

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SirJackdeFuzz Newbie

SirJackdeFuzz

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A friend of my cousin (who i knew 15min at the time) gave his H&K Tubeman to me for a weekend, and that weekend turned into TWO weeks, before he picked it up, from me !!!

(...again, thank you very much, Mark !)

 

I love that stompbox, and he nearly did not get it back - I LOVE THAT THING !!!

 

Another one that i am looking into more & more is the EHX Hot Tubes - ideal for those black Keys/JSBX type fuzz moments ...:thu: - Needless to say, it is on my shortlist of stomp-boxes for next year !!!

 

(errrrrm, BOTH are ...:love: !)

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CapnMarvel Newbie

CapnMarvel

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I had a Real Tube that I switched out the 12AX7 in for a 12AU7, and saw a vast improvement, but the thing was still kinda flabby. The lower-end tone was especially disappointing. Once I moved on to a tube amplifier, I never looked back to a tube OD as my RT sounded like TRUE ass through my Marshall.

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Alex D Newbie

Alex D

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if your going to get a tube pedal, just make sure it is getting a full plate voltage. If it doesn't it really just a gimmick.

 

the tube pedals from the EHX are full plate voltage, if IIRC from Puretube.

 

The Bulter/chandler tube driver is pretty much a standard IMHO. Check it out :thu:

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Tom Douvan Newbie

Tom Douvan

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I stopped at Guitar Center to try the Duncan Twin Tube today--it's very impressive! The clean tone is sweet, and the dirty tone can be adjusted to be pleasing too! I played the pedal through a digital demo amp on the clean setting, and without the pedal, the amp sounded thin and boring (zzzzz). With the pedal, it warmed up nicely (mmmm!).

 

The clean channel did what I hoped it would do: warm up a brittle, sterile sounding transister amp. I am planning on using a tube preamp pedal with an EHX Mike Matthews Freedom Amp (for portability) for rehearsals and small gigs, but I needed to warm up this transister amp for jazz and lyrical styles of music. The Duncan pedal seems like it will do just the trick.

 

The dirty channel on the Twin Tube is a little raspy. My objection to pre-amp distortion of all types, including cascading pre-amp distortion like Mesa Boogie and most modern amp designs, is that it tends to sound thin and raspy compared to true power tube saturation and distortion (like a Deluxe Reverb opened up -- mmm, sweet!). However, if I turned the bass up on the pedal, turned the treble down, and played with the interaction between the gain and the volume knobs, I got a pretty nice "woman tone" (attention: feminists, don't flame me -- that's a guitar term coined by Eric Clapton I believe, for a thick, "creamy," bass-heavy, treble-rolled-off distorted tone).

 

I have not yet tried the EHX LPB 2ube, but based on the comments here, I don't think the LPB 2ube is going to be versatile enough. It lacks treble and bass controls. The clean tones seem nice on the LPB 2ube, but the distorted tone seemed raspy from what I could hear on the sound samples on EHX's website. If that's the sample they want us to hear, then I have my doubts about being able to get the "woman tone" with the LPB 2ube. The one thing I would be giving up with Duncan is the 2 discrete, separate channels that you can run simultaneously with the LPB 2ube. However, since I am usually just a "guitar straight into amp" kind of guy, I think I would rarely use this feature of the LPB 2ube anyway. Plus, the construction of the Duncan seems much more impressive than EHX pedals which seem a bit flimsy.

 

I checked out the Sylvania 6027 tubes. Apparently they were designed for military applications. Therefore, I am sure they are sturdy and "high performance" even if they must really be micro- in size (the whole pedal is sealed and so I couldn't take a look at what the tubes looked like -- probably just as well, because with tone, it's the sound rather than the visual that matters anyway).

 

Further thougths/comments?

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riff2 Newbie

riff2

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glad you like the twin tube.

as we talk in another thread,I already said LPB2UBE base on clean sound---no character, maybe have some "LPB" character,think about EHX LPB-1 .

but it really do the warmup job right.

need special sound ,add multifx/dirt pedal before.

 

so I recommend you go back to try twin tube again.

set it clean,and add other pedal before it. see how he can do the warmup job......

 

you plan to use it with SS amp,need the tube always on.

goto the SYMOUR DUNCAN FORUM too,there is some info you would want to know.

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badtoneno Newbie

badtoneno

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I couldn't return the Twin Tube to GC quick enough. This pedal was really disappointing. Maybe it sounds good through a Fender type of amp but it absolutely sucks in front of a non-master Marshall.

 

As some other people noted, it is flabby on the low end and just sounds boxy and small. I have an H&K that blows it away. Actually the Maxon ROD880 is way better and so is an OCD.

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